The supercharged 3.8L from a Buick Riviera is actually a pretty straightforward swap into a Fiero, and, it would give it about the same HP as an actual 308.
I remember Beretta Firearms sued Chevy over the name Beretta. Chevy settled by donating $500K to cancer research. Someone once quipped that Beretta should have just made a cheap unreliable gun and call it a Chevy.😎
Like so many others, was not truly aware of this. And honestly not a horrible looking body kit, unlike most. Nice to see someone embracing them. Perfect car to drive to “ Radwood” car show
Great video! I have MERA No. 8118, one of only 10 with the original T-Top. From Enzo Ferrari's protest at the 88 Detroit Motor Show, the Car & Driver Magazine Reviews, to the kick-off of the Ferrari kit car industry, we need Netflix/Amazon to do a deep-dive documentary on the crazy story of the Pontiac Mera.
Netflix is a waste of time since streaming is dying....but i agree that some high-profile documentary would be rad. Stuff with stories like this are my favorite stuff.
@TV-WSNO Snepsburgh Television lol I didn't know streaming was dying. It never had much life to begin with...at least in my opinion. Every streaming service is so diluted it's just not even worth scrolling through anymore to try and find something remotely decent...before you even launch one of the services you already know you'll end up losing hope and land on a 90s B movie
I agree there is enough behind this for a good documentary. With the Ferrari name, may not be hard to get some media attention, even at the international level.
They didn't "prove beautiful car design could be achieved on a budget". That's the point, copyright infringement is stealing someones else hard work. Ferrari and Pininfarina put all the money into that design and they just ripped it off.
I believe one of my neighbours (condominium) owned one (1990 Ottawa area). It was red, but he had replaced the Merra badges with Ferrari badges. I have to say that outside of the cloth and Fiero interior… it looked good. It didn’t look like a ‘replica’ (wrong colours, poor fit & finish, weird/slightly off dimensions, etc… ‘cheap looking’.). Thanks for the video, Shawn.
Thanks for the comment, they look great but I don't like the idea of changing the badges to pretend its something its not, people may not be able to tell, but you'd know.
I happen to own a Ferrari 328 GTS from 1987 and I guarantee you that anyone who is even remotely familiar with the 308 would never be fooled by this monstrosity for even a second. But to each his own. Enjoy!
In the early ‘90s a car guy in my area was buying Fieros and rebodying them for sale, but not offering conversion kits. They were less directly Ferrari-inspired but his own designs that shared some style elements. Used to see a few cars in various stages of production for a couple of years. And despite that, I never knew of the Mera.
80s was a different time. I remember Coleco selling their Colecovision with a module that would let you play Atari 2600 games on their system. You imagine Sony or Microsoft trying to do that with their consoles and getting away with it today?
I worked for Canyon Pontiac Buick GMC (Valencia, California) in '87-'88. I'd heard rumblings about these via the sales team and mechanics (I worked the parts counter) but never saw one, not even a picture. I do however remember that the 6 cyl GT's were ALWAYS in the service drive. Mostly for overheating issues. The 4 cyl, not so much. Great concept that was poorly executed hence the death of the line-up soon after.
My daughter had a 86 Fiero GT with the 2.8l v6 in 97, I worked on this car constantly. The oil pan rusted out and I replaced it, the manual transmission shifter fell apart I guess from vibrations and the only problem I had from overheating was when I changed the coolant and didn’t get all the air out. But it was a blast to drive, you sat so low it was like driving a go cart.
The four cylinders had problems with catching fire. I had one in 1991 that had a free Factory recall for new manifold and exhaust. Also, a valve cover gasket replacement because that's where leaking oil was igniting. By the time they hammered out all the issues, it was a decent little car. But sometimes a very poor start can lose you the race no matter how well you run
Me too and it keeps popping up in my feed all of a sudden I don't know if I clicked on it at one time or not but I've seen about three thumbnails with this thing on it. They should do a track test between the two. 308s were particularly slow for Ferraris I absolutely love the body style though.
What were Pontiac thinking about ? Imagine if Ferrari started making 1959 Corvette replicas ! Yes, it is only in kit form, but other major companies have had there tussles with kit car manufacturers.......and don’t mention the Chinese copies !
This is the first I ever heard of this upgrade. I bought a new Fierro in 1984 and always thought the badge was a direct rip off of Ferrari’s badge. Of course In Ferrari’s mission statement is the goal of suing everyone with a postal address 🤣
I don't really think yhe Fiero has much to be ashamed of, in terms of horsepower, compared to a 308 which, with 200-odd BHP, always looked faster than they went.
