Driving #011 in and around the Bay Area has been a blast. I stopped by the local dry cleaners and witnessed a guy taking pictures of my car. Normally, I see him inside the book shop reading a book, but not this time. At the Chevron station a young girl in a SUV jaw was seen hitting the door window as she was caught peeking. I noticed my gas mileage was pretty good (better than my Eclipse). I was getting at least 30+ per gallon for I checked it twice during a fill up. I do need to install a set of fog lamps. The area sees very little sunlight mainly fog and it rained briefly this week.
So far-so good with no hiccups, but I need to raise the front end a bit. The dips in the road here causes the front end to rub. The rear sway bar is holding up w/o issues. The last time one of the end links broke causing the backend to wiggle a bit when getting on the gas. I need to re-install my stereo from the work car too. I like the sound of the N*, but not that much. Current trip miles is nearing 450 with another 350 more miles tonight.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 09-25-2011).]
Driving through San Jose CA late at night around 01:00HR. I don't know but the last two times I gone south on 101 hwy there seems to be several people wanting to race me. The first was a dude in a family Caravan. Yeah, you heard that right. A Dodge Caravan. It's nearly a 10-lane hwy near the Story Road exit and I was in my white Eclipse minding my own business and here comes this dude from behind blipping the throttle, so I move two lanes over from him. That wasn't good enough so he decides to move two lanes over and continues to taunt me. Currently there is construction work and the CHP are on the sidelines waiting to give out tickets.
This week I'm in the chopper and a CHP is behind me thinking I'm going to speed. NOT. I had the cruise control set for 66-mph, so I'm not fun so he passes me and pretends to take the off ramp. A few minutes later two ricers speed right beside me. I don't take the bait, so the two import continue pass me with another car (Mustang) following. A few miles down the road I see the CHP that took the off ramp earlier come speeding pass me. A few miles up the road I see the two ricer being pulled over. No sign of the Mustang.
While in Fresno CA #011 gets the looks by several people. A guy at a business starred as I was on the cell phone. On 99 Hwy several people slowed down to look. It was hot in Fresno so I had the A/C on. My temp held steady at 195-218, but it shot up to 230 when I took the off ramp and stopped. I didn't chance it on 58 hwy going up the steep mountain. The temp was 195-210.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 09-28-2011).]
I royal purple everything, and I've heard that water wetter works very good. But take it from someone who lives on the sun (cough, cough), I mean Arizona, Royal Purple Ice works amazing. Infact, when I was running the 2.8 in the summer, I had to flush my radiator because I couldn't get the engine up to the proper operating temperature with that stuff in my coolant system. A large V-8, no problem, but still it won't overheat. Unless there is something seriously wrong with your coolent system, no fix in a bottle will work.
I royal purple everything, and I've heard that water wetter works very good. But take it from someone who lives on the sun (cough, cough), I mean Arizona, Royal Purple Ice works amazing. Infact, when I was running the 2.8 in the summer, I had to flush my radiator because I couldn't get the engine up to the proper operating temperature with that stuff in my coolant system. A large V-8, no problem, but still it won't overheat. Unless there is something seriously wrong with your coolent system, no fix in a bottle will work.
Chris
They didn't have Royal Purple so I opt to using this (same as troyboy used)
I've heard good things about that product, never used it myself though. I know here there is only one place to get Royal Purple Ice, and they don't stock it on the shelf. I have to ask the manager and he gets it from out back, so I'm probably one of the few that use it around here. Guess I got the hook-up LOL!
Gasing up this morning and a guy looking nearly was ran over by a Verizon truck. The man was walking past the chopper and said, "Nice car. What is it?" When I responded he was walking towards the store and was shocked when I said, "Fiero." It was then when the man turned completly towards the car while he walked backwards. I saw a truck coming towards him and yelled, "Watch it!" The driver heard me too and stopped. I guess both of them were looking at the car and both were headed towards each other. The guy thanked me after he came back for the store.
He said, "Thats like texting and driving or a guy seeing a beautiful girl." I said, "Yeah, plenty of guys have wrecked their cars while viewing a beautiful girl." While on the freeway plenty of people passing slowed down to view the car. I saw one passenger turn all the way around. LOL.
This morning I gave #011 a quickie wash (bugs love to hit the nose-not the raked back front windsheild ). I stopped by Starbucks and notice a gentleman eyeballing the chopper. As I was walking towards him he said, "I thought at first it was a Lamborghini, but realized it was a PONTIAC FIERO-WOW." As I was walking away another guy was talking to the first guy and said, "How in the world do you get into the car?"
