Who here would have bought a 1990 GT if what we know to be the Proto Type, became the 1990 Fiero GT production car?
Personally, I don't think the 1990 Proto Type can even be associated with a Fiero GT. It should be categorized with a Firebird or Trans Am, never a Fiero.
I love the 1988 Fiero GT. The lines of the 88 Fiero GT just call out my name, and make my heart start thumping.
What about You ???
OR
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05:10 PM
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Francis T Member
Posts: 6620 From: spotsylvania va. usa Registered: Oct 2003
I like them both. Yes, the 90 looks a lot like f-bird, but it's still sweet looking car. In my opion, it's what the F-bird should have been, especially size-wise. And that all-black roof adds a lot to make it look like an F-bird/ Maybe someone that likes to play with photo shop can show us the same car in all red?
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05:44 PM
Finally_Mine_86_GT Member
Posts: 4809 From: Hyde Park, New York Registered: Sep 2006
I would have bought the 1990 in a heatbeat. Although the styling today looks like a Firebird, (because the Firebird used many of the styling cues of the 1990 prototype) it's still a mid-engine, two seater car and the Firebird is not.
If you saw the video where they built up the 90 prototype in a conference room, it's not a different form the 1988 as you might think. They added on the width and length in rear, but the basic space frame is the same. The interior would have been a lot the same, but with a rounder instrument pod and the (now) firebird gauges.
Personally, I don't think the 1990 Proto Type can even be associated with a Fiero GT. It should be categorized with a Firebird or Trans Am, never a Fiero.
Well, if I fast "rewind" in 1988, and GM has annonced that this will be the next model for 1989 or 1990, and has gone thru making it, I will had purchased it.
But you have to place yourself in the timeline perspective and go yourself wayback in time....when the Firebird was still a "boxy wedge shaped car"
Why? You have to take into account that this Fiero prototype, came way before the production of the Firebird/Camaro of the last generation in 1994. So , it's just a guess, but I'm pretty sure that the Firebird will never had the exact same look that we know today and maybe this prototype had time to evolve with some more distinctive design clue to help differenciate it but at the same time keeping a Pontiac family look until the 1994 new gen Camaro/Firebird came out.
Dont forget...if this car has come out in 1990, it has been already 4 year old when the last gen Firebird appeared. Enough time to change the styling.
Now, when we place ourself in 2007, we have not the same look about it...but our point of view is false this way.
[This message has been edited by perry rhodan (edited 02-11-2007).]
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07:43 PM
CoolBlue87GT Member
Posts: 8447 From: Punta Gorda, Florida, USA Registered: Apr 2001
personally i would have taken the 90 if the rear was a little differnt i like the 88 rear better myself but other then that i wouldn't mind one or the other. i don't remember but didn't they put a 3.8 in the 90 or is my info wrong?
i test drove 95 bird with a 3.8 and thought it was good just thinking if that was the case probally the 90.
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08:12 PM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
But you have to place yourself in the timeline perspective and go yourself wayback in time....when the Firebird was still a "boxy wedge shaped car" Now, when we place ourself in 2007, we have not the same look about it...but our point of view is false this way.
Bingo. The 1990 is "tainted" at best due to our knowledge of the Firebird/Camero borrowing features from the 1990 Fiero concept. To think of it in any other fashion would cause "ripples in the time continuum" and the world as we know it....would explode, hehe.
Besides, this Fiero Concept is better:
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 02-11-2007).]
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08:27 PM
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Raydar Member
Posts: 40910 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Right. If the Fiero had continued in production, the Firebird and Camaro probably wouldn't have borrowed so many of the styling cues of the 90 prototype. (Actually, to add to the fire, I read that one of the reasons that the Fiero was killed was because there was going to be a FWD F body built in the same plant. When that idea was scrapped, it was harder to justify keeping the Fiero plant open.)
I'm kind of partial to the Formula and fastback GT body lines. I would have liked to see a wider body (in the direction of the IMSA kits that Fiero Warehouse sells) and maybe some minor changes to the lights and fascias, but that's it. I always thought the 90 prototype was kind of cool looking, but also a little bit too far away from the original concept. And the 90 coupe/Formula bodies didn't do a thing for me.
------------------ Raydar 88 4.9 Formula IMSA Fasback..........................88 3.4 coupe................................................
Originally posted by madcurl: ..... To think of it in any other fashion would cause "ripples in the time continuum" and the world as we know it....would explode, hehe.
ROFL...
Little questions : Who is the owner of this '90 GT proto? And is it fully functionnal?...and how much its worth now?
Also, I've seen on some picture on the web, last year , of a scrap yard with three '89-'90 Fiero coupe (dark grey)...what did they become?
[This message has been edited by perry rhodan (edited 02-11-2007).]
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09:03 PM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
Hey, I noticed after looking at the 90 concept car that the base of the dash looks the same...It is the speedo cluster that changed. So, knowing that, could I just get the speedo cluster off of the Fierbird and swap it in? Thanks! jscott?
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10:29 PM
Brian Lamberts Member
Posts: 2691 From: TUCSON AZ USA Registered: Feb 2003
I know it kinda goes against the grain of this thread, but I'm kinda glad there wasn't a second generation dimensionally different Fiero. I think it's kinda sad that the potential of the platform wasn't given a chance to be realized, but on the other hand, if GM had committed even a fraction of the resources it devoted to the Corvette it would have stifled the creativity of the aftermarket.