The shitty 2.8L V6 made 128 hp in good running condition. If you still have a Fiero for whatever reason, grab a 3400 out of an early 2000's FWD GM minivan or Malibu. They make around 200hp and are based on the old 2.8.
I saw the bad kits. THis one looks good. I always hated the black trim line on the F-40. Always resembled a Fiero. Or vice versa. The Iron Duke was a dog.
I remember being with my brother at the GM Nationals at Carlisle and he was puzzled by the "Ferraris" at the end of the Fiero row. Had to see, and yes there were 2 of them there. There was also a guy with a black/gray Typhoon selling it for $7500, which was gone in an instant. I'm a TR guy, and I love the oddities. One of my biggest regrets was not knowing my friend was selling his bench seat Astroroof WH1 (non G80 strangely) for $1800. Some guys from Harrisburg bought it, pulled the engine for a ho-hum t-top GN and crushed the rest around 2006. Probably a 1 of 1 out of the 493 made in '86. I still wake up pissed off sometimes about that. Thank you to your friend for saving this.
Very sad that Ferrari had to do that when the car didn't even say Ferrari on it anywhere or any badges of Ferrari, it's a vicious world we live in, this is a beautiful car would love to see it rise again.
It’s not just the brand badging. Ferrari owned the rights to the body design as well along side. Bartone/pininferina. That body style at that time belonged to Ferrari copyright. Car manufacturers own rights to their cars esthetics/ body design. It’s the whole reason you can’t blatantly put a car into a game and slap a different badge on it Game developers need express permission and or need to buy rights to use manufacturers cars in games. Same applies to irl cars Just looking at this mera. Yeah it’s infringing on Ferraris copy right at the time. And it’s easily understandable why this happened to anybody who has an understanding of business side in cars. Yes it’s sad it happened. Because it is a nicely stylized car. And too see something like that under Pontiac near the beginning of the company’s gradual downfall under gm is especially interesting. However this situation wasn’t unjustified
You must be young was a popular car here in the 90s. My friend has one he had ciment block in the truck ( in front) in winter. The car wouldn’t turn without it too light
So they didn’t sue Pontiac? Just CC. There were a ton of body kits in the 80s to turn Datsun Z cars onto Ferraris. If I recall correctly, Cricket’s black Ferrari was one of those kits.
I mean i can't blame Ferrari the Pontiac is a copy they didn't really need to go as far as they did they could of just asked Pontiac to change the style
I have a 308 and I still think this car is great, although I’m not surprised Enzo didn’t agree! No more than Shelby I guess, who kept himself busy suing cobra replica manufacturers for many years. For us enthusiasts, we”re all just enjoying our cars so stuff like this is great. Front and rear on it looks fairly convincing, side on the proportions aren’t quite there. It feels shortened and the rear end a little high somehow. I’d be tempted to drop the rear an inch or so and fill the arches out a little more with some 15” 5 spokes. Then again the owner may not be particularly interested in closer looks. Mine is an injected Euro spec car, so 215 rampagingItalian horses! Quick it ain’t, so they’re a good match there 😂
Owner here. I'd eventually like to drop it a little and offset the rear wheels a bit to better line up with the arches. As it sits now, they're noticeably tucked in under the fenders. Gonna keep the stock wheels on it, though the 88 models had 5-spoke Cromodoras.
@@jacksclevername HiJack, it will look even better with those mods. These cars are certainly attention getters when you head down the street! I imagine you get lots of conversations in fuel station like me. Enjoy :-)
@ 2:05 I like the way you say, "...24 to 30,000 USD" because everyone talks that way, right? "Hey man, how many USD did you spend on that thing?" "Yeah, I spent WAY too many USD."
I really believe Ferrari took advantage of GM in the end anyway. They saw the Pontiac Fiero GT design, & upon GM's announcement of its demise, had Pininfarina take that design, improve it in ways GM never would (for a V8), & produced the Ferrari 348 & F355 series - some of the most beloved Ferraris. Of course, Ferrari purists will never suffer that to be acknowledged.
Not quite sure how I feel about this. They've been making fibreglas kit cars for AC Shelby Cobras and puttin' them on VW chassis for decades with very little outcry from enthusiasts. Granted it was long after the Cobras stopped production - whereas the Ferrari's were still being made when the Mera conversions were being done. At a glance you can also see some Bricklin lines in the body as well.
I think it's sad that Ferrari had to sue them also, only I'm on Ferrari's side here. If Ferrari created the "Whorevette" and it appeared to be 95+% accurate to GM's Corvette? You could bet that GM would have sued Ferrari as well.
