As a rule we don’t put up other sites’ features here at the Curbside, but this case deserves an exception. When Kathryn DiMaria was 12, she’d saved up enough babysitting money to propose a project to her folks: let her buy a cheap project car, and she’ll restore it in time for her 16th birthday. She’s halfway there and she’ll be at Maker Faire Detroit, at The Henry Ford in Dearborn this weekend, to talk about it. MAKE Magazine has an interview and more photos of Kathryn and her project Fiero.
But… why a Fiero????
Ummm, they’re cheap, beautiful, fantastic handlers, decent performers when equipped with the V6. All of mine get/got between 20-25mpg (not good..but not bad either). There’s a huge following for these cars as well.
Don’t knock one until you’ve driven one. I never liked small cars until I got behind the wheel of a worn out 4-cylinder automatic car that I bought from a guy before he brought it across the scales at the scrapyard. I’ve since become a Fiero fanatic still own over thirty of these things.
I’m sure ignorant fire-trap comments will soon follow…but most of the fire issues were due to the large batch of bad Iron duke connecting rods that exited the block dumping oil on top of the catalytic converter. It’s such a shame that GM decided to let the cars burn up rather than recall them…engines started blowing up & burning very early in production…possibly before the car was even released to the public…but don’t hold me to that.
Out of all the vehicles I’ve ever owned, the one I enjoyed driving most of all is a rough ’86 Fiero SE with 2.8V6 & 4 speed manual. There’s so much to like about these things..too much to write about here.
This is one of only three Fieros which made it up here to NC It’s also an ’86 SE with V6 engine (please ignore the “mushroom” in the rear window). The rest of the collection is still disintegrating in AL.
You own thirty Fieros?! When are you gracing us with a CC, JB? 🙂
Ha-ha 🙂 When I learn how to write well & take halfway decent photos! Consider me the nutcase of the CC family.
I do indeed own over 30 Fieros though. All but three of them are 600 miles away wasting away in a field…accompanied by 20-something other weird ’70’s – 80’s GM products.
I never planned on leaving AL but it was either continue living in jobless squalor or moving to NC! There were over 200 vehicles down there until the mobile car crusher arrived & killed ninety of them one weekend. The check was big but it was not a joyful experience. There were 56 total last time I was down there…each one a thorn in my side.
I would give anything to have the money to purchase one of your thirty. This was my dream car as a teenager. I wanted one with every fiber of my being. My mother refused because it was so small and made me purchase a Pontiac Firebird instead, but I’ve never forgotten the Fiero. I will own one before I die. 🙂
“Consider me the nutcase of the CC family”
-Junqueboi
“I would like to apply for that position, as long as I can at least pursue my pet-project-style hobby of photography”
-Alfasaab99
Yes, I used to feel the same way about the Fiero. Until I got into an 1988 Fiero GT. That little bugger was a GREAT ride; but honestly, GM should built all of them that way since the start in 1984.
My wife wanted one in the worst way, but in 1984-5 I was glad we didn’t spring for one of the first ones. Instead we bought a 1985 Mercury Capri, which was a POS. Maybe we would have been better off with the Fiero. I guess the other issue was it was a bit of a chick car, at least the first ones. But the later V6 SEs, Formulas and GTs remedied that pretty quickly…
Why not? Fiero is one attractive car, stylish, and its styling is perfect for a teenage girl too, unlike, say, a Buick Grand National or a Chevrolet El Camino or a Ford F100 pickup. The girl is attractive too, BTW.
When I was in high school there was a girl who fixed up her own Fiat Spyder, with some help from her grandfather. Her’s was mainly a cosmetic resto. It turned out pretty good and she drove it through high school.
I wonder if there’s a reason she’s using a 3.4L engine instead of the 3.8L that GM later installed in the f-bodies. Is there that much of a size difference between the two?
OTOH, I guess she knows what she’s doing since she’s been getting help from Fiero-specific discussion groups.
The 3.4 is nearly a bolt-in since that engine’s in the same family as the 2.8. All the Fiero peripherals can be used on the 3.4 making it a very straightforward swap. The only hairy part involves drilling & tapping holes for the starter as its mounts are on the opposite side. However an inexpensive jig can be purchased which makes that task doable for the DIYer.
The Cadillac 4.9 V8 is just as easy to swap in as the 3.8 engine — that would be my personal choice… The wildest & most exotic swap I’ve ever seen was the Northstar engine. There was absolutely zero room left in the engine compartment but the car was a bullet.
Can you still get the Crab intakes for the 3.4? I know there were a few parts out there to hop up the 60 degree V6…
If it were up to me, I’d be looking at one of the 175 HP Ram Air 3.4’s from the later Grand Am GTs, or possibly the 185 HP 3.4 from the Azteks (and other U bodies).
Why do you have to relo the starter? No room?
I’ve been out of Fieroville awhile & ashamedly have never even heard of a Crab intake… The alternative engine choices you suggested sure sound interesting…
The FWD transmission runs down the same side of the block as the starter pad on the RWD engines necessitating the relocation. Thankfully there are starter flanges on both sides of the block & the “old” flange doesn’t need to be ground off or anything.
I would avoid the screwing around with the Cadillac engines, I think the best swap for one of these is a Supercharged 3800 from a Grand Prix/Regal. There is a super clean 88 running around here with one of those, very nice.
The version of the 3.4 installed in W-body Impalas was also 185hp and as common as dirt.
Supercharged 3800 would be great but most of the ones I see are completely trashed already.
My Cadillac preference is mainly due to lack of programming & fabrication skills. The 3.8L is probably a better swap but the Caddy is something I could probably handle, both skill & cost wise. Engines cost me $100 a pop at my favorite scrapyard and they get a lot of FWD Cadillacs! It’s such a shame because as of early this morning, there was both a wrecked-but-running 3.8 Montana & 3.4L Venture there…along with four FWD Caddies…one a Northstar…they’re probably crushed by now *sigh*
The later Cadillac MPI 4.9s were good for 200hp out of the box which is more than I would need. I like the sound of a V8 too.
Scary my daughter is 11 and is now taking an interest in cars, yes I know thats my fault but Im still working on my project car so I dont have time or finances to do another yet though if shes that keen I will encourage her its good to see.
Hmmm…no visible fire damage? I think she’s got a winner!
That is just wonderful, and I mean that most sincerely. I’m glad she has a supportive family that would let her do something like this at a young age. Hopefully, this will allow her the audacity to pursue other dreams. Or at least other Pontiacs 🙂
When my older daughter was about her age, she was very much in love with the idea of owning her own car and fixing it up. Maybe she was influenced by her father? By the time she was 16, I’d found her a car (which is my DD now, a 1995 Pontiac Sunfire GT), but by then her focus was on soccer and getting into college, which I didn’t have an issue with. Truly more important things than playing with an old car.
Good for her and good for her parents, helping her to achieve her dreams. I hope it can continue for her.
With a little luck, this could be my kids in 8-10 years.
Wonder how many teenage boys will be camped in her yard like hound dogs because of that article? 😛
Uh oh, another “girl doing a project car story”, too bad when you look into these cases they are typically a girl figurehead with enslaved male relatives or boyfriends or wannabe boyfriends doing all the actual work and the girl posing for photos! The day we stop forcing girls to pretend to be something they can’t be is the day we start giving them a break and appreciating them for what they are!
Barry, this is not the case here. She does the majority of the work herself. Go to the website and check it out for yourself!