I bought this car in November of 2004 while I was a student at the USMC's BASIC SCHOOL in Quantico Va. It is a 1986 1/2 Pontiac Fiero GT. It has the 5 speed Getrag, and, as with all the GT's, the 2.8 L V-6. The car had been a weekend toy for a man in Virginia almost since new, and had only accumulated about 60,000 miles even though it was 18 years old. The car was GORGEOUS, and almost perfect except for a few minor flaws. I replaced the AC compressor, did a little brake work on it, and enjoyed driving around Virginia. My plans at that point were to keep the car as stock and original as possible, because it was such a beautiful low mileage car. Here are three pictures of the car as it looked then. These were taken at the Manassas Battlefield park in Virginia.

After I graduated from TBS, I was retained as an instructor for a short term training program that was taking place. This extended my stay in Virginia by about four months. During this time, disaster struck. I was driving North on I-95 on my way to Dulles Airport. It had been raining, but had stopped some minutes earlier. I was going about 30 mph when the front end of the car came around. The car and I went across the left lane without hitting anyone, and impacted a retaining wall almost head on. After impact, we bounced off, spun the rest of the way around, and ended up facing the correct way on the left side of the road. After I gathered my wits, I got out of the car, and went to inspect the damage. My heart sank when I saw that the entire bumper cover, and all of the energy absorbent material was gone. The car was hurt badly. I spent several days considering my options. I almost had the car shipped home to California, to use as a parts car for my '88 GT. After much deliberation, I decided that the car was to nice to give up on, so I had it towed to a body shop. The car was at the body shop for 6 weeks. Finally it was time for me to leave Quantico. Unfortunately the car was not ready. After getting the run around from the body shop, I told them that I was leaving Virginia, and I did not care what it looked like, just get the car drivable. This is what it looked like when I left Virginia:

I was sent to Pensacola Florida to attend a 6 week course to prepare me for flight training. I drove the car around three different colors, with the side marker lights duct taped to the fenders for the entire time I was in Florida. Needless to say, this was not an ideal situation. Next I was sent to Corpus Christi Texas for Primary Flight Training. As soon as I got here, I started looking for a body shop to make the car look good again. I got very lucky in that the first shop I went to gave me a GREAT deal on the work. They had the car for two weeks. I had them paint most of the panels off of the car.

They also removed the roof panel, and rear bumper cover,prior to shooting the '03 Victory Red paint. Here is the car mostly re-assembled:

I am thrilled with the results.

I have very particular tastes when it comes modifying cars. I love mods that look stock. I hate mods that look aftermarket. I spent ALOT of time and effort trying to decide wheather the Stage II Side Scoops would look tasteful on my car. I finally decided to have them installed, and I am happy with the result. They look like they could be stock. However, they are a departure from my usual policy, and are definately the most obvious mod I plan to have done to the car.

I was recently thinking about everything I have done to this car, and realized that I don't have a list on here:

New clutch master and slave cylinder
New Brake master cylinder
New braided steel brake lines
New brake calipers and pads on all four corners
New rotors on all four wheels, plus new font wheel bearings
New Emergency brake cables
New windshield
New A/C compressor
New alternator
New Goodyear Eagle GT II's
Fierostore front swaybar
Stage II side scoops
'03 Victory Red paint
Shaved antennae
New quarter windows
Rodney Dickman shifer rebuild kit installed
Rodney Dickman ultimate short shifter kit
Shortened shifer arm
Rodney Dickman tensioner pulley
Fierostore power pulley
Fierostore computer chip
'99 Trans Am CD player
New stock replacement subwoofer
New Pioneer 4x10's in dash
K9 alarm/keyless entry
K&N air filter
Auto dimming rearview mirror
Low temp thermostat and fan switch

Updated Pictures 23 July 2006

I decided it was time to get some decent pictures of my car on this site, so I washed and waxed it, grabbed my camera, and headed off into the unknown of South Texas in search of a place to shoot some pictures. (I was also trying to track down a rumored V-8 powered Fiero sitting by the side of the road for sale. Never did find it!) The butterflys were out in force. I have never seen anything like it, I mean, they were just SWARMING accross the road. Anyway, by the time I found a good place to take some pictures, I had several ruined butterflys streaked accross the front of the car. Oh well. In some of the pictures you can see the live ones flitting about the car. Makes for an interesting visual effect. I finally got some good Texas sunlight, and am pretty happy with the lighting, and the way the color of the car came out in these pictures. You will notice that I have removed the wing from my car. I think I like it better with no wing, but I am interested in feedback on that. Let me know your opinion. That is to say, do you prefer the car winged, or wingless?

Here are some side by side comparisons:

So, Should I put the wing back on?

I have had several brake problems/failures with this car. I attribute this to the extended periods of time that the car sat idle with the previous owner. I have been doing Band-Aid type fixes to keep the car on the road. The other day, I heard some grinding from my brakes. I figured it was time for new pads, but I let it go for a few days, because I did not have time to fix it just then. I finally had to do something about it when the left rear brake hose blew off the caliper as I was going down the road. When I took the caliper off, here is what I found:

This is what happens when a car is barely driven for an extended period, crud builds up in the brake system, and consequently the piston gets cocked in its bore. The heat melted the rubber hose to the point that it blew right off the caliper. Obviously the back side of the rotor was ruined as well. I decided that enough was enough. I replaced everything. The car now has a new master cylinder, stainless lines, and new calipers, pads, and rotors all around, as well as new front hubs and bearings. If that doesn't fix my brake problems I'll just cut a hole in the floor, and use my feet to stop!

I had to take this car home to California, and leave it with my parents, because I will soon be leaving the country for about three years. I miss it already. I can't wait for the day I will be driving it again!

I have several other Pontiacs on Cardomain, so check out my other vehicles, and sign my guestbooks. Dont forget to rate my cars as well.