This story is total BS, Ferrari never sued anyone over this car, the story about a lawsuit was a promotional gimmick concocted by people who wanted the car to get attention, one source even claimed that Ferrari bought the body dies and destroyed them, the problem with that is there were no dies in the first place, they were fiberglass not steel. Pontiac never had anything to do with this and therefore couldn't have been sued, it was an aftermarket company that cooked this up and approached a group of Pontiac dealers about offering it as a dealer installed option, it's because of that and several other things that Ferrari never would have had a leg to stand on with a lawsuit. Car's are never copyrighted or patented, you can't do it because the slightest change in anything like lights and the patent is nullified and all cars have light and grill changes every year, patenting a car is just too complex and copyrights don't apply to something like the body style of a car only logo's and names, Ford could make an exact copy of a Corvette if they wanted to they just couldn't put the words Corvette or Chevrolet on it. Even more malarkey is the nonsense story that they quit making them because Ferrari sued, they quit making them because Pontiac quit making the Fiero, which begs the question as to why Ferrari would even bother to file a lawsuit over something that wasn't made anymore anyways? And why didn't Ferrari ever sue over any of the many Ferrari kit cars over the years? The story about a lawsuit over these cars was nothing more than a slick marketing tool created by people who wanted to spark an interest with the public and make them worth more, they either fed the story to someone who didn't bother to fact check it or someone had a buddy that was a reporter that they had help them out by writing up the story about a lawsuit, I've challenged more than one person to prove it really happened by providing me with the court and the case number for the lawsuit, like every one of them it'd be public record and easily found on the internet like any other court case civil or criminal, but not one person has ever been able to, and that's because there never was a lawsuit only a story about one that's grown legs over the years all based on a story no one has ever fact checked.
Sorry to say to all purists, but I totally dig it. Saw one at the Woodward cruise Pontiac fiero meet up....giggled like a little kid at GM's audacity. Fit and finish was about the same t, if not better, than the "real thing".
It's so funny, I saw one of these yesterday in Phoenix and here's a video about them! The car I saw had Ferrari badging, but I could tell something wasn't right about it. Didn't get a chance to see it up close (the interior is a dead giveaway), but the body's all wrong.
@HYDROPHAINT Concepts It does. I’ve admittedly not done a great job of getting involved in the Fiero or Mera community with it. Always have intended to, life just keeps me too busy! I did take it to the Midwest Fiero Club’s 35th anniversary Fiero show a few years ago and it got some good response. I’m also working on an article that hopefully will appear in Fiero Focus Magazine later this year.
"...proof that beautiful car design could be obtained on a budget." No, the beautiful car design was obtained by copying the 308GTB. Ferrari paid for the design; Pontiac just copied it.
This is kind of cool, I would like to have one. Have it in a car collection one day. Keep it as is. Just upgrade the engine to make it move like you would do with any car. But keep the rest of it stock to be a proud car of what it is
1986 Pontiac Fiero was my first car. Purchased it for $600 in 1994 at an auction with 103k miles. I have had many cars since, invluding high end german and japanese ones. But the Fiero still lives in my dreams.
I've heard of a kit car but not this. I remember those stupid looking fieras though. Man they look much better wit the kit. Damm shame there isn't more. I think there is a kit to make a car look similar to a Lamborghini but it's not as close looking as this one. Great video!
I remember a friend of mine back in early '90s went and testdroveof one of these Pontiac fieros he brought it back with the chords hanging out on the front tires and the engine knocking 🤣😂
A shame that with the effort they put into designing new body panels to fit on the Fiero that they didn’t take that opportunity to do something unique and not just a blatant knockoff of a 10 year old entry level Ferrari.
I cant believe they made that many of them. I'm sorry Pontiac would have been better off making a more powerful Fiero with a manual, than this rip off.
I watched the first 30 seconds of this without audio context and was like "yep, that's a 308" and after watching it with audio, I still think it's just a Ferrari 308.
This is extremely sad that Ferrari sued the late great Pontiac. My dad used 2 drive a Trans Sport to carry me and my immediate family around to places like the family man he is. Now Ferrari sued Pontiac and that eventually ultimately sadly gradually slowly killed Pontiac.
@@marcogalliani279 can be made much much faster,up to todays level of a fast car & be done reliably. You can never say that about an old Ferrari. As a matter of fact modifying an old Ferrari ruins its value. Its like a woman walking in 6 inch heels,it looks nice,but its impractical and painful. So its torture for no reason.
