Well it happened again! A week ago I traveled over to Chinook, Wa. after my yoga class. One of my coworkers had told me that a Fiero was for sale there. Sure enough, an 88 Formula, 5 speed. Ugly as could be and needing a lot of stuff. But it ran and drove. Owner was outside working on his truck so I approached him with a few questions, like "how much are you asking?" The response surprised me, "I'll give it to you since I am moving to Arkansas and can't afford to take it with me." I said I didn't expect it for free so I'd give him $200 for it and that was OK with him. But I didn't have a driver to get it home so I offered him $250 if he would drive it 45 minutes to my house and I would drive him back home. Fine, was the answer. So I ran back over to Astoria, to get some cash from my bank, returned, gave him the money , got the title and off we went to my house. So after title, tags, plates and such being another $262 I now have another project at my advanced age of 80! Wasn't going to do any more projects. So, attached are a few pictures of my find. I'll update when progress is made on this, yes, 216,000 mile Formula. Anybody have any Beechwood interior like drivers seat? Appears to be option 66B Pallex cloth.
Considering how old these cars are... and it's 2024... and not 2000 like when you could get them cheap... this car is in fantastic shape. Just needs paint and some TLC, and I bet it's awesome.
Yes, 80 I am. Turned 80 in March and have been working at the same company since 1969. About 16 years ago I semi retired and have been working two days a week since except when on vacation, etc. I was going to retire when 80, but too many friends have dropped by the wayside and I figured working kept a bit of normalcy in my life so why quit now. And it pays for the car/Fiero hobby since this makes car number twelve. Insurance and license is not cheap nowadays! I've had about 10 Fiero's since 2005 and this one was too cheap to pass up. This one has a third gear syncro that is due for replacement, but I have another Getrag that I will put in. Runs and drives with good brakes. 216k miles no smoke and little oil consumption. The previous owner said he didn't think the engine had been rebuilt. He owned it for 19 years and daily drove it to his job until last few years. He claims to have changed oil every 3000 miles. Air filter was new. Paint will take a while since their are plenty of spots failing on the roof and hood along with a few other places. Repairs will take a while. We have three other Fiero's that are modified. I'm going to try to keep this one near stock if I can find some Beechwood items, especially the driver seat. Minor rust on drivers side upper trunk floor near wheel well. Pretty sure that is all the rust through. No salt on Oregon/Washington highways. The repair I haven't done before is to replace a broken exhaust manifold stud. It is on the rear manifold at far right upper bolt. But I will be dropping the cradle to replace the transmission and will try the repair then. Wondering if anyone has a set of black lace 88 wheels since that is what it came with. Might settle for gold lace, since they would look better with a black car, but were not available on a Formula as I understand. Anyway that is the updates so far. Have been cleaning and removed the plastic cowl cover and painted some surface rust areas there and cleaned out 30 plus years of leaves, dirt, and conifer needles. Thanks for looking.
[This message has been edited by bjc 350 (edited 08-02-2024).]
Your story sounds a little like mine. I retired at 62, went back to work at 72 for 2 days a week and now 13 years later am still maintaining a fleet of 65 golf carts, 12 service carts and a lot of members carts at a country club here in SC. I need the extra money and it keeps me in fairly good shape. Me and my spouse of 65 years still enjoy drives in the mountains in our Fiero and hope to keep up our life style for as long as we can. Best of luck to you for many more years. Harry
bjc 350: Anybody have any Beechwood interior like drivers seat?
Remember to use 'The Mall' and post 'Wanted-To-Buy' for the interior parts you need and perhaps sent a PM to member Larry Hubert as he has a collection of Fieros and Fiero parts plus I believe he is around 80-year-old and still working too!
Larry Hubert: Part of the problem is that when people PM me on here or on FB and even Direct emails they do not use their true names or they have multiple names on all of the different venues which gets rather confusing. There are times that the same person has used a different name at the same time looking for the same part on all 3 venues. It is very hard to follow and also keep track of especially since I only do this part time with somewhat limited hours, since I still work a fulltime job just like most people on here.
