Did this car ever get finished?

quote Originally posted by Villain: Did this car ever get finished?

Back in 2018 Fierofool was able to get a hold of them via email and they said:

quote Sadly, for the project, yes, it looks like it's THE END.

Also her personal webpage has been deleted.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 09-06-2021).]

I have Mitch, Papa and Kathryn's phone numbers and none of them returned my calls as recently as a couple of years ago. Nor did they respond to emails. She has moved on with her life.

quote Originally posted by fierofool: I have Mitch, Papa and Kathryn's phone numbers and none of them returned my calls as recently as a couple of years ago. Nor did they respond to emails. She has moved on with her life.

I often wonder why people behave like this. When you have a huge community cheering you on plus you have very positive media coverage, you'd figure that the person would at least have the common courtesy to answer a simple email or return a call. I've sent messages to her personal website when it was running and never even received a reply. I'm HUGE on basic courtesy to others and I hate to say it but I've lost all respect for this family. Sorry to be so blunt.

Now I'm left wondering if this entire project was just a ploy to get a scholarship to Michigan State. Get media attention as a young girl learning to work on a car and get a free ride to College, then dump the project.

Edit to add....after posting my comment above about an hour ago, I went back a few pages and 2016 was one of her last posts with this. I guess I was right:

quote Originally posted by kathryn: And I've decided that I will be going to Central Michigan University due to winning a scholarship that along with my dad's tuition waiver gets me practically a full ride for four years. -Kathryn

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 09-06-2021).]

My Grand daughter left all social media for a good reason none of the reasons speculated here are even close, a few may know why but the will not come forward so she prefers to withdraw from the spotlight and not name names . I applaud her for her reserve. She learned so much from this forum and her endeavors and said the world was full of great true and helpful people but as we all know there are exceptions. She chose to just fade away, no need to cause trouble. So I ask you to be kind. Think what you will but what the true story is is her's and she would rather not ever say. She is truly a lovely young LADY. Papa D.

quote Originally posted by PD1949: She learned so much from this forum and her endeavors and said the world was full of great true and helpful people but as we all know there are exceptions.

'Nuff said, we get the picture. Thanks for posting.

quote Originally posted by Patrick: 'Nuff said, we get the picture. Thanks for posting.

You're a hell of a lot more understanding than I am. I applaud you for that

quote Originally posted by PD1949: My Grand daughter left all social media for a good reason none of the reasons speculated here are even close, a few may know why but the will not come forward so she prefers to withdraw from the spotlight and not name names . I applaud her for her reserve. She learned so much from this forum and her endeavors and said the world was full of great true and helpful people but as we all know there are exceptions. She chose to just fade away, no need to cause trouble. So I ask you to be kind. Think what you will but what the true story is is her's and she would rather not ever say. She is truly a lovely young LADY. Papa D.

Thanks Papa D. - - - And that's a wrap guys...

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 09-08-2021).]

quote Originally posted by fierosound: Thanks Papa D. - - - And that's a wrap guys...

Agreed. The OP should request to have this thread deleted since there is no resolution. That would give true anonymity to Kathryn.

I don't understand why there are people that seem to think they are "Owed" something here- this is a very good thread, but some things changed as this lady grew up. That is OK.......I do notice a few on here getting upset and almost threatening. That is unacceptable.

I know this thread is dead, but something interesting popped up on Facebook Marketplace...

https://www.facebook.com/gr..._id=1643772365964749

It's so similar, I can't help but wonder if the person was inspired by Kathryn.

No knock on Kathryn . It is what it is. I just wonder if her Fiero project was ever sold. It had loads of new parts and IIRC a rebuilt 3.4L engine. Plus there were a few years of work put into it. Whoever purchased it probably got a good project to take to completion. Hope that someone here has it.

Let’s get a group of Fieros together and go visit her and her family!!!!! Maybe we could help it progress.

I hate to bump this thread, but I just found it while looking for pictures of a non-deformed trunk for a response to New Dustin... and completely shocked I'd never seen this thread before.

The thread kind of makes me sad, particularly because I realize my own daughter is going through a similar project as Kathryn was, and it definitely provides some warnings. Oddly enough, I drifted from the Fiero community for the greater part of a decade. This is simply because I took a job that required me to move around every three years, and so I put my Fiero in storage back in 2011, and never looked back. I completely missed this thread, but recently started doing the same thing with my daughter, who we'll call "AJ" (which is not her real name). Those of you who have seen / watched my posts, my daughter is also restoring her own Pontiac Fiero. She's doing ALL the work herself, and started a little less than a year ago (10 months ago to be exact). Perhaps it's a warning to me because while my daughter is only a Freshman, I realize we have only a short 3 year time frame to finish this car. She's now old enough to technically get her learners permit, and so we want this to be finished before she can start driving. My daughter's car is in much better shape to start off with, but like with Kathryn, it's been difficult finding time to work on the car. She does three sports a year, plays two instruments, maintains a 4.0 GPA (never had a single B in over 5 years, which is unbelievable) and does other extracurricular activities that she has a routine schedule to keep as well as competitions... so it is definitely tough. Not to mention, she's always trying to spend time with her boyfriend.

