Page 220 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

filled cup. Once space frames were welded up, they moved into a massive two-story “mill and drill” machine that individually measured the space frame’s dimensions and then ground the pads down and drilled holes for attachment hardware.
The balance of the P-car recipe was as straightforward as its architecture was radical: dual A-arm front suspension was leveraged from the Chevette, while the rear suspension utilized the McPherson struts developed for the X-car. The upside of utilizing two front sets of suspension components was that disc brakes came along for the ride, yet, on the assumption that the P-car’s front-end weight was sufficiently low, manual steering was envisioned as sufficient.
After reviewing a host of names like Fiamma, Pegasus and Starfire, Pontic settled on “Fiero” for the car and production began
218Wayne CariniAffordable Classics
ABOVE: Massive Gilman “mill and drill” machine was used to precisely grind and drill the 39 exterior panel attachment points on the Fiero’s space frame. LEFT: Exterior panels were painted separately; only a limited number of colors were available. BELOW: Fiero’s interior reflected a bit of 1980s angular aesthetic, but was functional and comfortable.
in August 1983. Befitting its commuter car status and limited budget, there were only four colors available at launch. The base “Fiero Coupe,” priced at $7,999, was envisioned as the fuel economy leader and was constrained by a four-speed manual gear box with 0.73 overdrive in fourth gear. To achieve its EPA rating of 50 mpg highway and 31 mpg city, air conditioning and automatic were not available. For an additional $500 premium buyers could upgrade