We, the Fiero community, more than any other group of car fanatics have let our imaginations run wild. What other group of fanatics regularly swap in a diverse assortment of engines to replace technologically deficient 4 and 6 cylinder engines? What other car in history has had the assortment of body kits and body mods available and fairly regularly done? If the chassis of later models were dimensionally different does anyone think that body kits for the 80's generation would be available? and if in Fiero Gen II or III GM had put in some almost state of the art drivetrain that Archie, Bubbajoe, Rockcrawl, Aaronrus & others would have bothered to figured out (and designed the hardware for) all the wonderful engine and transmission combinations that are now available? (some are even very economical to do the conversions.)
I know my point of view is somewhat different from all you folks back in the rust belt. Out here in the dry, gentle to cars West, our chassis don't rust (pretty much at all) or even wear out. Figuring that my Formula will probably last the rest of my life is pretty freeing--I can renew the worn parts with some expectation that I'll have the car in a driveable state long enough to enjoy all the improvements that have been developed over the years.
I think, kind of inspite of themselves (and they'd never admit it,) that the designers of the Fiero did a heII of a job and I guess almost by accident designed (potentially) GM's best car. We are the guys (and gals) that take that concept and run with it, tho. It's our imagination and the collective thinking that have helped reveal the Fiero's potential and keep it a work in progress.
I've seen that mock up video for the 90 Fiero. I didn't get the strong impression that those guys loved what they were doing.
But most of us love our Fieros, I think.
I look at that 90 prototype--it doesn't hold a candle to Archies Fino, Finale, or GT 40 cars.
[This message has been edited by Brian Lamberts (edited 02-11-2007).]
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11:12 PM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
IMO If people spent as much energy on the outside of their Fiero as they do on the inside (swaps and such)...why would anyone care about the 1990 concept? The new "ideas" are right before our eyes to create, form, and imagine using the existing parts in front of us. As for the 1990 concept Fiero, the engine, nose, door skins, deck-lid-roof are very nicely created however...just like the Firebird and the Camero, the back end was getting elongated IMO. I think it was best that the production stop at 1988.
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11:56 PM
Feb 12th, 2007
jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
could I just get the speedo cluster off of the Fierbird and swap it in? Thanks! jscott?
Yes, you could build a new pod and just swap in the cluster. Once person I recall had built such a pod, MinnGreenGT could probably find the picture of it.
Still the 1990 was an evolutionary design. It was built off the exact same spaceframe as we know it today, just with a few extras bolted on like the "Magic Plate" in the rear that gives it the extra length.
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12:51 AM
AusFiero Member
Posts: 11513 From: Dapto NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2001
I bought my first new car in December of 1988, the 1989 model year and I'm here to tell you, if Pontiac was building the Fiero then, it would have been #'s 1, 2 and 3 on my list of cars to buy.
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06:44 AM
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hyperv6 Member
Posts: 6090 From: Clinton, OH, USA Registered: Mar 2003
The F body was going to FWD at the time the Fiero was being built and the 1990 was being designed. This is what it was going to look like.
Later GM scaped this car and went back to RWD and started over. The Fiero plant where the GM 80 was going to be built along with the Fiero help close the plan becuse it was under capacity. The GM 80 was plastic bodied and going to be built on the same line.
When Ford did not name the Probe as the new Mustang they went back to the start and did a new F body for 93. John Schinella who is the many responsible for the styling of all Fiero's thought the 90 was too good to waste so he adapted it to the F body and front engine.
Even the Z28 shows where it came from.
By the way the car pictured with the different wheels. those wheels were tested in 1984-85 by Motor Wheel and Goodyear for GM and were made of plastic. They were expected to be more durable and lighter but never made production.
I know of one 1985 GT that still has them on and I would buy the car if I can find him again.
FYI they one I picked up was lighter but not by much.
[This message has been edited by hyperv6 (edited 02-12-2007).]
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07:14 AM
Maloso Member
Posts: 515 From: Van Nuys, CA Registered: Dec 2006
Later GM scaped this car and went back to RWD and started over. The Fiero plant where the GM 80 was going to be built along with the Fiero help close the plan becuse it was under capacity. The GM 80 was plastic bodied and going to be built on the same line.
When Ford did not name the Probe as the new Mustang they went back to the start and did a new F body for 93. John Schinella who is the many responsible for the styling of all Fiero's thought the 90 was too good to waste so he adapted it to the F body and front engine.
Even the Z28 shows where it came from.
I have mixed feelings about the GM80... a FWD Firebird would have really sucked bad, and the rear wheel drive 4th gen F-body was really nice and revived the whole muscle car era of the 90s.
But a continuation of the Fiero line into the 90s would have been really nice too.
But it still bothers me when poeple say the 1990 Fiero looks too much like an F-body...remember it came first.
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12:30 PM
AquaHusky Member
Posts: 1234 From: Sedalia, Mo Registered: Dec 2006
WOW !! I am surprised to see how many people prefer the 1990 over our existing 88's.
I can only imagine the following the Fiero's would have, if Pontiac made one more production year of the Fiero that resembled the above depicted Proto Type.
Ian
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03:04 PM
jscott1 Member
Posts: 21676 From: Houston, TX , USA Registered: Dec 2001
WOW !! I am surprised to see how many people prefer the 1990 over our existing 88's.
I can only imagine the following the Fiero's would have, if Pontiac made one more production year of the Fiero that resembled the above depicted Proto Type.
Ha, add some wheel skirts and a couple of F-15 style tailfins and you'll have a dead on impression of those space-aged "future cars" that GM was sending around the show circuit in the 50's. Actually, that might be a good thing. Those cars all came with V8s (or at least a picture of a V8 for the mock cars).
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Don't look now, but I think the idiots have taken over the asylum.
AIM: JSAL86
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11:56 AM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003