This is an easy one so everyone who was of driving age back then should have an input as to one of their favorite cars of that era. One of mine besides the Fiero was the 1985 Dodge Shelby Charger. I really liked the blue ones they made. Here is a fantastic example of one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymot...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

In 1984 I was driving a 1973 Dodge Charger. I have always been 20 years behind new cars.

Most of the cars in the 80's were crap IMHO. No power, no real styling, there really wasn't anything being made that I remember worth having. The other car that was the directly rival of the Fiero was of course the MR2.

The other car we had at the time was my 68 Camaro RS that I drove along with my 81 Monte Carlo. The DW drove the 84 SE Fiero.

------------------
87 Fiero GT
Yellow / Grey Interior
T-Top, 11.26" brakes, Lowered 2"
Whaletail, Mecham Scoops, ZR2 Scoop
T/A Fender Vents, Mr. Mikes, Much Much More

86 SE Red
Z-28 Blister Scoops
3400 SFI w/ 4T45E auto 4 spd in progress

2007 Dodge Charger R/T
Hemi powered 5 spd

Formerly FieroGT87

About the only mid engine car that I have owned beside the Fiero was a Porsche 914/6 that compaired to the Fiero in terms of handeling and performance. The 4 cylinder 914's were like the 4 cylinder Fiero's, they look good but were slow. The Fiero is a lot cheaper to repair than the 914/6 was as the 914/6 was a VERY limited production car ( about 3300 were built over 2 years) . The Fiat X-19 may handle as well but it was slow too. After that you have to go to the Dr. for a mid engine car that out-performes the Fiero.

The only other one that I owned was a Chrysler Laser (same as a Dodge Daytona).
However, the other 80's cars that I always liked besides the Fiero was the Trans Am and the Camaro, which I drove when my friends who owned them were...uhhh...well, unable to drive themselves home after some nights out.

Only other 80's car I would even consider over a Fiero would be the Mitsubishi Starion/Chrysler Conquest or the RX7 turbo 2.

I had that Charger Shelby with the 2.2 Turbo probably about 10 yrs ago. I really liked it at the time it was the Blue/Silver color. The used car dealer had told me it was the top model for that particular car. Then one day I saw a white one that said something like Intercooled on the side. So apparently there was a better one.

Oddly enough, in 1984, I was driving a .........
FIERO!!!!!

Bought new, it was one of the first black ones in Eastern Ontario. When I ordered it, I told the salesman, I wanted it in black and was told the only colours were red or white. I suggested he phone someone who would know, since someone I knew had told me he'd just seen 3 on a transporter in Toronto. Guy came back about 10 minutes later to say "When did I want the car?" Because so few people knew about the newly introduced colour, he could lay his hands on one in fairly quick time. Bonus!

Ciao!

------------------
The Madscanner
'85 SE 2M6 Auto

quote Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: In 1984 I was driving a 1973 Dodge Charger. I have always been 20 years behind new cars.

Yeh, but that would have only been eleven years. It was math that you were 20 years behind in.

Jim

I Loved my 1980 Chevrolet Monza. It was my first car, then a 1980 Ford TBrid.

------------------
Jay Brintnell
Southern Ontario Fiero Association
Yellow 85 Notchback(A.K.A. GodFearN)

The progress thread: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/077740.html

quote Originally posted by Gecko: I had that Charger Shelby with the 2.2 Turbo probably about 10 yrs ago. I really liked it at the time it was the Blue/Silver color. The used car dealer had told me it was the top model for that particular car. Then one day I saw a white one that said something like Intercooled on the side. So apparently there was a better one.

The "Intercooled" you saw was a Shelby limited edition of the car. there were I think 2500 of them made. They were intercooled 2.2 or 2.5 L depending on the years made. They were fast.
I had a Shelby model Charger that was wrecked. I put those parts in a 1982 Rampage I purchased from the US Navy in 1991. It was a good truck, nearly 260,000 miles on it. Heck my wife used it on the flightline when she was on active duty, seeing as I was to cheap to paint it, it still had the red/white checkerboard pattern on the roof and "US Navy for official use only " on the doors-- for use on the base flightline, so she just drove it to work then used it AT work. LOL

------------------
1988 Fiero Formula T-tops
CJB 143 of 1252 "factory T-top cars"

quote Originally posted by Gecko: I had that Charger Shelby with the 2.2 Turbo probably about 10 yrs ago. I really liked it at the time it was the Blue/Silver color. The used car dealer had told me it was the top model for that particular car. Then one day I saw a white one that said something like Intercooled on the side. So apparently there was a better one.

