| President's Corner |
by Larry Magaw
One sometimes wonders why General Motors does what it does.
Remember, in the early sixties there was a big drive to make compact cars. Ford came out with the Falcon, Chrysler
produced the Plymouth Valiant, Studebaker introduced the Lark, and of course GM brought out the Chevrolet Corvair.
These were all new car designs but the boldest by far was the rear air-cooled engine Corvair. To say it was
revolutionary for a United States manufacturer was an understatement, though it did have some of the same
drawbacks as the German Volkswagen. Once those were addressed it became a fine, good handling car.
Jump in your time machine twelve years later to 1984 and the introduction of the Pontiac Fiero. There was no big
push for a 'commuter car' nor a two-seat sports car. We had just come out of a period of extremely boring cars. GM
needed sales and Pontiac needed badly to recapture the sizzle of the GTO and fulfill the 'We build excitement' motto.
They went with a bold design again, the first and only mid-engine car by an American manufacturer. The original
model had some challenges, but the acceptance was overwhelming. The next few years saw many detail
improvements and finally in 1988 they really got the design flaws ironed out.
In 1969 the Corvair was allowed a quiet death through a lack of advertising. It was not that way with the Fiero. In 1988
it was announced dead at its zenith and then it was finished.
Only the specific type car clubs revere them now. Our hope is that the Michigan Fiero Club can continue to fan the
spark to keep the ember glowing.
LWM
| March 2008 |
