I have to say: the hood decal is just a bit over the top.
I had an '85, red. Body didn't have the Maserati Bora style "sail panels" in '85, just the lower cladding and front and rear fascias from the '84 Indianapolis Pace Car (which was sold in small numbers, but still the "Iron Duke" 4-cylinder.) Biggest POS I ever had. Bracket holding the clutch slave cylinder broke in two at 18,000 miles, out of warranty, and in another 18000 miles the throwout bearing gave out, ate the clutch fork, which dropped a piece of itself into the clutch/pressure plate somehow, and machined the bell housing open. Was going to be a $3500 repair! Sold it to the dealer while it was on the lift.
Granted, that was probably unusual, and I'm sure the clutch/throwout failure was the result of the slave cylinder bracket repair. Turns out they drilled the mounts and heli-coiled the holes, apparently stripped them when they were installing the replacement bracket. Turns out the holes they drilled for the helicoil actually went through the bell housing, I'm sure shavings got dropped in there. (This is all from the post-mortem by a friend of mine in the dealer's shop.)
I actually liked the car but for two things. The 8.5 gallon tank severely limited its range, and the suspension limited the car's ability in so many ways. (The rear was straight out of the front end of a Citation, with the steering arm locked to the chassis but still adjustable, and the front was straight out of the Chevette, with a wider crossmember. It wasn't until 88, the last model year, that they put proper bits under it. And the 5 speed Getrag-based gearbox arrived in 87, along with (I think) aluminum heads.
Still the car was quick, and the 4-speed wasn't too much of a limitation with the V6's torque. Gears were spaced for 0-60 times, and 2nd to 3rd was a large gap. Think of a 5-speed with no third gear, and that's about how the 4-speed worked. The competiton was the Toyota MR2, which needed revs to perform, although it had them in spades, a 7000 RPM engine in the 1980s!
In my '85 they still had the lame 85mph speedometer, although with the mid-engine layout the speedo was electronic, not cable-driven. On a run along a long local road here, looking for top end, the feedback on the speedo went a little crazy. As it passed 85 it kept on going, there were no pegs to stop the needle. It actually reached all the way back to zero, at which time it realized it was reading low, and whipped the needle around the top of the scale, back past zero, at which time, etc. etc. The speedometer would just spin once it reached that speed. From the tach I figured it to be about 125 or 130, in there somewhere.
Another thing I recall about it, again probably the result of the mid-engine layout, was that all the ventilation baffles were electrically operated, not vacuum. So when you changed from heat to defrost, or outside air to recirculate, you heard motors running under the dash. I figured that between power windows, power locks, the wipers, the retractable headlights, the cassette player, and those vent motors, that thing had more electric motors in it than all my other cars combined!
Other oddities: The handbrake was to the left of the driver's seat, between the seat and the door, since the tunnel was taken up with the fuel tank. The handbrake lever would lay back flat after setting the brake, leaving the brake on, so you could get in and out of the car. To release it, you pulled it back up, put tension on it, then hit the button and released it down like any other car.
The latch for the fuel door is inside the rear pillar, behind the driver. Do
not ask how long I climbed through the car at my first fuel stop!!! Just don't, OK? It's still a sore spot!
Electronic fuel injection was multi-port, but not sequential. All injectors were fired simultaneously. Also, there was no airflow sensor, airflow was calculated by other sensors, such as absolute pressure and temperature, throttle position, etc.
I also liked opening the rear cover at night after running good, the headers (real tubular headers, not a cast exhaust manifold) would be glowing. Very cool!
I'm cheating with my pics. This is not a multi-trillion mile car, this is as shot the weekend after I bought it brand new.
Beware!!! The images that follow depict actual scenes from May of 1985!!! Mirrored shades, 60-series rubber on 14-inch wheels, and undeveloped waterfront property. Viewer discretion is advised.
Edit to add: A Fiero Formula is the V6 in the standard body and chassis, none of the GT bits and trim. Their attempt at a "sleeper" I guess.
No room for guns in that car!!!!
