A lot of automobiles that are built bare the signature symbol that represents the make or model of that car. The Ford Mustang has the emblem of Ford on the front and back. The signature symbol on the side of the cars is the Mustang horse emblem. These emblems let you know the car is a Ford Mustang.
There is a car built in 1984 that does not bare an emblem that tells you what auto company built it. It does bare the emblem of the Pegasus flying horse. This car is called the Fiero. This is a car that is the outsider that Pontiac produced from 1984 to 1988.
The Fiero is of a strange design. This is a mid-engine two seater sports car that has the radiator and spare tire in the front while the engine sits behind the driver and passenger seats. There is no explanation of why the car did not have the Pontiac symbol emblem mounted anywhere on the car.
The designers of this odd shaped looking automobile are Hulki Aldikacti and George Milidrag. This car became the first two seater sports car built since 1926 to 1938 sport coups were running the streets of the United States. The body of the car is not metal but fiberglass similar to the Corvette. Some people today think it looks a little like the DeLorean which was the car used in “Back to the Future.”
John DeLorean did work for Pontiac for a time. The designers wanted a V6 engine installed but got the low powered four cylinder engine called “Iron Duke.” The engine is a heavy cast iron engine. It was a very reliable tough engine excepted for the low power. They were forced to settle for the four cylinder engine.
The reasoning behind not going with a higher powered V6 was that it would cost more money than the cost of manufacturing the entire car. They had to put a smaller oil pan on the engine to get it to fit in the little car. In reality, the car is running a quart low on oil. This would lead to a lot of problems.
Some of the problems with this car ranged from low power which hurt sales to engine fires and overheating issues. Pontiac produced a little over 370,000 of these cars. .036 % of these had problems with engines catching on fire. Some of the fire happened while driving. The 1984 models were the most with these problems.
They found out that the connecting rods inside the engines were weak and would break. Rods sometimes went through the engine block and leak oil on the hot exhaust causing a fire. Some of the 1985 through 1988 models did come with a V6 higher powered engine. There were several other problems that further hurt sales.
There was a prototype Fiero produced in 1990. The prototype never went into production. The Fiero is the outsider car that General Motors would rather forget. Today they are collectors’ items. Some car buffs installed big V8 engines. There are Fiero Clubs out there. With all of the car companies building cars that have the look of cars from yesterday, could Gm try and build a concept Fiero for today?