It was a really nice weekend here, so I had my son take some pictures of my Mera. These pics were taken at Maunalua Bay in East Oahu.
If you look closely, you won't see any Ferrari badging. Took them all off and replaced them with other things (see below). Not real sure, but I may be one of the very few that has a Mera, that actually shows as a Mera. I like it much better now, talking with folks about the history of the Mera, and not having to explain "if its so collectible, why is badged out like a Ferrari?"
Went from this:
To this: (I also took apart the reverse lights and painted the inside with a chrome/silver paint. Looks 100% better.)
From this:
To this:
From this:
To this:
From this:
To this:
From this:
To this:
From this:
To this:
And from this:
To this:
Mera #8044, 1988, 28K miles.
Thanks for looking! Tom
[This message has been edited by Fiero-in-Paradise (edited 10-22-2009).]
Is that an original Mera nose badge or one of Rodney's duplicate decals? I am also interested in details related to the center caps on the Chromadora wheels.
Yep, that is an original nose badge, the flexible vinyl material. When I first bought the car, I did a thorough cleaning, and I found it at the very bottom of the center console box. Before I put it on, however, I worked with a local gal who runs a trophy shop, and she used it to do the artwork to replicate the logo. Now that she has it in her data base, she can make plates (i.e., laser engrave) to whatever size I want, and whatever material. That is how she made the small little brass plates that are on the door handle tabs.
The seat belt covers are the ones advertised on e-bay for like $6-7.00. I took them down to a local shop to have the "MERA #132" embroidered above and below the "PONTIAC."
The rear license place bracket is awesome. Again, bought it on E-bay, a little pricey, but it is made from solid brass, triple chromed, and it really looks good with this engraved Pontiac symbols and word.
As for the center caps for the wheels, these are again right off of e-bay, I think from a guy called "CenterCaps guy." He must have a bajillion sets of center caps. Anyways, it took me a while to find those, in almost brand new condition, and also the right size, as they come in several sizes. I believe those are the biggest ones from older Pontiacs. I used the existing snap rings inside the rims that held the Ferrari center caps to also hold the Pontiac center caps from falling out.
I forgot to add these pics...they have been in other threads as well, but thought I'd keep in all in this one.
These items were purchased from Tom (FieroNews), who does fabulous work, BTW.
Spare tire cover:
Custom-made manual/document pouch/holder:
I gotta run off to work now, but I'll be adding some add'l pics of small mods I've done to "modernize" the car somewhat, but still keep it looking like a real Mera.
My original nose badge was on hard plastic like material and about 3/16 of an inch thick. I know that Rodney has some of the flat vinyl nose badge reproductions available (I have a couple) and wonder if yours is also a reproduction.
LOL...well now, I'm not really sure if that's a real Mera badge or not! It is thick, but more like 1/16" than 3/16". Its made of some vinyl/rubber material, with what appears to be a thick clear coating/resin. When I bought the car, there was a bunch of old glue near the door handle tab, and when I found the badge, it looked like it had fallen off of that area. I cleaned it up, and since it was the exact right size, I put it in the same indentation that I pulled off the Ferrari nose badge. Its definitely not the flat Mera stickers that Rodney sells, if that's what you're referring to.
CA Speeder9: I e-mailed you the larger, hi-res pics taken with my son's 12 megapixel Nikon.
Here's one more before-and-after set.
Before: Plain license plate bracket and really awful-looking reverse lights:
After: Really nice, heavyweight Pontiac license plate bracket I bought off e-bay. Reverse lights look MUCH better after painting the insides.
If I can ever relocate my original nose badge, I will take a picture of it and e-mail it to you. Right now I am going off memory since it disappeared during my last move. Yours may be original after all.
Nelson
[This message has been edited by hnthomps (edited 08-19-2009).]
Nelson, let me know if/when you find that original badge! LOL...it would be nice to know whether or not I have at least ONE original badge for the car.
These are the original 88 Mera emblems. The 87's generally were silver with black lettering etc. Some 87's may have had the gold type I have heard. The 87 nose badges had Corporate Concepts below the MERA word.
Although I did not take any pictures there were silver plastic covers for the large opening in the Cromadora rims. I have 2 sets. I'm sure these are now extremely hard to find. They had no emblems on them. To see the small center Mera emblems you had to take the large plastic covers off.
These are the original Mera tailpipes. You do not have the correct tail pipes on your Mera.
I do make reproductions of these tail pipes.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
[This message has been edited by Rodney (edited 08-22-2009).]
If you look closely, you won't see any Ferrari badging. Not real sure, but I may be one of the very few that has a Mera, that actually shows as a Mera. I like it much better now, talking with folks about the history of the Mera, and not having to explain "if its so collectible, why is badged out like a Ferrari?" Tom
Perhaps the best quote of the year.
------------------
"I drive modified Fieros- anything less would be uncivilized."
