Pulling molds off the body has been kicked around for over five years. I have discussed the issue with Doug at Fiero Warehouse in great detail. So far, I have not seen enough incentive to make it worth my time.
Just think if you pulled molds, you could make the other ones to go along with the originals!
It would be cool as heck to see your blue, yellow, and soon-to-be red PPG cars with even a remake of the other originals. (Especially that green one in my book!)
Congratulations on the acquisition, and good luck on the restoration!
------------------
-Aaron
quote
Originally posted by pontiackid86: I could have been an 85 SE V6.. never know
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03:15 PM
FuryArrow Member
Posts: 130 From: modesto, ca, us Registered: Nov 2010
YOU KNOW, JAY LENO WILL GIVE YOU AT LAST A MILLION FOR THE CAR! He's a Fiero fan, and also prides himself on collecting one of a kind and hard to find cars. I wouldnt be surprised if he has someone on this site scoping your thread! I'll give you $20k cash in it's current condition if you're interested!
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03:30 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
It makes me want to cry seeing it in that condition, but very glad that it went to you, Fred. I know that this restoration will take a large amount of time, but I can't wait to see it when completed.
If you need a driver during the Turkey Days parade in Frazee, all you need to do is ask.
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06:30 PM
hyperv6 Member
Posts: 6091 From: Clinton, OH, USA Registered: Mar 2003
It makes me want to cry seeing it in that condition, but very glad that it went to you, Fred. I know that this restoration will take a large amount of time, but I can't wait to see it when completed.
If you need a driver during the Turkey Days parade in Frazee, all you need to do is ask.
You think this one is bad just think about the other missing three. I bet they are much worse off. You may have passed one that was recyled into a Hyundai.
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06:43 PM
Big Paul Member
Posts: 446 From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Registered: Sep 2010
Incredible. I couldn't be happier that you now own this irreplaceable piece of Fiero history. You truly have a heart of gold and incredible patience and attention to detail when it comes to everything Fiero, Fred. Good luck. I am glad this car is in your hands.
------------------ I'm a poor college student because I modify my cars!
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03:20 AM
PFF
System Bot
hyperv6 Member
Posts: 6091 From: Clinton, OH, USA Registered: Mar 2003
Thanks for the updated photo's. The car looks as if it has not changed much. Many of the damaged area are the same and the inter bits do not look as if it wa monkeyed with too much.
Can say the new paint improved things much. I hope they teach better paint work at that school the represented here.
I think you will do well on the restore. It will take some work and time but I know the work you do and it will be right again.
Just with the way the school was when I last saw it I never expected them to do the right thing. I think you were the right person at the right time that saved this car.
Engine Bay: It is a huge tangle of messin around. The car quit running sometime in the 90's and the school's solution was to add the aftermarket ACCEL ECM donated by Summit to just run the car. All of the turbo control was eliminated at that point. The engine bay is the area that degraded the most on the car. The school indicated that the engine work was done by Lingenfelter, but my research indicates that it was done by Concept Automotive in Plymouth MI in conjunction with GM. Like I said before, the research continues until I find the person who actually did the work. The trackside brochure on the car claims that the engine produces 200 HP at 11 psi of boost.
Fred,
you might want to call Bob Palma. He and Betty have split, he might know the answer to that. Let me know if you can't reach him, I can locate him.
Congrats Fred! Wow is all I can say. This little "project" should keep you busy for a while...lol. I wonder if GM still has the blue one? I know they went through their huge collection and either destroyed or sold off a LOT of cars. I believe the yellow and black drag car was destroyed. And the silver 2+2 was on put on the auction block. Never heard anything about the blue PPG car though.
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03:00 PM
NCTyphoonKid Member
Posts: 1277 From: Trinity, NC USA Registered: Jun 2008
Congrats Fred! Wow is all I can say. This little "project" should keep you busy for a while...lol. I wonder if GM still has the blue one? I know they went through their huge collection and either destroyed or sold off a LOT of cars. I believe the yellow and black drag car was destroyed. And the silver 2+2 was on put on the auction block. Never heard anything about the blue PPG car though.
