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| Restoring my personal 88 Fiero for the second time , So expensive. (Page 1/1) |
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pokeyfiero
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MAR 29, 11:43 PM
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I'm now for the second time restoring my personal 88. By personal I mean I have had 40 plus Fieros But this has always been my put put cruiser,Take on runs and such . Took my wife out on our first date in this car.
I still have 6 more even though I technically got out of Fieros a long time ago.
It has an original 117 thou on it. IN the last ten years I don't think it has gotten 1000 miles on it.
First time it didn't need so much but this time all the little things are adding up hard. Skrews,tabs,moulds,covers seals,wipes,clips ,seats,pucks,hoses,belts,lines,brake lines,cables and on and on on just little bolt/attach on type stuff.
Second full PPG paint job down to the primer in it's life. Holy crap paint is three times what it was 15 years or so ago.
Taking all the black parts off the car to refinish paint or super clean and found 50 pounds of dirt and various debris tucked in every nook and crevice. No idea how this stuff even finds itsway into these places.
JUst to this point I have $6 grand in and about another 2 in parts on order. Mind it was complete and perfectly drivable when I started about two weeks ago.
I have three more 88s I'll be doing one after another here. I'm going to sell them but I don't want to sell them to someone that is looking for a cheap car or a cool car that they dream of fising and then it somehow ends up in the wrecking yard.. SO, I'm making sure that who ever buys them has a serious vested interest in the car.
I'm going to post a bunch of pics and close up later. I have a pic of my security feed as of now.
I love Fieros and always have. I remember checking out a new GT on the dealer lot back in the day,
Bought my first one at 18 years old from an impound lot. Guy got his car took and impounded in a car chase and went to jail. Lucky me!!!!
About four decades later i'm switching to something a little more comfy. Thinking a 63 Lincoln Continental.
Life changes
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Logic doesn't mean correct or right.
For example: Punching someone in the face until they no longer think the way they did before is effectively changing their mind in a statistically positive way.
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Patrick
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MAR 30, 01:03 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by pokeyfiero:
I still have 6 more even though I technically got out of Fieros a long time ago.
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It's understandable that you'd need to wean yourself off this curse involvement in steps. 
Nice to see you back here again.
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Vintage-Nut
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MAR 30, 08:46 AM
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As "Vintage-Nut" - I have two unmodified one-owner "American Classics"
1984 Chevrolet Scottdale K10 Short Bed and 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT
The Chevy is worth more now than I brought it
The Fiero is worth 'peanuts'....
However, I'm 'restoring' the GT and yes, everything is "so expensive" these days!
| quote | | I have three more 88s I'll be doing one after another here. I'm going to sell them ... |
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Even though the Fiero is an emerging class of collector cars; I bet it will be hard to get your 'restoring' money back when selling them.
IMHO - Either restore them as a 'hobby' OR put enough time as they're running and sell them 'As-Is'
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Original Owner of a Silver '88 GT
Under 'Production Refurbishment' @ 136k Miles[This message has been edited by Vintage-Nut (edited 03-30-2025).]
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pokeyfiero
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MAR 30, 04:20 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Vintage-Nut:
As "Vintage-Nut" - I have two unmodified one-owner "American Classics"
1984 Chevrolet Scottdale K10 Short Bed and 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT
The Chevy is worth more now than I brought it
The Fiero is worth 'peanuts'....
However, I'm 'restoring' the GT and yes, everything is "so expensive" these days!
Even though the Fiero is an emerging class of collector cars; I bet it will be hard to get your 'restoring' money back when selling them.
IMHO - Either restore them as a 'hobby' OR put enough time as they're running and sell them 'As-Is'
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I agree but I have saved many 88's from certain death by crusher or teenager. I'll wait until I find some one that wants what they want.
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Vintage-Nut
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MAR 30, 05:02 PM
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Awesome - Enjoy! 
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82-T/A [At Work]
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MAR 30, 07:03 PM
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I'm looking forward to watching the process. If you haven't run into the videos or seen my posts on here, my daughter is restoring hers as well, and I'm funding it for her.
We're definitely not taking the cheap path, I'll say that. The previous owner had the car for over 25 years, and maintained it well... but in doing so, he often replaced bolts with ones that weren't the correct ones, or did other little things in order to keep the car on the road. In any case though, we've been buying parts, upgrading things ... basically sparing no expense. I know I've been criticized for it before, but it's been a learning experience for her.
I plan to total everything up, and she'll make a video on lessons learned... but it's looking like (plus the cost of the car) the total cost of this car with restoration will have totaled about ~26 thousand dollars. Which almost seems impossible to even comprehend. We have all the receipts, all the parts, etc. But... the ENTIRE car has been disassembled and completely... I mean COMPLETELY restored from top to bottom. literally everything is new. So I don't feel too bad about it...
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pokeyfiero
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MAR 30, 07:31 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
I'm looking forward to watching the process. If you haven't run into the videos or seen my posts on here, my daughter is restoring hers as well, and I'm funding it for her.
We're definitely not taking the cheap path, I'll say that. The previous owner had the car for over 25 years, and maintained it well... but in doing so, he often replaced bolts with ones that weren't the correct ones, or did other little things in order to keep the car on the road. In any case though, we've been buying parts, upgrading things ... basically sparing no expense. I know I've been criticized for it before, but it's been a learning experience for her.
I plan to total everything up, and she'll make a video on lessons learned... but it's looking like (plus the cost of the car) the total cost of this car with restoration will have totaled about ~26 thousand dollars. Which almost seems impossible to even comprehend. We have all the receipts, all the parts, etc. But... the ENTIRE car has been disassembled and completely... I mean COMPLETELY restored from top to bottom. literally everything is new. So I don't feel too bad about it...
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A restored Fiero is really undervalued. I don't think anything can be dome about it.
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css9450
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APR 03, 04:23 PM
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I may be biased, but I approve of the color!
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cartercarbaficionado
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APR 03, 04:58 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by css9450:
I may be biased, but I approve of the color!
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isnt that medium red metallic? which is my favorite color for 2 tone fieros
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