I had one, too....also the blue and silver color. It was a fast little car, but VERY cheaply made. Mine was pretty well abused when I got it. I thought since it was a "Shelby", it was worth restoring. After buying quite a few parts for it, I realized that it would never be worth much, probably not as much as I had spent in parts, and it needed a lot more, so I sold it. The day after I sold it, the kid that bought it was traveling down a gravel road at 90MPH, lost control, and flipped it end over end. He was lucky to get out of it alive...there wasn't a whole lot of it left.

Some maybe competed for sales. I think the car is so unique that nothing really competed.

I wouldnt mind having my 84 Sunbird Turbo 4speed back

------------------

MINNESOTA MAFIA Real men get blown
87 GT MP-112 powered, 3800 Supercharged on 19's____88 GT T-top 1 of very few, 119.4 miles
87 GT custom______90 Grand prix STE Turbo_____98 ZX750R
IF YOU AIN'T BREAKING STUFF..................IT AIN'T MODDED ENOUGH
If your'e not living on the edge..........you're taking up too much room.
Best Fiero mounts available https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/062388.html

You know I think an MR2 comes closest to competing with the Fiero.

i had a dodge daytona. i really liked that car. i drove the hell out of it going to college.

quote Originally posted by PURPLE REIGN: I wouldnt mind having my 84 Sunbird Turbo 4speed back

I had a 85' Sunbird Turbo 4speed that I bought new! That was a very fun car when it wasn't cooking turbos and cracking exhaust manifolds. I must have gone through 4 turbos (non-cooled) and 6 exhaust manifolds (welded stamped steel) in the three years that I owned it. The design was finally improved in 1986 with cast iron exhaust manifold and better turbo/oil cooling and an increase in dispacement (2.0 "160HP" vs. 1.8 "150HP").

If you could keep the front wheels pointed straight during boost (severe torque steer) you could surprise quite a few Camaros and Firebirds of the same generation. My buddy back then had a Shelby Turbo Charger as mentioned above and we used to race each other often on the way home from night classes. The Turbo Sunbird could keep up pretty well until around 95-100mph. The shelby would then start to walk away.

Here is my car in 1986:

[This message has been edited by turbotoad (edited 12-27-2007).]

My first car was a Triumph TR8. People nick-named it the wedge, because of it shape. This is the car that got me into Fieros.



Don Z.

I was in the market for a new car in the Fall of 1987. My top 3 choices were:
88 Fiero GT
88 Firebird Formula 350
87 Grand National (new, leftover 87 model)

I went with the GN. I almost wish I had gone with the Firebird, though. Not as fast, but I missed the sound and feel of a V8. Not to mention the GN still handled like a Buick.

Not really a competitor, but in 1988 I opted for a Trans Am instead of the Fiero. I liked the idea of having a back seat and I got a V8 that made the whopping 205 hp!

mmm..88 toyota celica st165

How about the 86 Turbo Subaru XT AWD? I'm still driving it and yeah thats a Fiero Wing I put on the rear. Fits perfect. lol

[This message has been edited by Tcat55371 (edited 12-28-2007).]

Cars that compete with the Fiero?
anyone who wants to race me lol

See "Road and Track" for August 1985. Hey, I've had a Fiero since 1984. Bought it when there was a dealer mark-up on them!