The yellow and black Formula drag car was sold at Barrett Jackson along with the blue PPG car which resides in Iowa to my understanding Korey
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03:27 PM
NCTyphoonKid Member
Posts: 1277 From: Trinity, NC USA Registered: Jun 2008
Very good purchase! You must be proud and very happy. The condition looks to be in pretty good condition for a car that a school used. real good!
How is the interior? stock? special guages or anything? So what will be your first step in fixing this up? Have you found out where the orginal lights on the top went? Will you be replaceing them? such a wonderful present for ya! congrats!
[This message has been edited by revin (edited 12-05-2010).]
Wow man, just found this thread..... That really was a beautiful car back then. I simply cannot understand why anyone would have wanted to repaint it like that. The paint job sucks and does nothing for the car. Those original pics are of something rare and special. I sincerely hope that you intend to and are able to bring it back to it's former glory. What an interesting looking car and seeing it in that photo of the other cars of the time it looks even better then the Corvette out front. Easy to see the confrontation that apparently ensued from the Corvette guys when the Fiero looks so low and sleek. Whoever let that car get in that condition should get his butt kicked!! Thankfully the Fiero gods have seen fit to get it back into the hands of someone who apparently loves and respects the history and beauty of these rare cars. Good luck with the rebuild and please, please make it look like it did back then!! peace
YOU KNOW, JAY LENO WILL GIVE YOU AT LAST A MILLION FOR THE CAR! He's a Fiero fan, and also prides himself on collecting one of a kind and hard to find cars. I wouldnt be surprised if he has someone on this site scoping your thread! I'll give you $20k cash in it's current condition if you're interested!
I don't see Leno as any sort of Fiero fan. I offered him a never titled 84 SE with all options and seat wrappers still on it. Never heard a word back from him or his reps.
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01:17 PM
Doug85GT Member
Posts: 9704 From: Sacramento CA USA Registered: May 2003
That is very nice. Looking at what little of the turbo that can be seen, it looks like a 12A. 12A is the same turbo that is on the Mitsubishi Starion or Dodge Conquest. That is probably the perfect size to run 11 psi of boost on a 2.8.
If you can get a better look at it, it will look something like this:
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07:45 PM
Jun 6th, 2011
ED77KATR Member
Posts: 420 From: Wildwood Crest, NJ Registered: Nov 2003
Congrats on a Great Find!!! I also have a Fiero[regular notchback] with only 000079.9 actual miles on it. It also was a Vo-tech Donated school car. in the past they were supposed to be crushed ..destroyed after schools done with them,but after GM lost a big court case over a few "Donated" cars They no longer had control over them. Nowadays they get passed on with a bill of sale as long as they were used 7 years. Back in 80s GM gave 2 CERV prototype corvettes to a school..years later school tryed to sell them for a cool half million apiece. GM tryed to take them to court. GM lost case. Ruled once ya donated them they aint yours.. Now GM does sell on occasion Prototypes at auctions with"Bill of Sale" A school in Florida has a rare 1989 Corvette ZR1 instead of selling it they Donated it back to GM.It now sits in Corvette museum in Bowling green. Hey you are doing a Great Deed saving that Pace car. Good luck with it. It could not have found a better new home. I know you will give it better care than the students.
words cannot explain my envy of you right now. can you or someone else make moldings of the panels? I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to make my own clone of this car.
[This message has been edited by Sigler85GT (edited 03-02-2012).]