I can understand now why Ogre was "giving me **** " a couple of weeks ago about dads having their kids work on a car and sharing the experience. You guys know I've been on Pennock's for 20 years... more than that actually, but I had to create a new account because I lost access to it... which is why I have this weird user name with [At Work]... haha. Anyway... God forbid my daughter can't get this project done... I have a place to put it in storage until she can. But we're already quite a bit ahead. Unlike Kathryn... at the time a forum was the place where you document a lot of this stuff, my daughter is interested in communications, so she's making a video series (more like Ronald Finger did I would say). Her last video had her removing the accessories off the engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bCEqJBdhTo ... but we're actually quite a bit ahead (she just hasn't finished the videos).

The entire engine is disassembled, and we're waiting for parts to come in (tomorrow) and we take the engine to the machine shop Friday. At that point, we begin the re-assembly process and get the car back on the road. But it is sad for me to read this. I suspect the reason why she's gone "anonymous" is as much the same reason why I don't share my address, and my daughter uses a fake name. I get a lot of comments on YouTube, and I do have to delete some of them. She's 15 now... yet some people post things that are... well, you can figure. I suspect this girl Kathryn probably got a stalker. I'd just say... my daughter is the only one in the household who owns a gun, is expert archer with a composite bow, and competitive in karate. But this is definitely motivation for me to really buckle down with her and get these projects finished. I don't want her story to be just like this one.

And unlike Kathryn's family, you would probably come on here and have the courtesy to say "hey guys, my daughter decided to stop posting due to some comments". Kathryn's family should at least have the common courtesy and decency knowing that thousands of people supported and helped her get to where she is today. You wouldn't just disappear with no explanation after 45 pages of posting on here.

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 01-31-2024).]

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: And unlike Kathryn's family, you would probably come on here and have the courtesy to say "hey guys, my daughter decided to stop posting due to some comments". Kathryn's family should at least have the common courtesy and decency knowing that thousands of people supported and helped her get to where she is today. You wouldn't just disappear with no explanation after 45 pages of posting on here.

Well, I don't want to throw shade on them, but this forum and this community is a huge part of who I am today. My first car was a Pontiac Fiero ... which I still have. It's still in storage, where it's sat for now almost 14 years, but I've known all of you guys since the days of the Peter Zurich mailing list. I had the opportunity to meet many of you at the Daytona 2000 car show. I've met Ed Parks, know Matt from the Fiero Store on a name-basis, and have really come to know many of you guys over the years. I've made some good friends, and seen some great people who have moved on to the great car show in the sky. The funny thing is... many of you guys knew me on here when I was still a teenager, and now I'm a 45 year old man. So... no, I'm not going anywhere.

I did have my daughter read some of this earlier tonight, and we both agreed, we don't want to end up the same way.

Nothing wrong with losing interest in a project. Being rude or ignoring people that helped you along the way is a different matter. I followed the whole thread in real time and I doubt the recent claim that a stalker showed up. The girl just lost interest and learned about boys or whatever. But to just ignore everyone at that point is a bit rude IMO. If someone calls me I return the call (except for telemarketers of course). Part of raising a child is teaching them manners. So regardless of the status of the project, no reason to be rude when people that gave you help ask for an update. Or even if it were a stalker, nothing wrong with saying "I've had some inappropriate people and am taking my project private" or whatever. It's not about owing people something it's about common courtesy.

quote Originally posted by reinhart: Nothing wrong with losing interest in a project. Being rude or ignoring people that helped you along the way is a different matter. I followed the whole thread in real time and I doubt the recent claim that a stalker showed up. The girl just lost interest and learned about boys or whatever. But to just ignore everyone at that point is a bit rude IMO. If someone calls me I return the call (except for telemarketers of course). Part of raising a child is teaching them manners. So regardless of the status of the project, no reason to be rude when people that gave you help ask for an update. Or even if it were a stalker, nothing wrong with saying "I've had some inappropriate people and am taking my project private" or whatever. It's not about owing people something it's about common courtesy.

Did you miss this post?

quote Originally posted by PD1949: My Grand daughter left all social media for a good reason none of the reasons speculated here are even close, a few may know why but the will not come forward so she prefers to withdraw from the spotlight and not name names . I applaud her for her reserve. She learned so much from this forum and her endeavors and said the world was full of great true and helpful people but as we all know there are exceptions. She chose to just fade away, no need to cause trouble. So I ask you to be kind. Think what you will but what the true story is is her's and she would rather not ever say. She is truly a lovely young LADY. Papa D.

