#9…   Pontiac Fiero GT (only 1988).

Pontiac came out with a ground-breaking car in 1984… but it was only half done.  The Fiero was an affordable and attractive mid-engine car.  Previously, almost all mid-engine cars were exotics and super cars… (spelled F-e-r-r-a-r-i).  It was “sold” to the corporate accountants as a commuter car, rather than as an enthusiast car… and appointed to accomplish that mission.

Image via Wikipedia

The front suspension was basically the same as a Chevette.  The rear suspension was the basic X-platform (Chevy Citation) design.  It was VERY inexpensive for GM to grab the parts from the bin and drop them into a new car.  The accountants loved that.  But, that also meant that the car handled like a cross between a Chevette and a Citation.  Ish.

But all of that changed in 1988.  Apparently the engineers locked the accountants in their wing of GM headquarters after the decision was made to kill the Fiero… because it wasn’t living up to the expectations of enthusiasts.  The suspension was COMPLETELY redesigned.  It was what the engineers had wanted all along, and it gave the Fiero the handling that backed up the looks.  Fiero GTs and Formulas with the V6 engine had stellar performance.  They weren’t wasting Corvettes, but they could hang on a twisty track, and were half the cost.

I used to know a guy that auto-crossed a 1988 Fiero Formula.  In his hands, that car was amazing… he won a couple of SCCA National Championships with that car.  He also managed to get 25+mpg on the highway.

It really is a shame that the Fiero didn’t get a chance to debut with a proper suspension.  Had the reviews (after the initial excitement) been better, the car’s sales might have remained stronger.  But, even with the headwind, the car sold double the projected number of cars in its final year.  Production was still low, though… only a bit over 26,000 cars.  Of those, about half were 4 cylinder cars, the balance being a mix of GTs and Formulas.

1988 Fieros regularly show up on eBay… and they bring a definite premium over the earlier cars.

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