@@coreysmith2196 Ok, I can partially agree with what you say. But to say that this Pontiac is better than a Ferrari 308 is, in my opinion, blasphemy. I don't have a Ferrari (although I was lucky enough to drive one for quite a while), but I swear I would never go around with a copy. Here in Italy we have a saying: "I would like but I can't" and it refers to those who want something so much that they are satisfied even with an imitation. It's not just the aesthetics, but the emotions it can give you. Then maybe a woman wears tennis shoes to go shopping, but at an important event she wears high heels. They are simply two different things.
The supercharged 3.8L from a Buick Riviera is actually a pretty straightforward swap into a Fiero, and, it would give it about the same HP as an actual 308.
I remember Beretta Firearms sued Chevy over the name Beretta. Chevy settled by donating $500K to cancer research. Someone once quipped that Beretta should have just made a cheap unreliable gun and call it a Chevy.😎
Apparently GM was the first to make kit cars out of the fiero
Like so many others, was not truly aware of this. And honestly not a horrible looking body kit, unlike most.
Nice to see someone embracing them. Perfect car to drive to “ Radwood” car show
the Fiero has no space inside though..
Great video! I have MERA No. 8118, one of only 10 with the original T-Top. From Enzo Ferrari's protest at the 88 Detroit Motor Show, the Car & Driver Magazine Reviews, to the kick-off of the Ferrari kit car industry, we need Netflix/Amazon to do a deep-dive documentary on the crazy story of the Pontiac Mera.
That’s amazing! Hope she’s treating you well. I’ll pitch it next time I’m talking with someone from Netflix. 😉
Netflix is a waste of time since streaming is dying....but i agree that some high-profile documentary would be rad. Stuff with stories like this are my favorite stuff.
@TV-WSNO Snepsburgh Television lol I didn't know streaming was dying. It never had much life to begin with...at least in my opinion. Every streaming service is so diluted it's just not even worth scrolling through anymore to try and find something remotely decent...before you even launch one of the services you already know you'll end up losing hope and land on a 90s B movie
I agree there is enough behind this for a good documentary. With the Ferrari name, may not be hard to get some media attention, even at the international level.
Uh, either you typed something wrong or you’re a LIAR………..
Only 245, or so, were made numbered from 1- 245, 246?
I've seen plenty of kits for the Fiero, but I didn't know they were offered legitimately. That is crazy.
Omg are you in Hamilton??? Super cool footage of the bridge at the start!!!
I can neither confirm or deny👀
They didn't "prove beautiful car design could be achieved on a budget". That's the point, copyright infringement is stealing someones else hard work. Ferrari and Pininfarina put all the money into that design and they just ripped it off.
Imagine a car you could drive every day unlike the original
I really like this style of video. Everything flows really well and you kept me watching. Good job
Thanks for watching and the feedback!
I believe one of my neighbours (condominium) owned one (1990 Ottawa area). It was red, but he had replaced the Merra badges with Ferrari badges. I have to say that outside of the cloth and Fiero interior… it looked good. It didn’t look like a ‘replica’ (wrong colours, poor fit & finish, weird/slightly off dimensions, etc… ‘cheap looking’.). Thanks for the video, Shawn.
Thanks for the comment, they look great but I don't like the idea of changing the badges to pretend its something its not, people may not be able to tell, but you'd know.
I happen to own a Ferrari 328 GTS from 1987 and I guarantee you that anyone who is even remotely familiar with the 308 would never be fooled by this monstrosity for even a second. But to each his own. Enjoy!
In the early ‘90s a car guy in my area was buying Fieros and rebodying them for sale, but not offering conversion kits. They were less directly Ferrari-inspired but his own designs that shared some style elements. Used to see a few cars in various stages of production for a couple of years. And despite that, I never knew of the Mera.
1:42 looks like a Maserati Merak
I'm not surprised. Hell Ferrari sues their own customers.
I mean… you can’t blame Ferrari for suing them! How did they think they’d ever get away with it??
80s was a different time. I remember Coleco selling their Colecovision with a module that would let you play Atari 2600 games on their system. You imagine Sony or Microsoft trying to do that with their consoles and getting away with it today?
They did get away with it!..
same way mazda copied the porsche 944 with the rx7 fc
They should try it again today.
The marketing from such a suit would be viral.
What do you even mean?
Only thing missing was the nose candy in the center console that came standard in the Ferrari 308.
I never knew about this option, definitely a rare and unique car for sure.
Omg that brings back memories! I used to have one of those Mera kit. Mine was 1987 with the stick marked #83/250
Where did you attend high school in 87?
