I maybe nuts, but i seem to recall a post about someone removed all the body panels, and drove the Fiero to a car show? Does anybody remember what I'm talking about? Something about it was legal to drive because of the space frame, he had a story about being pulled over, and explaining the car to the cops? Anyone have any pictures? or any information? Is this legal? Just was sort of randomly wondering about it. I think it might have been driven to the dell's a couple years ago?
?
LOL or maybe i am just nuts
kyle
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07:57 PM
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Xanth Member
Posts: 6886 From: Massachusetts Registered: May 2006
I drove this down to the muffler shop, no exhaust, taillights strapped to the back, liscence plate in the window, one head light, etc, lol.
I passed a cop 200 yards down the road. Saw his brake lights come on and he definitely slowed down. He just kept going, Im guessing he just didnt want to deal with it, lol.
I also drove it into town once it had an exhaust to have the entire frame coated with undercoating, inside and out = no rust ever anywhere. I drove all the back roads I could and slipped from parking lot to parking lot.
Technically the wheels are covered by "fenders" and I dont know if you need a hood since the engine is behind you. Technically you would need the liscence plates in reasonable locations, but as long as you have seatbelts, taillights and functioning lights I would think it would be okay, but thats just a guess.
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08:51 PM
fieroguru Member
Posts: 12321 From: Champaign, IL Registered: Aug 2003
The Fiero Farm used to have a bare fiero chassis with just enough parts (like head lights, tail lights, signals, etc) to make it street legal. I think they drove it from MO to Fierorama in 2005.
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09:44 PM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
As long as it has the parts required to be licenced, no reason you cant drive it. Here it must have stop and tail lights, front and rear bumpers, seat belts. Due to a lot of street rods around here, having a hood and fenders or not depends on whether the officer is mad at his wife or not. Nothing says you have to have windows, wipers, doors, etc. You are supposed to have some way of preventing rocks from flying off tires whether thats fenders, liners or mud flaps is open for clarification too.
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10:27 PM
Jun 16th, 2008
buddycraigg Member
Posts: 13606 From: kansas city, mo Registered: Jul 2002
yes, i drove the fiero farm car to a car show. after i got caught in a rain storm, we decided that we needed a partial roof section to be able to put on it when needed.
the only thing we had to add to it after taking the body off was 2 small red reflectors on the rear bumper to get it to pass a Missouri Safety Inspection.
This kind of thing definitely varies from state to state. While that may be legal in some states, I know that it is in fact illegal to drive without the factory bumper cover (meaning just the plastic piece) on the car in Florida.
-JOE
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05:46 PM
Firefox Member
Posts: 4307 From: New Berlin, Wisconsin Registered: Feb 2003
One of the Minnesota club guys drove a naked Fiero to the Dells a few years ago. No body panels at all. I don't have the pics anymore. It was something to see.
Mark
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06:12 PM
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Feb 24th, 2009
Fiero2m8 Member
Posts: 1928 From: Niagara, Ontario, Canada Registered: Feb 2006
Drove it like this for about a week while I was taking it up to my college to work on and dyno. Cops never gave it a second look, but I got pleny of looks going down the road.
If you take off all your body panels and you get stopped for it, just tell them it's a dune buggy :P
up here in michigan, people drive dune buggy's all the time, you have to have lights, front and back, seats and seat belts and something for a windscreen... though I know some guys make them removable, plus all your standard gauges, but that should be common knowledge if you need to know how much gas and how fast you are going. Besides that, you're looking at a rolling frame with a license plate.
actually, one of my freinds and I joked about making a dune buggy out of one... what a sight to see coming up over a hill...
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12:33 AM
Oreif Member
Posts: 16460 From: Schaumburg, IL Registered: Jan 2000
Back in the 80's Pontiac made the claim that with all the body panels off the car it still met all the federal safety standards to be driven on the road. While each state may have it's own set of laws, I most likely would fall into the "dune buggy" catagory without the body panels on it.
Aerodynamics matter a lot. Following Aptera, and other EV manufacturers, I recall that at 60mph, a car spends 60% of it's energy pushing the air in front of the car.
The Fiero has a pretty crappy cd (or CV - too tired to remember the correct term) of .34 (aero notchback - lowest) and .37 (fastback - highest) (lower is better, please verify exact numbers) I'd assume without body panels it would be worse.
Either way, I think it would be really cool to drive a skeleton down the road. (many nights, I thought of it myself - add the bare minimum to make it street legal.)
- The poor mans Ariel Atom so to speak.
