1985 Pontiac Fiero SE Coupe (RHD)

Description

The Fiero – Pontiac’s first 2-seater car since 1938 – was conceived as a small, sports car with all-new suspension and a V6 engine. While General Motors's management were opposed to investing in a second two-seater sports car that might be seen as competing with the Corvette, in 1978 some young Pontiac engineers saw the oil crisis as providing a new marketing opportunity and were able to sell the Fiero concept to the corporation as a fuel-efficient four-cylinder runabout. When these enthusiastic engineers brought back a running prototype in less than six months, it was given the green light for production. Manufactured from 1984 to 1988, the Fiero was the first mass-produced mid-engined American sports car. Three separate polymer panels were attached to the Fiero’s steel space frame by way of a mill and drill production procedure to connect the panels. That technique was later employed to build the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. Despite first-year sales that exceeded the company’s required 100,000-unit minimum, several changes were made to the Pontiac Fiero for its second model year. GM turned to Isuzu its Japanese partner for a five-speed manual transmission. Isuzu also provided its 2.8-litre Iron Duke V6 engine to augment the 4-cylinder unit.  The Fiero was made in left-hand-drive guise only.