Anyway, R&T compared MR2, Fiat X1/9, CRX, RX7, and Alfa Graduate. Also, there's a good article on drop throttle oversteer.

quote Originally posted by htexans1: The "Intercooled" you saw was a Shelby limited edition of the car. there were I think 2500 of them made. They were intercooled 2.2 or 2.5 L depending on the years made. They were fast. I had a Shelby model Charger that was wrecked. I put those parts in a 1982 Rampage I purchased from the US Navy in 1991. It was a good truck, nearly 260,000 miles on it. Heck my wife used it on the flightline when she was on active duty, seeing as I was to cheap to paint it, it still had the red/white checkerboard pattern on the roof and "US Navy for official use only " on the doors-- for use on the base flightline, so she just drove it to work then used it AT work. LOL

For the record: The Dodge Charger was not intercooled. The 87 Shelby Charger had the intercooled Turbo II engine. Shelby produced 1000 of them.

The Dodge Omni GLH came with the same engine as the early turbo Dodge Charger. In 86 Shelby converted 500 of them to the GLHS model which had an intercooler among some other tweaks. For more specifics, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_GLHS or
http://www.allpar.com/history/fwd-performance.html

All the Shelby cars had the 2.2 engine. Dodge produced a 2.5 turbo engine, but most were not intercooled from the factory. In 89 and 90 they used a 2.5 turbo in some of their mini vans.

I had an 86 GLHS. Great fun. Still have an 85 GLH which will soon receive a 2.5 and the IHI turbo with intercooler. (the IHI is a smaller turbo than the Garret that came stock, but it spools up much quicker -- the 2.5 develops quite a bit more torque than the 2.2 -- all of which should be great for AutoX).

One of my good friends has an Omni which was converted to turbo several years ago. At the Irwindale Raceway, it became known as "The Ugly Old Omni" which may not be too far off the mark if you consider looks alone. However, at one of the dyno days he put down about 340hp and 360 torque. Not too shabby for a 2.5 four banger. Take a look at the videos. http://www.uglyoldomni.com/

He is currently putting together a Rampage with a hybrid engine (2.5 block with a Neon DOHC head). It should add another 100+ hp while losing a few hundred pounds.

------------------
FierOmar

That's a trip! I had ten TR7s before I got into Fieros and totally lost interest in the triumphs.

I once read that the daytonas were in the same horse power ratings as the fiero, I had an 89 shelby daytona and my friend that I bought it off of put a $500.00 computer from mopar in it (not a chip, the whole computer!) and that thing was FAST!!! I dont think my GT would of even come close to it even though the daytona was modified, I cant imagine it touching it even without the computer.
Mike.

In GT race trim, the 4-cyl Fieros were constantly beating the V8 Vettes on the track back in the 1980s, though the Vettes were running in a different class. And because the Fieros were beating the Vettes, GM axed the Fiero 'cuz they didn't want their "flagship" Vette compromised.

[This message has been edited by WAWUZAT (edited 01-01-2008).]

quote Originally posted by jimbolaya: Yeh, but that would have only been eleven years. It was math that you were 20 years behind in. Jim

Crap, what year is it?

how about the high end cars?

lamborghini jalpa

quote Originally posted by 3.6lvvt6spdgt: how about the high end cars? lamborghini jalpa

It didn't compete with the Fiero. Any potential Jalpa buyer scarcely cared the Fiero existed.
But it would make a great body kit.

[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 01-01-2008).]

well the one i know of cant even keep up with the fiero

[This message has been edited by 3.6lvvt6spdgt (edited 01-01-2008).]

quote Originally posted by WAWUZAT: In GT race trim, the 4-cyl Fieros were constantly beating the V8 Vettes on the track back in the 1980s, though the Vettes were running in a different class. And because the Fieros were beating the Vettes, GM axed the Fiero 'cuz they didn't want their "flagship" Vette compromised.

I would like to see some evidence of this. I am laughing right now. Seriously?

quote Originally posted by 2.5: I would like to see some evidence of this. I am laughing right now. Seriously?

Wouldnt that be a Fiero with an SD4? I wouldnt doubt at all even a mild SD4 could give a Vette a very good run for the money. The only other performance 4-cylinder at the time would be the LT3 (Turbo Sunbird), right? Even that wasn up to par for the Indy prototype, so it wouldnt make too much sense to me for them to seriously race them.

quote Originally posted by 2.5: I would like to see some evidence of this. I am laughing right now. Seriously?