That having been said, can you please tell me more about your Fiero needs and I promise you an answer. I always do my best to get back to everyone who contacts me ASAP. I always send HiRes Pix of the actual parts I will be sending, so there is no regrets or surprises when they get their order in their hands and see that it is exactly as stated. I have many satisfied customers worldwide acquired over the many years I have been selling Fiero parts and I specialize in 88's. I sincerely hope that this clears thing up a bit and if I can be of any help, please contact me on Facebook Messenger (Larry Hubbert), PM on Pennock's (Larry Hubbert) and/or direct at LHUBBERT2@BRIGHTHOUSE.COM. Also please use your true name and/or provide me with the names you use on other venues in order to avoid any confusion.
I figured guys thought I had keeled over. No, the problem has been that four days after the inexpensive Fiero purchase, I bought car number 13, a Chrysler Crossfire With a little body damage and a fair amount of electrical problems. So that has put the Fiero somewhat on the back burner. I have done a substantial amount of interior cleanup, and day before yesterday installed a new headlight switch, not because the other one didn't work, but all the lettering was worn off. So this is a movement forward, right. Also installed a new driver side door jamb switch. So then I went to The Fiero Store site and filled the cart with hundreds of dollars worth of needed interior items and front side marker lights. But the interior upholstery, Beechwood has been a real issue. Neither of the Jo Ann fabric stores in a 50 mile radius have any headliner material in stock at all, and definitely not Beechwood/tan. Driver seat,. so far not available as far as I can tell. Looks like there may have been a set on our "parts galore" items that Lucas and I bought many years ago. They are long gone as well. Anyway, an update and I will keep at this thing. Thanks for checking in.
Been a long time, but I have been making some progress on the Formula. I have been working on cleaning up the interior. Beechwood is not an easy interior to work with. I have read about all I can about what paint/dye colors match the , at least two different shades that make up the Beechwood interior on an 88. I ended up using SEM Color Coat Camel to closely match the lighter of the interior colors on the trim pieces. Worked really well. But, the darker "brownish" color on the dash front and center console and shifter cover are a different story. I have not yet found anyone saying what may match to that color. One person talked of using Krylon Brown Boots color, but even if it a near correct color, I am not keen on spraying it on flexible vinyl. One person said after using it, it would get tacky in the summer heat. So my question is, Does any one know a SEM or similar product that matches the darker of the two tone [at least] Beechwood interior? I have cleaned and refurbished most of the interior, carpets, but still need to spray the shifter area the correct color. I'll post a picture showing the dash/ shifter area that is the problem area. A little accent I added are two polished aluminum trim rings, I purchased off EBay, which finish off the speedo and tach openings with a nice shinny edge. Of all things, they are made in Poland! I am sure adding those rings took a 100,000 miles off the car! Repaired the tach with a new tach board, so now it reads correctly. Pretty erratic before the repair. Also installed a leather covered steering wheel which looks better than the original foam looking one. No pictures yet. Still trying to find some Beechwood seats or just the upholstery to replace the terrible drivers upholstery. I have found some Pallex cloth that closely matches the seats, but likely would then have to have the covers made at an upholstery shop. I'll post a couple more pictures in my next post.
[This message has been edited by bjc 350 (edited 02-06-2025).]