😍
@@toms3664 lol I didn't own the car that far back. It was around 10-15 years ago when I had the Mera
Why have I never heard of this car until now. It's a crime this video is so short. This needs to be a documentary ASAP.
Thanks so much! Should I film a part 2?
As stated in the vid... Corporate Concepts NOT Pontiac was sued by Ferrari.
I'm 47 and a lifelong car guy, but I've never heard of this rip off.
The goofy too narrow wheels and tires that are also too small in the wheel well, can’t be unseen.
I worked for Canyon Pontiac Buick GMC (Valencia, California) in '87-'88. I'd heard rumblings about these via the sales team and mechanics (I worked the parts counter) but never saw one, not even a picture. I do however remember that the 6 cyl GT's were ALWAYS in the service drive. Mostly for overheating issues. The 4 cyl, not so much. Great concept that was poorly executed hence the death of the line-up soon after.
My daughter had a 86 Fiero GT with the 2.8l v6 in 97, I worked on this car constantly. The oil pan rusted out and I replaced it, the manual transmission shifter fell apart I guess from vibrations and the only problem I had from overheating was when I changed the coolant and didn’t get all the air out. But it was a blast to drive, you sat so low it was like driving a go cart.
The four cylinders had problems with catching fire. I had one in 1991 that had a free Factory recall for new manifold and exhaust. Also, a valve cover gasket replacement because that's where leaking oil was igniting. By the time they hammered out all the issues, it was a decent little car. But sometimes a very poor start can lose you the race no matter how well you run
they always overheated...radiator in front.. and mid motor
I was today years old when I found out that this model existed.
Me too and it keeps popping up in my feed all of a sudden I don't know if I clicked on it at one time or not but I've seen about three thumbnails with this thing on it. They should do a track test between the two. 308s were particularly slow for Ferraris I absolutely love the body style though.
What were Pontiac thinking about ? Imagine if Ferrari started making 1959 Corvette replicas ! Yes, it is only in kit form, but other major companies have had there tussles with kit car manufacturers.......and don’t mention the Chinese copies !
This is the first I ever heard of this upgrade. I bought a new Fierro in 1984 and always thought the badge was a direct rip off of Ferrari’s badge. Of course In Ferrari’s mission statement is the goal of suing everyone with a postal address 🤣
They should be bold and do an update model of this era as a tribute 🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🇺🇸
Never knew this existed. Wow. And I been following the car industry ever since I can remember.
What a hidden gem!
Slow as a slug. I had THREE V6 Fieros...1986, 1987 and 1988 GT...Should have done up the motor with a Buick 3600...
*3800.
0:38 Hey. That's my home town.
I don't really think yhe Fiero has much to be ashamed of, in terms of horsepower, compared to a 308 which, with 200-odd BHP, always looked faster than they went.
Such terrible fitment makes it looks bad if the wheels were filling out the wheel well
More this would
Be a cool little car
I absolutely love it. I remember hearing about this lawsuit, but never knew if it was real.
Almost bought one in 2012 for $6,700.
Still kicking my myself for not getting it. 🤦♂️
The shitty 2.8L V6 made 128 hp in good running condition. If you still have a Fiero for whatever reason, grab a 3400 out of an early 2000's FWD GM minivan or Malibu. They make around 200hp and are based on the old 2.8.
Nice video. I have an 88 MERA. It is #13 of that year. Look forward to seeing more Mera content if you decide to feature it again.
I would have killed for a 88 mera. Only thing that needs to be done is a v8 swap.
@@w41duvernay
A 350 c.i. Chevy fits nicely.
@@w41duvernay How fast were they, stock?
Is the engine in the rear?
@@JaegerHammer Yep, it's a mid engine setup just like the 308.
Short and to the point. Love the video. Know all about the MERA. And when I find one for sale I'm buying it.
Thanks! I highly encourage that!
I found out about these approx 15 years ago. Since then I have always wanted to find one to swap in a L67 and rework the suspension.
I saw the bad kits. THis one looks good. I always hated the black trim line on the F-40. Always resembled a Fiero. Or vice versa. The Iron Duke was a dog.
So it wasn't Pontiac that got sued by Ferrari...
What I am interested in knowing - are there any Ferrari 308s out there that have been rebadged as Mera's?
😆
I baded my Elise as an MR2, so who knows!
If we're going to be honest Pontiac did steal styling cues from Ferrari. Why they made it so obvious is anyone's guess.
Well, they sort of side-stepped the responsibility I guess, seems the aftermarket company that did the mods was sued, not Pontiac or GM....