Yes, seriously. I wish I had some evidence handy right now. GT race results from that period in time ('87 & '88) should suffice.

To give you more things to ponder ...
GM (Pontiac) invested several million dollars in redesigning and manufacturing the '88 Fiero with its various "upgrades." I can't recall the exact dollar amount, but I want to say they invested in the neighborhood of $33M. Now, with only about 36,000 units of the '88 model produced, GM would take a pretty good size financial hit for killing a car on which it just spent a ton of money, and only produce one year's worth. The decision to stop Fiero production was based on something other than money. And at that time, the magazines were raving that with the '88 model, the Fiero was really starting to hit its stride, and showed a lot of promise. So, if you owned a car company that built Fieros, and though you were still battling the PR about the '84 models catching fire, the press was giving praise to your latest version, would you cease production?

[This message has been edited by WAWUZAT (edited 01-02-2008).]

quote Originally posted by WAWUZAT: Yes, seriously. I wish I had some evidence handy right now. GT race results from that period in time ('87 & '88) should suffice.

I think most of us would be happy to wait a few days for you to get some evidence. Maybe this will help. http://www.classicscars.com...sa/nf_imsa_home.html

The IMSA series featured several Spice Pontiac Fiero GTP cars which competed successfully starting in 1986.

The Spice cars were developed by Gordon Spice who became a racecar constructor in 1986, by securing a contract to build two new Camel ‘Lights’ honeycomb chassis for General Motors - to use their 350 bhp 3.0-liter straight-four Pontiac ‘Super Duty look-alike’ race engine. Pontiac Motorsports dictated the body shape of the new Spice to bear a silhouette resemblance to the Fiero production car - and thus it became known as the ‘Spice Pontiac Fiero’. The basic monocoques were built to designer Graham Humphrey’s drawings by BS Fabrications, but the construction into complete racing entities was carried out at the Spice Silverstone works. According to one account, "The Spices were outstandingly successful, both in GTP "Lights" and European "C2" form in the years from 1986 to 1988."

Yes, there were some Corvettes that were run in some of the races, and the Spice Pontiac GTP was probably faster than some. But, IMHO its like comparing apples and oranges, or maybe more appropriately, like comparing a modern day NASCAR Ford Taurus against a new Shelby Mustang. In other words, other than the basics (both have wheels, tires, engine, trans, brakes, etc.), there is no comparison.

I rather suspect that you have it backwards. The Spice Pontiac GTP sort of went away after Pontiac decided to cancel the Fiero. Since there would not be a Fiero for 1989, there was no reason to fund a racing program to continue building a race car that bore a silhouette resemblance to the Fiero production car. Like any other racing program, when the money is gone, so is the program, irrespective of whether the "program" is a series, a class, or a particular car.


------------------
FierOmar

[This message has been edited by FierOmar (edited 01-03-2008).]

quote Originally posted by FierOmar:I think most of us would be happy to wait a few days for you to get some evidence. Maybe this will help. http://www.classicscars.com...sa/nf_imsa_home.html

Why wait for me? After glancing at only a handful of the race finishes in the link you posted, you've already provided the evidence I needed. Thank you! The Fieros ran in one group, and the Vettes ran in another, but a Fiero often beat a Vette ... which is exactly what I said above ... which was also what GM did not like to see. Who's comparing apples and oranges? I said upfront that they raced in different classes (or "groups" as specified in the link). I appreciate your research, and will add that link to my Favorites list for later reference.

I doubt if the Chevrolet Citation X-11 was a direct competitor, but an X-11 ended up in my laneway back in 1985.

I bought a used 1982 X-11. The V6, suspension and 14" alloy wheels were very convincing. Although, the vertically positionned radio was not.


I kept the X-11 until 1988. Shortly thereafter, I purchased a used 1984 Fiero. My student budget wouldn't allow for a new or used V6 Fiero. I kept the first year 2M4 for 4 years. After selling it, I made a note to myself that once I got a bigger toy budget, I would purchase a white 1988 Fiero GT. 2007 was the year.

------------------
F499