At
the "Peaks
of Otter"
on
the Blue
Ridge Parkway |
|
Consumer
Reports hated the car; they gave it a very unfavorable review, calling
it "automotive junk food" and "not fun to drive"... Well, they were basically correct with
regards to the factory model—it didn't have much horsepower
and did not handle well.
But I added a 1.75" diameter anti-sway bar to the rear suspension,
creating an off-throttle over-steering trickster which would've made Ralph
Nader soil his
pants! Also, anyone belonging to the Fiero
Owner's Club of America
in 1984 knew to remove the steering damper (effectively a shock-absorber
attached to the rack-and-pinion steering)... Removing this damper made the steering
quicker, lighter and more responsive. The above two mods made it quite
fun to drive, thank you very much! (A little scary, actually, and of
course I mean that in a good way... Oh, er, don't try this at home,
however... "Professional driver on closed course," yadda yadda.)
By golly I had the hots to put a Chevy small-block V8 in it (hot-rodders
were selling an adapter kit at the time) but I probably would've killed
myself and then the Ralph Naders of the world would win...
|
My first new car,
ever (1984). I didn't just buy it new, but "ordered" it after
weeks of studying the available features, options, option packages, etc... It was
loaded; it had everything the "SE" model had, except for the
"SE" decal and minus the SE's extra $1500 in base price.
Dad pretending it's his car (1985)
Tracker