I remember being with my brother at the GM Nationals at Carlisle and he was puzzled by the "Ferraris" at the end of the Fiero row. Had to see, and yes there were 2 of them there. There was also a guy with a black/gray Typhoon selling it for $7500, which was gone in an instant. I'm a TR guy, and I love the oddities. One of my biggest regrets was not knowing my friend was selling his bench seat Astroroof WH1 (non G80 strangely) for $1800. Some guys from Harrisburg bought it, pulled the engine for a ho-hum t-top GN and crushed the rest around 2006. Probably a 1 of 1 out of the 493 made in '86. I still wake up pissed off sometimes about that. Thank you to your friend for saving this.
It looks really like a Ferrari 308 GTS or De Tomaso Pantera
Very sad that Ferrari had to do that when the car didn't even say Ferrari on it anywhere or any badges of Ferrari, it's a vicious world we live in, this is a beautiful car would love to see it rise again.
Right yet they continue to copy other cars such as the huracan on the SPF90 sorts of looks like a lambo on the side
A LOT of Meras actually had all of the Ferrari's badges on them, even the Ferrari wheel centercaps. Still, it's a shame they were sued.
Well to make thing worse for Pontiac! The people who bought them cars soon rebadged the emblems for Ferrari badges and emblems.
@@undividual3891 That's different. A owner of Mera did that, not the business.
It’s not just the brand badging. Ferrari owned the rights to the body design as well along side. Bartone/pininferina. That body style at that time belonged to Ferrari copyright. Car manufacturers own rights to their cars esthetics/ body design. It’s the whole reason you can’t blatantly put a car into a game and slap a different badge on it Game developers need express permission and or need to buy rights to use manufacturers cars in games. Same applies to irl cars
Just looking at this mera. Yeah it’s infringing on Ferraris copy right at the time. And it’s easily understandable why this happened to anybody who has an understanding of business side in cars. Yes it’s sad it happened. Because it is a nicely stylized car. And too see something like that under Pontiac near the beginning of the company’s gradual downfall under gm is especially interesting. However this situation wasn’t unjustified
This is the first time I heard about this option.
I thought I knew a little about cars but I've never seen this before or ever heard about it it looks great
You must be young was a popular car here in the 90s. My friend has one he had ciment block in the truck ( in front) in winter. The car wouldn’t turn without it too light
Thanks for sharing! I didn't know that it existed.
Thanks for watching!
Nice production & keeping the comments civil showing the art of the car and the 80's HP out of the mix.
this is not enough video on this car...
Interested in a part two?!
@@MindFloodMedia yeah
So they didn’t sue Pontiac? Just CC. There were a ton of body kits in the 80s to turn Datsun Z cars onto Ferraris. If I recall correctly, Cricket’s black Ferrari was one of those kits.
The 2.8L had 140hp while the 2.5L had between 85 and 110hp. Pretty lame how you held back on this info on purpose.
In hindsight I agree. Wish I put that in. 🤦♂️
I mean i can't blame Ferrari the Pontiac is a copy they didn't really need to go as far as they did they could of just asked Pontiac to change the style
I working on an upgrade kit to turn a Prius into an Ferrari F40.
This video needs more views
Thanks That Guy!
I have a 308 and I still think this car is great, although I’m not surprised Enzo didn’t agree! No more than Shelby I guess, who kept himself busy suing cobra replica manufacturers for many years. For us enthusiasts, we”re all just enjoying our cars so stuff like this is great.
Front and rear on it looks fairly convincing, side on the proportions aren’t quite there. It feels shortened and the rear end a little high somehow. I’d be tempted to drop the rear an inch or so and fill the arches out a little more with some 15” 5 spokes. Then again the owner may not be particularly interested in closer looks.
Mine is an injected Euro spec car, so 215 rampagingItalian horses! Quick it ain’t, so they’re a good match there 😂
No need to be "quick" man, still a badass and unique car, and one of the all time must beautiful. Hope you're enjoying it
Owner here. I'd eventually like to drop it a little and offset the rear wheels a bit to better line up with the arches. As it sits now, they're noticeably tucked in under the fenders. Gonna keep the stock wheels on it, though the 88 models had 5-spoke Cromodoras.
@@jacksclevername HiJack, it will look even better with those mods. These cars are certainly attention getters when you head down the street! I imagine you get lots of conversations in fuel station like me. Enjoy :-)
@@LB427SC Low priority, but eventually I'll get around to it. Tons of chats when I stop, it's a fun car to bomb around in. Thanks!