Been a long time, but I have been making some progress on the Formula. I have been working on cleaning up the interior. Beechwood is not an easy interior to work with. I have read about all I can about what paint/dye colors match the , at least two different shades that make up the Beechwood interior on an 88. I ended up using SEM Color Coat Camel to closely match the lighter of the interior colors on the trim pieces. Worked really well. But, the darker "brownish" color on the dash front and center console and shifter cover are a different story. I have not yet found anyone saying what may match to that color. One person talked of using Krylon Brown Boots color, but even if it a near correct color, I am not keen on spraying it on flexible vinyl. One person said after using it, it would get tacky in the summer heat. So my question is, Does any one know a SEM or similar product that matches the darker of the two tone [at least] Beechwood interior? I have cleaned and refurbished most of the interior, carpets, but still need to spray the shifter area the correct color. I'll post a picture showing the dash/ shifter area that is the problem area. A little accent I added are two polished aluminum trim rings, I purchased off EBay, which finish off the speedo and tach openings with a nice shinny edge. Of all things, they are made in Poland! I am sure adding those rings took a 100,000 miles of the car! Repaired the tach with a new tach board, so now it reads correctly. Pretty erratic before the repair. Also installed a leather covered steering wheel which looks better than the original foam looking one. No pictures yet. Still trying to find some Beechwood seats or just the upholstery to replace the terrible drivers upholstery. I have found some Pallex cloth that closely matches the seats, but likely would then have to have the covers made at an upholstery shop. I'll post a couple more pictures in my next post.
Hey BJC... couple of things:
- I PM'ed you about interior paint.
- Seat Upholstery, you may want to consider reaching out to Mr.Mikes ... he does an AMAZING job... I cannot emphasize this enough. You can access his website from: http://mrmikes.com/
I've ordered two seat covers from him, and the quality is unbelievable.
A couple things I forgot last night. I did install a refurbished headliner. The fabric color is somewhat lighter than the original. I have found a near match to the Pallex Beechwood seat fabric. I'm waiting to see if the supplier has enough for two seats. I too, have used Mr. Mikes four times for seat upholstery and it is always first rate. Once I have sure access to the fabric I will see if I can convince him to make the set of covers. The trim rings for the dash are made by Dido Tuning, a company I found on E Bay. Product is very nice and fairly easy to fit into the existing opening. I bought two sets and during the holidays, it took well over two weeks to receive them from the manufacturer in Poland. They make these to fit a variety of domestic and foreign autos. Thanks T/A for the updates.
Dido Tuning For Pontiac Fiero 1984-1988 Polished Aluminum Trim Rings Instrument Cluster x2 POLISHED OR MATT ALUMINIUM SET OF 2 ALUMINIUM RINGS / SURROUNDS
Way past time to update this thread. I have the interior nearly refurbished. Still need to remove driver door panel to reinforce the side mirror toggle/adjuster and reinforce the card that holds the door carpet in place. Lots of repairs in this hi mileage car. New door hinge pins, repainting lots of interior pieces, wife sewing new sun visors and on and on. Cleaned up real well after Mr. MIke came to the rescue with his interpretation of the Beechwood interior. Looks great as his products always do. Attached are a few photos of the interior and a set of refurbished stock 88 lace wheels. Thanks for looking.
Way past time to update this thread. I have the interior nearly refurbished. Still need to remove driver door panel to reinforce the side mirror toggle/adjuster and reinforce the card that holds the door carpet in place. Lots of repairs in this hi mileage car. New door hinge pins, repainting lots of interior pieces, wife sewing new sun visors and on and on. Cleaned up real well after Mr. MIke came to the rescue with his interpretation of the Beechwood interior. Looks great as his products always do. Attached are a few photos of the interior and a set of refurbished stock 88 lace wheels. Thanks for looking.
What else do you have under those car covers? Is the car the wheels are leaning up against the Fiero? Almost looks like the front of a Fiat X-1/9 Bertone. And how about the car behind it... is that a Mustang?
82 TA, the first car undercover is an 84 bumper pad Fiero SE with a 3.8 SC engine and the Mustang looking one is an 88 GT that can be seen in the "mini wide body" thread here on Pennocks. Cars, especially Fiero's can be an addiction. The 88 is on the left, 84 in the middle, and 86 base with 350 sb is on the right. Four Fiero's so far, plus nine more of various makes. Thanks for showing the interest. Been a great hobby, keeps me out of the grave!
