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| The Fiero almost became a Chaparral (Page 1/1) |
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hyperv6
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JAN 09, 08:28 AM
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I just got the book Jim Hall Texas Legend.
In the book to my surprise it outlines Jim Halls attempt to buy the rights to the 1990 Fiero.
He felt it was a good car and that he and a partner could buy the rights and plant. They would cut production, add amenities add some Chaparral styling.
I’m sure more power too.
But GM caught wind of their plans and went 180 degrees from selling to not selling the rights.
I knew there were some tire kickers back in the day but never knew Jim Hall was one of the serious buyers.
If you don’t know Jim he is a Texas oil man that built the series of Chaparral race cars for can am, f5000 and Indy racing. He worked tight with GM all those years and brought aero down force to racing like we have today. He took the tech GM had and made it work.
Jim is kind of the Chevy Carol Shelby.
He won a lot but might have won more had he not kept trying advanced tech. Even if he won he kept moving on to the next new idea.
Not a big part of the book but an accurate post of one of his ideas GM stopped. Imagine if he had done this? It would not have been cheap but it would have helped the cars image.
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olejoedad
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JAN 09, 10:48 AM
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Jim Hall was one of my heros, and I was fortunate enough to see the Chaparrals run at Mid-Ohio a couple of times.
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hyperv6
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JAN 09, 11:50 AM
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If you want the book it is discounted on Amazon now. It normally is $80 but now $67. Great book lots of his racing and GM history.
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cvxjet
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JAN 09, 12:02 PM
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Chaparral had some great ideas in the Can Am racing series....wings, some ground affects ideas- but the greatest idea was the Vacuum car....A friend of mine who has worked on Mustangs his whole life (Owns a Boss 429, and a Mangusta) and knew Carrol Shelby personally...saw the vacuum car run at Lagoona Seca...Scared the heck out of him- the car came to a turn and >>DID NOT SLOW DOWN<<....just ran thru the turn at full speed!
 [This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 01-09-2025).]
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cliffw
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JAN 16, 01:20 PM
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cliffw
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JAN 16, 01:25 PM
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