As I cross the parking lot to CVS I noticed two teenagers walking towards the car and over heard one of them say, "What type of car is that?" The other guy said something like, "It's a picking-up girls car." The good news is I wasn't detained for any lenght of time. I put my wiper blades on. Summer is over and it's going to rain this week. I put a 1/2 bottle of Wetter Better solution in the system. The car ran 12 degrees cooler (185-200). I'll dump the rest in the system later on today.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 10-01-2011).]
I've always wondered about replacing the tubes under the car with round or square finned tubes, with the upper part cut to the tube so the car wouldn't get hot.
As usual I was stopped at the cleaners and spotted a guy checking out #011. The guy used to sale Pontiac Fieros in the Bay Area ( I forgot the city) and he said that I took very good care of this one. He was trying to figure out what exactly was done to the car. Other than the obvious side vents and dash he couldn't put his finger on it-so I didn't tell him that the car was chopped-just that it had a V8 under the deck lid.
While at the bank a lady saw me approaching the chopper. She at first thought it was a Tesla or something, but upon walking closer she realized that it was a Fiero. She remembered the car from the 80 ( she looked to be in her 40s). She to said that I took very good care of the car and that she hadn't seen one in some time. She walked to the front of the car to see the badging (another reason for not having fake Ferrari crap on Fiero). She noticed that the interior was different and that the doors are vertical. As I got in the car a band of kindergarden kids were on a field trip with teachers. They all stop along side the chopper. I can imagine that the little kids now have something to talk about what they saw on their field trip. I started the engine, but I didn't goose it.
Later at a Chevron station a tall guy with a very black beard come over as I got gas. He asked, "Did the car come that way with the doors like that?" I said, "No. It's a 25-yr old Pontiac Fiero." He looked at the car twice to make sure and said "thanks." He got back into his car and slowly creep bye to see the chopper. In all I spent 10-15 minutes talking to people that morning.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 10-05-2011).]
Today, at the same Chevron station #011 was causing a minor traffic jam while I was gasing up. First off a young guy selling perfume came over to ask me what type of car was I driving. He thought at first it was a Firebird, but I told him it was a Fiero. Obviously, the car was several years older than him. He starred for 5-minutes or so, then a white van pulled up behind us. The guy over heard me talking about how old the car is and the guy in the van said, "Yeah, it's nearly 30-yrs old. My friend (70-yrs old) has an 1988 and he never drives it. Starts it up, pulls it out, looks at it and then pulls it back insided the garage."
While texting in front of jamba Juice a guy driving a red Firebird asked if I knew the owner of this car. That lead to a 10-minute conversation. He wanted the Fiero when it first came out, but he was in school and couldn't afford one. A really nice guy and he tooks a few pics. In town a lady driving a green Toyota truck nearly broke her neck trying to look at the car as I was slightly behind her in traffic. A guy in a brown truck shook if fist in a manner like, "Right on" or something along those lines. I was driving in the rain today and in certain spots the down pour was hard, but the 275s in the rear sheaded the water exceptionally well.
[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 10-07-2011).]
At a local tire shop and a couple driving in a Audi station wagon passed bye, backed-up, and stopped. The guy shouted out, "I was to have one of those!" The shop mechanic replied, "Not thay type of car-you didn't." The owner of the shop got out from behind the counter to take a closer look at the chopper. Nobody even noticed that the car was chopped, but they did notice the N*, wheels/brakes, and the dash.
The sun was shining so I waxed one side of the car. I think I need to polish the wheels. The recent rains have dulled the bling. I usually polish the wheels once or twice a year, but at least I don't have to worry about salt being on the roads.
At a Dive in San Mateo. A young kid walked up to me asked how mush is my car? I told him, "It's 25 years old." In Fowler CA, a guy named Jim use to race IMSA Fiero back in the day. He gave me his Facebook name, but I haven't looked. At the gas station two guys walked over and mentioned that he heard about people putting N* into Fieros. I popped the hood and said, "Yes, they do huh." In Fresno, CA a guy in a new white Camero backed up to see the chopper. I was eating lunch so he didn't see me since you sit low in a chopper. While on the Westside several people came out of an office building. It was getting a bit hairy so I left. I was going to cruise on the Westside, but not in the chopper. Just too many experiences this week to post.