I absolutely love the look of your car! Do you happen to know and off the paint codes/names off the PPG cars? The pearl green would look nice on a project car we have. Thanks
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07:12 PM
RAREW66 Member
Posts: 1119 From: Davenport, IA USA Registered: Jun 2001
I have been wanting to update this thread for a long time as there has been a lot of new stuff that has come up after spending some time with the car. During July last summer, I disassembled most of the mechanicals to make sure that everything works before I will attempt the restoration. I have been told that this car was the first one built and it was built with a lot of assistance from the PMD Prototype shop. The car is covered with project numbers scribed in to each part. Most of the parts associated with the engine, brakes and suspension are prototype engineering samples or preproduction parts. I have disassembled, cleaned, repaired when necessary all of the suspension and steering, brake system, fuel system, clutch hydraulics, turbo, hydraulic E-brake system, and other small items to make the car dependable to run. One of the reasons that the car became a burden on the school is that the clutch was not releasing. What I found is that the clutch assembly had gotten so hot that the friction disk was burned to the flywheel and the pressure plate disk was warped in to a nice blue cone shape. After a new clutch, I was able drive the car under it's own power with reliable brakes and steering. The next hurdle is to rebuild the turbo unit as it smokes very nicely when backing off the throttle. The internal wastegate was coked up and was blocking any boost long before the car came to Iowa. After the turbo rebuild, I will tackle the entire electrical system in the car. Nothing electric in the car works except the aftermarket Accel ECM that is running the car. The original ECM went bad at some point in the early nineties and Summit Racing donated the aftermarket ECM to get he car running again. Needless to say, the wiring harnesses in the car short of the front bulkhead harness are cobbled up to the point that I will need to change the harnesses out from the firewall back.
Fortunately, most of the car is in excellent condition outside of the body and engine bay. The areas that the students had not done anything with resemble a 2300 mile car. The restoration will be lengthy and time consuming, but worth it in the end.
So far, I have been lucky enough to find the correct Whelen Edge 9000 light bar with correct 1986 date coded frame, power supplies, strobe filaments and lenses. The light bar on the red turbo car has two more strobes in it than the other five cars had. The period correct lightbars have proven to be very difficult to find.
The PPG lab painter has found and sold me a gallon of the correct red paint made for this car from 1986. The gallon is pigment only and I need to add seven more chemicals to make it sprayable paint. I should have about three gallons of paint all mixed together. I learned more about the paint than I ever realized possible. Should I say, I had a little chemistry lesson administered. I am not exactly sure what is in the extra cans to mix in to the pigment. Each can is marked with a mixing ratio by weight. Then I can add the catalyst and thinner to spray the paint. I can then use any modern clear over the top that I choose. The paint is preproduction PPG DAU Delton. Deltron urethane paint was just being introduced in the the automotive refinish field at this time, but had been used for several years on the race cars for development.
The color is called "Fred Red" named after the PPG Vice President of the CART PPG Indy Car World Series Fred Rhue. Two other cars, the Old Calais and Mustang SVO were painted in "Fred Red". The special feature of the "Fred Red" was that in addition to the deep red color, the paint casts a hazy blue shadow on the side of the car that is not in direct sunlight. There were variations of this color named "Ed Red" "Ted Red" and "Bob Red" that were used on some of the other pace cars.
I also found an NOS set of Goodyear Eagle VR's with the paper tags still on them with date codes matching the year the car was built. 225/50 VR 16 for the rear and 205/55 VR 16 for the front.
I would love to post some pictures, but I just bought a MAC and have not figured out how to get around posting pictures in PIP.
Wow, very good info! This thread is almost like a museum. And speaking of museums, I did see the purple, maybe it was purple and white, can barely remember, PPG Fiero in the Chicago Science Museum by The Navy Pier when I was on liberty with the family after graduating boot camp back in September of 2005. I had pictures of it, but the camera, memory cards, and any documentation has been destroyed from a car accident.
[This message has been edited by XgovernmentAgent (edited 03-03-2012).]
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12:17 AM
SuperchargedV6 Member
Posts: 1966 From: Hinckley, Oh, US Registered: Jan 2006
Glad to hear all of the work you are doing Fred and the car couldn't be in better hands. Can't wait to see it done and know it is killing you to not be able to drive them all at the same time, lol. You are going to need a bigger trailer for sure if you haven't bought one yet? Maybe you can find the old Pontiac Motor sports tractor trailer Rick B
I noticed in the first pic you posted of the red car as it originally was built there was what appears to be a full rollcage built into the car, and in the later pics it appears as if the front bars are missing. Are they still there and just not visible in the pics? If they are missing are you planning on adding them back? Also have you found out any info on the PPG Challenge Series, and will you be reproducing the door decal with this nomenclature?
That's quite a project you've taken on Fred! Keep us posted.
. 
Do you happen to know and off the paint codes/names off the PPG cars? The pearl green would look nice on a project car we have. Thanks 
