Too Late the Fiero…

The transformation was astonishing. The 1988 car had performance, braking, and handling to go with the good looks

by Rob Sass

The manner in which the Pontiac Fiero was sold to the unimaginative Roger B. Smith-era GM management (now thankfully long gone)—a generation of inbred, know-nothing dullards, who nearly killed GM—speaks volumes about how obtuse they were.

One sports car, the Corvette, was enough for Smith’s beady-eyed bean counters, so the mid-engine, two-seater “P-car” (as the Fiero was known internally) was billed as an efficient “commuter car.” While the term brings to mind something appliance-like, the resulting Fiero looked quite similar to other mid-engine sports cars of the era, particularly the elusive AC ME3000, a still-born English design.

The sports car similarities ended there, as the developed-on-the-cheap “commuter car” shared suspension pieces from lackluster GM cars of the era. Front suspension was initially Chevette-derived. And following the practice of mid-engine cars of the time, the drivetrain was a cleverly relocated front-wheel-drive engine...