@ 2:05 I like the way you say, "...24 to 30,000 USD" because everyone talks that way, right? "Hey man, how many USD did you spend on that thing?" "Yeah, I spent WAY too many USD."
You’re right I’m pretty Canadian eh? 🇨🇦
That's it, that's the whole video??
Never heard of it, but I bought an 82 Trans Am that was red because it looked so much like a 308!
Well, to be honest, doesn't look very much like a 308. Not that it wasn't a good looking car in it's own right.
great video interesting info thank you
I can see the B Roll shots are taken in Hamilton Ontario
It really looks like a well done Kitt car
The only "Ferrari" I could ever afford.
Imagine a car company today trying something this ballsy. Like them or not, there will never be another car maker like Pontiac.
Thks for this document!
My pleasure!
It needs wheel spacers or wider rims and lowered to look even better than it does, and give it the correct look!
Owner of that car here - I agree. I probably won't bother lowering it, but at some point, I'll space the wheels out to line up with the fenders.
@Joe Joe
Good call.
I’d rather have a real Pontiac firebird than a fake Ferrari
I really believe Ferrari took advantage of GM in the end anyway. They saw the Pontiac Fiero GT design, & upon GM's announcement of its demise, had Pininfarina take that design, improve it in ways GM never would (for a V8), & produced the Ferrari 348 & F355 series - some of the most beloved Ferraris. Of course, Ferrari purists will never suffer that to be acknowledged.
Yes, I agree, especially the taillight area. Very similar.
The mera was styled directly from the 308 Ferrari which came before the fiero and Mera.
@@ursirius4878
We are talking about Fiero fastback ('88 Fiero GT). F348 & F355 looks very similar to Fiero fastback, not Mera. Understand???
@@vice4134 no it doesn't.
@@popshedpilot6635 I disagree and I don't give a freak what you think. LOL
Not quite sure how I feel about this. They've been making fibreglas kit cars for AC Shelby Cobras and puttin' them on VW chassis for decades with very little outcry from enthusiasts. Granted it was long after the Cobras stopped production - whereas the Ferrari's were still being made when the Mera conversions were being done. At a glance you can also see some Bricklin lines in the body as well.
Shelby replicas are licensed by Shelby.
I always loved the look of Bricklins.
I see so many ferrari or lambo body kits. Anyone tried explicitely replicating the Mera? It's a good look.
I think it's sad that Ferrari had to sue them also, only I'm on Ferrari's side here. If Ferrari created the "Whorevette" and it appeared to be 95+% accurate to GM's Corvette? You could bet that GM would have sued Ferrari as well.
This story is total BS, Ferrari never sued anyone over this car, the story about a lawsuit was a promotional gimmick concocted by people who wanted the car to get attention, one source even claimed that Ferrari bought the body dies and destroyed them, the problem with that is there were no dies in the first place, they were fiberglass not steel.
Pontiac never had anything to do with this and therefore couldn't have been sued, it was an aftermarket company that cooked this up and approached a group of Pontiac dealers about offering it as a dealer installed option, it's because of that and several other things that Ferrari never would have had a leg to stand on with a lawsuit.
Car's are never copyrighted or patented, you can't do it because the slightest change in anything like lights and the patent is nullified and all cars have light and grill changes every year, patenting a car is just too complex and copyrights don't apply to something like the body style of a car only logo's and names, Ford could make an exact copy of a Corvette if they wanted to they just couldn't put the words Corvette or Chevrolet on it.
Even more malarkey is the nonsense story that they quit making them because Ferrari sued, they quit making them because Pontiac quit making the Fiero, which begs the question as to why Ferrari would even bother to file a lawsuit over something that wasn't made anymore anyways?
And why didn't Ferrari ever sue over any of the many Ferrari kit cars over the years?
The story about a lawsuit over these cars was nothing more than a slick marketing tool created by people who wanted to spark an interest with the public and make them worth more, they either fed the story to someone who didn't bother to fact check it or someone had a buddy that was a reporter that they had help them out by writing up the story about a lawsuit, I've challenged more than one person to prove it really happened by providing me with the court and the case number for the lawsuit, like every one of them it'd be public record and easily found on the internet like any other court case civil or criminal, but not one person has ever been able to, and that's because there never was a lawsuit only a story about one that's grown legs over the years all based on a story no one has ever fact checked.
@@dukecraig2402 ... ambian.
Zoloft
Sorry to say to all purists, but I totally dig it.
Saw one at the Woodward cruise Pontiac fiero meet up....giggled like a little kid at GM's audacity. Fit and finish was about the same t, if not better, than the "real thing".