That should be enough. I don't see any rudeness going on. She is under no obligation to explain anything. I just hope she is doing well and that whatever happened hasn't scarred her for life. The reaction of some people in this thread is actually a good example of why people get fed up with posting stuff on the internet.

quote Originally posted by michhiker28: Wow, I don't know what to say. Thanks for the great response everyone! I'm going to start work on the thread and then once I get it up to date, I will share it with Kathryn and give her access to comment on there as well. Once Kathryn decided to move forward with purchasing her car we had a couple of decisions to make. Once of the first was how much money she would like to spend. The easiest thing to do, would be to have her save her money and in about 4 years buy a really nice, well maintained car off of one of the forum members. :-) After all, we all know it is cheaper to buy something already built than to replace a bunch of parts yourself. Besides, thought I, this bug might wear off in a couple of weeks or months and then I won't have a derelict car. Nope! She wanted to learn how to rebuilt something, so my easy way wasn't going to work. Instead we had to start the search for a car. Now, not being a fiero expert we started to read up. We realized pretty quickly that she wanted an '85 or later (88 prefered) car, would prefer a V6, it had to be stick (5 speed preferable) and she didn't care if it was a GT or SE....she liked both. After a bit of saving, and a lot of looking we came across an add on craiglist that was about 40 miles from our home. We drove out to see it and took along Uncle Bob. Looking at the car, I was horrified. I could see a lot of cosmetic work etc. that was going to need to be done. We had warned Kathryn before we left to see it that she didn't have to buy it if she didn't like it but that it would be her decision. Here is what we saw: CLICK FOR FULL SIZE Notice the great rattle can spray job! CLICK FOR FULL SIZE Interior's a bit manky.....ok, more than a bit! CLICK FOR FULL SIZE Engine bay is relatively clearn.......score 1. So an 86 SE, with a 2.8 and 4 speed. I wasn't really impressed with the paint, body, interior etc but we realized pretty quickly was that the chassis was in great shape. Very little if any rust underneath or on the cradle, nothing behine the trunk carpet that was bad. The coolant lines under the car were intact, and the only bad corrosion was around the battery tray (or what was left of it). Not that it mattered anyway since Kathryn decided early on that whatever we did was going to end up gloss black with yellow racing stripes on a black and yellow interior. So overall, this was not to bad. We were going to be painting and redoing an interior no matter what. We pulled Kathryn aside and told her if she wanted it, at least it appeared to be a solid foundation on which to work. She thought about it for a couple of minutes and said she was going to make them an offer. So Bob and I just stood back and let the kid go to work. They were asking $600 for it. Kathryn offered them $400 to start, and the guy said he would really like to get $500 for it. In the end we walked out with it for $450. Not to bad considering we drove it the 40 miles home.....with one stop along the way to put a bit more gas in the tank. Of course, once we got it home, she had to call her friends and take it around to show them. Then it went to the back yard to start the strip work, until there was a space for it in her Uncle Bob's barn. CLICK FOR FULL SIZE CLICK FOR FULL SIZE CLICK FOR FULL SIZE My thought was, that was where we would leave it for a few weeks until it was ready to go into the shop to start the dissassembly. NOPE! Kathryn had other ideas. I came home a few days later to find this: CLICK FOR FULL SIZE CLICK FOR FULL SIZE CLICK FOR FULL SIZE Apparently she couldn't wait. Luckily for Dad, she was pretty smart. If you look in the middle picture you will see the zip lock bags and the masking tape. As she disconnected wires and switches she labled the wire and the switch with the tape, and place the screws in an individual ziplock and labled that as well as to what they came from.....Man I love that girl! So with pieces coming out of the car she was anxious to see some actual progress. We talked about it and figured that there was no point in doing something half. So if we were going to rebuild this thing we might as well try to do it better than GM did it originally. Her first thought was, "I don't want any rust on my car!" So we started with the support brackets behind the waterfall console. These things looked really bad after 24 years of humidity. Especially since they were never coated at the factory and are simple mild steel stampings. [img THUMB]//images.fiero.nl/2011/A1Rustybracket_(Medium).JPG[/img I asked Kathryn how she was planning on cleaning those up? She thought maybe some sand paper would do it, which of course it would....if she wanted to be there till she was 13 working on it. We introduced her to the wonders of the wire wheel (One of her new favorite tools!) This is what she ended up with. CLICK FOR FULL SIZE A little bit of primer and cheap paint later...... CLICK FOR FULL SIZE Not bad for a days work. --MH

just starting reading the thread.im assuming she will be 23 at the end.long thread.

quote Originally posted by richard in nc: just starting reading the thread. im assuming she will be 23 at the end. long thread.

...and you just made it longer.

Richard, what was the point of copying and re-posting all that?

[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 02-11-2024).]

Cliff should just lock this thread from comments.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: Cliff should just lock this thread from comments.

That would be a good idea. And quote PD1949's (PapaD) reply in the closing post. I feel better about her now, having read that.

I agree. I'll close this thread for now. If the OP wants me to re-open it, please send me a PM or an email.

quote Originally posted by PD1949: My Grand daughter left all social media for a good reason none of the reasons speculated here are even close, a few may know why but they will not come forward so she prefers to withdraw from the spotlight and not name names. I applaud her for her reserve. She learned so much from this forum and her endeavors and said the world was full of great true and helpful people but as we all know there are exceptions. She chose to just fade away, no need to cause trouble. So I ask you to be kind. Think what you will but what the true story is, is hers and she would rather not ever say. She is truly a lovely young LADY. Papa D.