Thanks for that info Rodney! Yep, those tailpipes are defintely on my to-buy/do list. I think I e-mailed you about them before Is there an easy way of replacing them? Since they go THROUGH an oval opening, it looks like I'll have to drill out all rivets on the bottom, remove that entire lower section, and then I can replace the pipes??
The one thing that has always bugged me is that the PO removed the grill under the bumper, so its completely open to the AC condenser. Any ideas on a replacement?
And some day, I'll replace those manual Vitaloni "Bravo" mirrors to the original, powered Vitaloni mirrors. But...those things are sitting on the same shelf with the original grill and the Holy Grail. The last set of those Vitaloni powered mirrors I saw on e-bay was going for like $950.00!...and someone actually bought them! Unreal!!
I knew the "2.8V6" badge was original, and they are still available brand new on e-bay. I was tempted to get it, but I liked the one I got. It was brand new, and I shot it with about 4-5 coats of gloss clear before installing it. That should hopefully protect the chrome plating from peeling off for a while.
I know I'll never get this car to it's original condition off the Corporate Concept's line. But that's okay, the main intent of this project was to get rid of ALL the Ferrari badges so that when people come up to talk to me, I can "talk story" on the Pontiac Mera background, which has a rather interesting history. Unfortunately to most people, the Ferrari badging just makes it look like any other kitcar.
Thanks for that info Rodney! Yep, those tailpipes are defintely on my to-buy/do list. I think I e-mailed you about them before Is there an easy way of replacing them? Since they go THROUGH an oval opening, it looks like I'll have to drill out all rivets on the bottom, remove that entire lower section, and then I can replace the pipes??
Tom
They go in without taking any panels off. The rear clip is all one piece anyways.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
The one thing that has always bugged me is that the PO removed the grill under the bumper, so its completely open to the AC condenser. Any ideas on a replacement?
Tom
I've sold many of my 308 Ferrari replica front bumpers. Maybe one day you can find someone that replaced his original front bumper/grill and they would sell you their old original Mera grill.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
And some day, I'll replace those manual Vitaloni "Bravo" mirrors to the original, powered Vitaloni mirrors. But...those things are sitting on the same shelf with the original grill and the Holy Grail. The last set of those Vitaloni powered mirrors I saw on e-bay was going for like $950.00!...and someone actually bought them! Unreal!!
Tom
They were used on other cars. Try to find a good used pair of manual Vitaloni's. They made smaller ones that look almost the same. Somewhere there are reproductions of those. I have seen them on ebay. Some company copied them and made reproductions.
------------------ Rodney Dickman
Fiero Parts And Acc's Web Page: www.rodneydickman.com Rodney Dickman's Fiero accessories 7604 Treeview Drive Caledonia, WI 53108 Phone/Fax (262) 835-9575
I found a set of powered Vitaloni mirrors (with harness and switch) from a Lambo. However they were still $1000 used. Try a Ferrari 430 mirror since they look very similar.
quote
Originally posted by Rodney:
They were used on other cars. Try to find a good used pair of manual Vitaloni's. They made smaller ones that look almost the same. Somewhere there are reproductions of those. I have seen them on ebay. Some company copied them and made reproductions.
I kinda like this pontiac emblem on my MERA. say rodney got any more hood repros left could need one or two of them. also Mr. Paradise any chance of gettin more of the door emblems made ? Them's nice!! finally learned how to post pics. get ya sum!!
also took the black mera letters off. trying for something better that hobby lobby foam stick ons. these rims look pretty good, no?? center lines with hella aluminum spacers.
say.., you know I do not know the model # or name. the off set is in the spacers. nice hunk of metal. just learned how to do the pic. thing today... here's one
Not trying to hijack the thread, but what is the market value for a 90k 88 Mera 5-speed in very good condition? I am looking for a range low to high of what they are bringing. TIA
picked up mine for $8840 on ebay. 1987 SE 2.8 V6 auto Center Line rims aluminum 15" ft. 16" rt. back up camera/dvd/usb flash player 180 watts 68000+ miles stock interior sun roof with Ferrari badges (HA-HA) starts instantly cool lookin' aluminum grill over engine post a picture or two. lets see it.
[This message has been edited by batousai666 (edited 09-05-2009).]
I am considering purchasing one, that is why I was asking for what they are currently selling for. Anyone else purchase one recently? Thanks for the info.
Mot a MERA but i picked up a 308 replica that some one started to make look like a 288 for about $4K, I would love to stretch it the 3 inches and finish the job.
[img] http://www.flickr.com/photo...t-72157621828774556/ [\img] Oh yeah... 86 se no power potions 57,000 miles leaky sunroof, rear deck, lid doors ugly red interior automatic trans American racing wheels with spacer in the back redrilled in front (ugly).
[This message has been edited by VelociJuris (edited 09-05-2009).]
