Fiero Comparo

hey Steven young here at Burlington Auto Wrecking in Bernardston Massachusetts doing the junkyard crawl this is day two of two days focusing on the Pontiac Fiero and in Italian Fiero means proud or pride and which is a fine thing these were interesting little cars there was they were built between 1984 1988 and these predate the mid-engine Corvette but like 33 years the C8 Corvette and yet these are mid-engine cars but they're not all the same like 330 000 of these things were built but with that said there was some small detail differences that are major things this one right here is a 1986 and this has the 85 up GT nose notice how it's rounded off kind of more aerodynamic the hood is the same the pop-up headlights are the same but this is an 84. it's an SE notice how the grill and the shape of the nose on this I should say is more angular has a dividing piece here not the same part by any stretch and that's also an under breather this one has a center hole so they're not the same that said of course the hoods are the same as are the pop-up lights which are lift up and retract as needed when the lights go on but again these are similar but not the same now this is an 84 the very first model year and in fact in 1984 all Fieros had the 2.5 liter four cylinder engine the V6 would arrive in 1985 the 2.8 liter V6 which would bring some extra power to the Fiero but the whole point is don't look for that V6 or four banger up front these are all rear engine creatures you can see right here the interesting thing about these is how the radiator is up front there it is of course the bottom breather is there for a very strong reason to feed cool air to the radiator within its piped through the Rockers to the engine where the water pump circulated through the block these have pretty typical four-wheel disc brakes GM stuff parts bin stuff from the Chevy citation and also from the Chevy Chevette front and rear mini spare tire inflate to 60 PSI and again five lug wheels on these things to look for four lugs these were kind of grown up sort of sort of kind of kind of and again the beauty of these things is all kinds of room up front for luggage in the front or the front trunk as they say and this one's kind of an interesting one this is an 84 the very first year for the Fiero and this one has the factory available glass roof it pops up kind of a cool piece 310 dollars for that thing right there but the crazy part is unlike the Fiat x19 which kind of in spurred interest in fiere with General Motors a decade before the x19 has a removable roof and an open top fear was always closed so if you wanted to enjoy the Sun or the wind you had to get the 310 dollar glass roof which was not quite the same as a Target but almost as good now inside these things if that door opens I don't know Shane give it a pull no it ain't gonna happen that's all right with that said 1984 and 85 of the two years that Fiero came with the speakers built into the headrest we come around this side here uh interesting thing packaging a car this compact every square millimeter had to serve some purpose and in these things right here we'll notice that the speakers for the stereo system are located inside of the headrests let me see if I can get this to play along with us here where's the thing here we go well anyway the speakers are inside here you can kind of see them on both sides behind your ears and that was standard fare by 85 86 the speaker moved into the center stack but again little details along the way this one's also a five-speed manual pretty uncommon the vast majority of these things were automatic equipped and like two-thirds of Fieros were equipped with a four-banger yeah the Iron Duke 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine I think I remember too that the Fiero was the 2m4 2 seeds manual transmission four-cylinder engine it was an economy car the P platform is what they called it but the beauty is you know four wheel disc brakes there they are right there with aluminum calipers something seen on Corvette 1960 or 80 is 84 the C4 Corvette finally got aluminum calipers seen also on Fiero front and rear and these are rear wheel drive cars which is a fine thing not front-wheel drive which is to say they have pretty good balance and speaking of that sort of thing this is Hot Rod Magazine right here October of 83 showcasing what's new of course pro street was the big deal how many people tub their Hemi code is too many is what I say but anyway inside of this right here here's a full Boogie ad right here and it says you're about to meet one of the most Innovative American cars ever from Pontiac Boom the Fiero there it is right there this is the first year the first major ad Motor Trend ran major ads too and here it is right here introducing Pontiac Fiero and again this is a blow up right here showing the SMC sheet molded plastic uh body uh and the inner structure which of course is steel so it's real beauty lies in the logic of its design and as they say right here and the thing of it is these were quick-ish but they weren't really killer muscle cars and don't confuse the Fiero with Ford's exp these things came a few years earlier now this is a two-seater but these are front wheel drive basically this is the uh the Ford Escort with a little extra disco sauce thrown at it but this is basically the Ford Sport coupe the EXP and the Mercury ln7 the xp-181 through 88 ln7 81 through 83 but again look at the front of that thing the headlights are sunken in there aerodynamic what I don't think so but it says here Leonard emmanuelson great rider for Hot Rod Ford put a lot of research into what America and the rest of the world wants from today's automobile the overall picture was clear people wanted a high quality fun and drive small sporty car I dare say Fiero got it far better but here's you know the basically the Ford Escort Parts but again front-wheel drive not mid-engine engines up front by contrast really Jam doubled down on the Fiero with some very brave engineering even