While talking to Madcurl on the phone i got a chance to experience one of his many daily choptop encounters.
At the time Curly was sitting in choptop #11 eating a burger at Jack in the Box, when our conversation was interrupted by a young male commenting to Curly that #11 was a bad ride.
"What is it he asked ?"
Curly responded it's a pontiac fiero.
The kid seemed kind of puzzled then responded sort of quizzingly, oh then it is was some kind of ferrari knockoff ?
Madcurl said no,..it's a pontiac fiero.
It sounded like the kid didn't really know what he was looking at only that it was bad to the bone, and he was liking it hehehe.
[This message has been edited by exoticse (edited 10-13-2011).]
A young lady in her 20's saw me in town. She knows me and has seen me driving 015, 020, and 011 before, so she jokingly said, "You change cars like you change girl friends." I responded by saying, "No. Like underwear. You don't wear them twice." The guys in the shop busted-up LOL.
Late last night I was at a Love's gas station and walked in to pay for my gas and to get some snacks. One of the clerks (lady) asked me how much did my car cost me? I replied, "You mean new?" "New (back in 1987) it would cost about 15k. She paused and stopped what she was doing and the other clerk (guy) was eves dropping said, "What?" I continue to explain that the car is at least 24 years old. It was around 2am and that gave them something to think about for the remaining shift.
Late last night I was at a Love's gas station and walked in to pay for my gas and to get some snacks. One of the clerks (lady) asked me how much did my car cost me? I replied, "You mean new?" "New (back in 1987) it would cost about 15k. She paused and stopped what she was doing and the other clerk (guy) was eves dropping said, "What?" I continue to explain that the car is at least 24 years old. It was around 2am and that gave them something to think about for the remaining shift.
The guy that sent me the pics said that I should rename the car to "Holy $hit !" when I asked him why he said " that's what most guys say when the look in the trunk as they drool", LOL
This past week I had the chance to turn the questions around. I asked the owner of a 1934 Ford about his car. However, he still asked me question about #011.
While in town a guy though #011 was a Lotus until he saw the badging. Two boy scouts really liked the car. They stopped what they were doing and ran over. A mother walking with her young 3-yr old child on a scouter even stopped skipping and pointed as I passed them.
The bikes as repos I guess....I built them with new bikes and Chinese motor kits.... I've been building bikes for sale for a few months now.... Built my first bike after reading this thread https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/071259.html
The bike on the left is my 10th build for sale. The Felt 1903 is my DD.... You know you are getting old when you have 2 custom Fieros, a new truck, and a 1200 V-Max and you prefer to ride a bicycle.
The bikes as repos I guess....I built them with new bikes and Chinese motor kits.... I've been building bikes for sale for a few months now.... Built my first bike after reading this thread https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/071259.html
The bike on the left is my 10th build for sale. The Felt 1903 is my DD.... You know you are getting old when you have 2 custom Fieros, a new truck, and a 1200 V-Max and you prefer to ride a bicycle.
Nice work they look cool. Yea I'm with ya the years add up fast. My new dream car is a Cadillac.
Nothing like a freshly painted choptop to stir up a little commotion. Central Florida Fiero member Pedro getting his new chopped GT back from teh painter and taking it to the street.
Motorists seen pulling up along side the car and basically flipping out when the red rocket with 5" raised wing stands, closed mouth chin spoiler, and custom diffuser goes blazing by.
Pedro saying even his nieghbor, who is a hard core car guy, swore it was an Italian exotic.
Originally posted by exoticse: Choptop causes stir !
Nothing like a freshly painted choptop to stir up a little commotion. Central Florida Fiero member Pedro getting his new chopped GT back from teh painter and taking it to the street.
Motorists seen pulling up along side the car and basically flipping out when the red rocket with 5" raised wing stands, closed mouth chin spoiler, and custom diffuser goes blazing by.
Pedro saying even his nieghbor, who is a hard core car guy, swore it was an Italian exotic.
Got a chance to see this car in the flesh today and WOW,...coming down the road it looks like an exotic supercar,,,no question !
Pedro stopped by my job so i could see it on my lunch break, and boy was it worth it eating in the parking lot.
). I stopped by Starbucks and notice a gentleman eyeballing the chopper. As I was walking towards him he said, "I thought at first it was a Lamborghini, but realized it was a PONTIAC FIERO-WOW." As I was walking away another guy was talking to the first guy and said, "How in the world do you get into the car?"
.JPG)
.JPG)