I can't belive as mush as I love the 88 Fiero GT iv never heard of this car, or even Sean one. amazing
It's so funny, I saw one of these yesterday in Phoenix and here's a video about them! The car I saw had Ferrari badging, but I could tell something wasn't right about it. Didn't get a chance to see it up close (the interior is a dead giveaway), but the body's all wrong.
Hey, I own 6001. The 86 prototype. We should do a video with both cars!
Does it still have the 4 speed 2.8l? That’s pretty neat. I haven’t seen that car in any articles in the last 7 years.
@HYDROPHAINT Concepts It does. I’ve admittedly not done a great job of getting involved in the Fiero or Mera community with it. Always have intended to, life just keeps me too busy! I did take it to the Midwest Fiero Club’s 35th anniversary Fiero show a few years ago and it got some good response. I’m also working on an article that hopefully will appear in Fiero Focus Magazine later this year.
That could be great fun! We’re in southern Ontario, are you close enough to make that happen?
Is this the one that used to reside in Oakville on Bronte road?
Ferrari was Fierious.
A side by side comparison, would have completed your presentation.
Thanks so much for the feedback!
"...proof that beautiful car design could be obtained on a budget." No, the beautiful car design was obtained by copying the 308GTB. Ferrari paid for the design; Pontiac just copied it.
This is kind of cool, I would like to have one. Have it in a car collection one day. Keep it as is. Just upgrade the engine to make it move like you would do with any car. But keep the rest of it stock to be a proud car of what it is
That is wild stuff. Got a soft spot for Fiero cars. Especially ones that look like 308s
1986 Pontiac Fiero was my first car. Purchased it for $600 in 1994 at an auction with 103k miles.
I have had many cars since, invluding high end german and japanese ones. But the Fiero still lives in my dreams.
Was it running right? Or was there many many things wrong?
@@jwalster9412 many many things wrong
@@riccello glad to hear you bought your first dashboard Christmas tree in 1994.
I've heard of a kit car but not this. I remember those stupid looking fieras though. Man they look much better wit the kit. Damm shame there isn't more. I think there is a kit to make a car look similar to a Lamborghini but it's not as close looking as this one. Great video!
I just like how we let foregeign entities decide what we can do...
I remember a friend of mine back in early '90s went and testdroveof one of these Pontiac fieros he brought it back with the chords hanging out on the front tires and the engine knocking 🤣😂
I had an 85 Fiero!!! Wish I still had it.
A shame that with the effort they put into designing new body panels to fit on the Fiero that they didn’t take that opportunity to do something unique and not just a blatant knockoff of a 10 year old entry level Ferrari.
What’s the song played at the beginning of the video?
I cant believe they made that many of them. I'm sorry Pontiac would have been better off making a more powerful Fiero with a manual, than this rip off.
I Wonder Why I Never Knew About This Car 🤯🤣😂🤣💯
I watched the first 30 seconds of this without audio context and was like "yep, that's a 308" and after watching it with audio, I still think it's just a Ferrari 308.
Mom, Dad! Can we have a Magnum P.I's Ferrari at home!
The Ferrari:
Probably more reliable than the 308 anyway...
This is extremely sad that Ferrari sued the late great Pontiac. My dad used 2 drive a Trans Sport to carry me and my immediate family around to places like the family man he is. Now Ferrari sued Pontiac and that eventually ultimately sadly gradually slowly killed Pontiac.
Much more reliable than a Ferrari
And much slower too!
@@marcogalliani279 can be made much much faster,up to todays level of a fast car & be done reliably. You can never say that about an old Ferrari. As a matter of fact modifying an old Ferrari ruins its value. Its like a woman walking in 6 inch heels,it looks nice,but its impractical and painful. So its torture for no reason.
@@coreysmith2196 Ok, I can partially agree with what you say. But to say that this Pontiac is better than a Ferrari 308 is, in my opinion, blasphemy. I don't have a Ferrari (although I was lucky enough to drive one for quite a while), but I swear I would never go around with a copy. Here in Italy we have a saying: "I would like but I can't" and it refers to those who want something so much that they are satisfied even with an imitation. It's not just the aesthetics, but the emotions it can give you. Then maybe a woman wears tennis shoes to go shopping, but at an important event she wears high heels. They are simply two different things.
And later on didn't the underground market make a lamborghini kit?
So who won the lawsuit?
If the "look" of a car can be "owned" then so can the feel, and sound, and performance. Ideas can't be owned. Period.
Imagine the modern Fiero being base off the C8 Corvette LOL!!!!!!!!!
Haa, I thought it was a Fiero with Ferrari look alike kit!