though it was pretty much parts being special stuff right out of the Cavalier citation Parts bins of the types now on this one here we'll come around to the back which one does have the optional uh Fiero GT type aluminum wheels which are Miniature versions of the same wheel that could be found on a Pontiac Firebird kind of cool a little smaller the same design same family look and as we come around here we'll see two M4 two seats manual transmission four cylinder engine notice how the engine is in there oh yeah and there it is the trans four and the 2.5 liter also known as the Iron Duke Pontiac pushrod engine not a bad engine not particularly you know modern or anything like that but there it is in its Glory with this torque arm right here to keep it from rattling and banging back and forth as you dump the clutch if you had one of the few stick shifted inversions that were produced but when I was back at uh University in 1985 you know I had sort of a an anxiety about how lame new cars were I actually built this model right here in 1985 as a junior at Clark University it's a Pontiac Fiero you know but I couldn't leave well enough alone on mine what I did is I basically corrected it I took the roof off and then put a shaker hood hole in the back so that a proper Pontiac Trans Am 400 cubic inch V8 could live back here and it goes right on like that I never did finish this model but it's almost ready to go it's one of those things where one of these days I'll get around to it right now I have a square to it but I just have to get around to it but again you know if only Pontiac did a 400 cubic inch Fiero how cool that would have been but it'd have to live on in 125th scale in the meantime now moving over to this black car over here something's kind of interesting 1985 with the V6 engine all Fieros got a new engine cover with this hump one piece structure now in 1984 the first year for Fiero we'll notice here there's no hump it's a two-piece engine cover check that out there's a vent right there because there was no V6 thing of it is the V6 has a very large intake plenum which won't clear underneath this thing right here so this is a 1984 first year and it's interesting too if we look at the back of this thing we'll see some add-on Graphics Turbo fuel injection well let's not get too carried away you can buy these things at Pep Boys and it says fuel injection never happened with that said this is Motor Trend Magazine right here and this is from the fall of 1980 or July of 1983 we all know that Motor Trend really rarely makes any mistakes with maybe one exception canceled what do you mean we're canceled but in here we have a nice little story on predictions for Fiero and it says right here fire breathing Fiero now I guess it's July of 83 the field hadn't been launched yet Jim's new corporate 2.9 liter aluminum V6 a port injected 60 degree based on the Chevy's 2.8 not the 2.8 they're talking two nine get shoehorned into the Pontiac Frio in the 85 model year that happened and reportedly will be fitted with an 86 with an optional turbocharger sources of the GM Tech Center report the Camaro and Firebird may also get the turbo 2.9 which is set by Pontiac Engineers to develop well over 200 horsepower in testing it never happened but it says here incidentally the moles inside Chevy and Pontiac hit that the front wheel drive versions of the Camaro and Firebird what may appear in 87 through an 88 and we all now know of course front wheel drive Fiero and Firebird or Camaro and Firebird never happen but that crazy front-wheel drive Pony car fever was spreading throughout Detroit and right here Ford was even rumored is taking the topaz based Mustang never happened but again front wheel drive fever was raging and thank goodness it never really materialized because it would have been well pretty lame to be honest with you now on this one here let's take a look again this is a two-piece deck lid and this structure right here does not have the hump on it but underneath we can see much of the same stuff and here it is that four call it what you will it's basically an antique but there it is the attack four Iron Duke 2.5 liter Android I think 90 horsepower maybe but again a very different under structure here on the underside again 1984 one year only deal because again there was no optional V6 no need for a taller deck lid because the the intake manifold was nice and flat on that little puny Tech four not to be confused with the TEC-9 there's a difference but on this one here we can see inside okay door ain't going to open but initiating a little piece this is the SC and again this would have had basically a standard stamped steel wheel 13 maybe a 14 incher and remember too that Midway through 1985 the Fiero GT Fastback arrived on the picture and all it really was was extra length sail panels that made it kind of look a little sleeker from the side but not be confused with the 1988 which is a one-year final year design with much better suspension and a much more modernized body on it and again everybody says you know GM they always get stuff just right and then dump it so for for that said the 88 Firebird or Fiero excuse me was a very special creature but again 84 first year 85 86 well along into the mid-range of a 300 plus thousand unit run so that's how you can tell an 84 fire Fiero look for that two-piece deck lid with a flat face and up front Fiero GT with that optional round face was the basic Fiero SE with its boxy ER fascia so the devil is indeed in the details when you're talking about the pride of Pontiac the Fiero now if you like this video be sure to subscribe to the steamags YouTube channel subscribe to this channel I just mentioned that do it twice why not do it three times do it four times do it ten times just do it of course hit the Bell so you know the next video hits which is tomorrow [Music] foreign

Channel: Steve Magnante

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Length: 12min 29sec (749 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 09 2023