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03:09 AM
thefierofarm.com Member
Posts: 1017 From: CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA Registered: Jan 2004
Okay, Here is the story. The car began life as a non air 87 5 speed coupe. I wasn't sure what to do with it and decided to use it for displays. Then it became my daily driver. We put over 80 miles a day on it most days. The body on the fiero weighs about 160lbs. It's main job is to hold the paint in a pretty location. We ran the skeleton for at least three years with no skin. We drove the car year round. We covered the inner door panels with plastic to keep the elements out. We cut a roof skin down to close it up. We also cut the taillight part out of a rear section to mount the taillights to. When I took it in for inspection they went over it with a fine tooth comb and decided I had to install reflectors on the rear since the fiero taillights are non-reflective. The police would ask about it but they were never sure what to think or do. You can't imagine the space people give you on the interstate. Nobody wanted to even get close. It look a little scary (Mad Max like) at 70 mph. I have lots of photos but STILL haven't convinced my good ole laptop to cooperate with putting them up. I will try to send a few to Buddy for posting. I also plan to put a page back up on FieroFarm.com about it. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about it.
Edit; Removing the skin had little or no effect on MPG.
------------------ That Todd guy President of the Kansas City Fiero Owners Group
It's funny you ask about the plastic body idea. I was reading some old POCI newsletters the other day (January 91) and found some very interesting info on this subject. In 1939 and 1940 at the New York Worlds fair Pontiac displayed a clear plexiglass body on a Deluxe Six. Plexiglass was new at the time yet somehow they use the real dies to mold it into the shape of the car. Info can be found at:
This kind of thing definitely varies from state to state. While that may be legal in some states, I know that it is in fact illegal to drive without the factory bumper cover (meaning just the plastic piece) on the car in Florida.
-JOE
You can drive a "Sandrail" in the state of Florida so I think a stripped down Fiero with all lights,windshield and wippers would be legal but they would still try to stop you for something. As said before, depends on where you are at. No shoes,No shirt, No service is applied most everywhere but they dont say anything about it at the coast.
Steve
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04:57 PM
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Feb 27th, 2009
DIY_Stu Member
Posts: 2337 From: Republic of TX Registered: Jun 2007
In Texas the books say nothing about a windscreen but they do say that wipers were mandatory. It was funny to drive my buggy then get asked why I had wipers but no windshield to wipe. I had to laugh and say they were for getting the bugs off my shades. I miss that thing.
Used to be in Ga. (I think it still is) - you can't drive with a cracked windshield but you can drive without one. But if you don't have a windshield, you have to wear "eye protection". ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver"
A couple of years ago Eric drove my naked Fiero to the Dells, I think this is the one you are talking about. He did get pulled over by a Minnesota state patrol and the cop took a picture and let him go. The cop said that there were some equipment violations, probably no reflectors, but still let it go. The car also made it to one of the MFF car shows (see the website) and it was also at the World of Wheels as part of the MFF club display. The naked Fiero also had a complete interior and sunroof glass, unlike the Fiero Farm car. I believe the illinois club also had a naked Fiero for club events.
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02:40 PM
FieroFanatic13 Member
Posts: 3521 From: Big Rapids, MI, USA Registered: Jul 2006
The Fiero has a pretty crappy cd (or CV - too tired to remember the correct term) of .34 (aero notchback - lowest) and .37 (fastback - highest) (lower is better, please verify exact numbers)
Worst Fiero cd is .41 for the standard bodied SE's with the 215/60/14 tires. And I've always seen the aero notchback WITH wing/spoiler listed at .35 and the Fastback at .36. Standard coupe '84-86 was .37 I believe. For sure on the .41 though!
[This message has been edited by FieroFanatic13 (edited 03-18-2009).]
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04:00 PM
Ed Sac Member
Posts: 34 From: Sacramento, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2007
I may have originally posted about the Fiero with no panels.
Many years ago we had a gathering in Reno, Nevada. One of our members drove there from Sacramento, CA, with a panel-less car. This was in June. The bad news was, it snowed on him at Lake Tahoe on one of the drives! He drove to Reno with only shorts and a T-shirt. I lent him a sweatshirt so he wouldn't freeze, and an umbrella to keep out the rain and snow through the top's sunroof hole.
He wasn't cited by any police.
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06:10 PM
darkhorizon Member
Posts: 12279 From: Flint Michigan Registered: Jan 2006
It is very creative and was built by an engineer from what I understand. I don't think he had anything in mind but to make a buggy out of it. The doors still hinge open and use the factory latch. I decided I had to have it because I was impressed by the amount of work that went into it. I am sure I will change some things about it but it is fun to drive. It has been a bit cold but I haven't let that stop me. I will post more photos soon.
------------------ That Todd Guy President of the Kansas City Fiero Owners Group
We ran the skeleton for at least three years with no skin. We drove the car year round. We covered the inner door panels with plastic to keep the elements out. We cut a roof skin down to close it up. We also cut the taillight part out of a rear section to mount the taillights to. When I took it in for inspection they went over it with a fine tooth comb and decided I had to install reflectors on the rear since the fiero taillights are non-reflective. The police would ask about it but they were never sure what to think or do. You can't imagine the space people give you on the interstate. Nobody wanted to even get close. It look a little scary (Mad Max like) at 70 mph. I have lots of photos but STILL haven't convinced my good ole laptop to cooperate with putting them up. I will try to send a few to Buddy for posting. I also plan to put a page back up on FieroFarm.com about it. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about it.
