I just saw a blurb saying that GM was dropping the Pontiac line. And keeping Buick? No way! They should drop Pontiac AND Buick. And Saturn. And Chevy.
But Pontiac has a very special place in my....heart. My first car was a Pontiac, the sourest of lemons known as the Fiero. It was bright red and a 1984 model, the first year they were made. An upperclassman named Eric Mix had a black one and was the inspiration for getting one.
Fiero is Italian for "Burned Alive". Mine only caught fire once on I-5 near Toledo and left me taking a Greyhound back to Humboldt County for Thanksgiving where I had dinner in a Denny's knockoff. Open face turkey sandwich. Pontiac wasn't lying, they did build excitement.
I bought the car my right after my first season in Bristol Bay after seeing it in an ad in the Anchorage Daily News while my Dad drank coffee at the Leader Creek Inn. When the last fish was caught and the Vanessa was ready for the warehouse I flew to Anchortown and was picked up at the airport by the family who owned it. They lived in Palmer and they put me up for the night.
It was so glossy when they rolled it out of the garage, this is burned into my memory like one of its famous mid-engine flame ups. When I woke I forked over $3800 and set off for Seward, my first time driving outside of Kodiak. They warned me the car often was going faster than it felt and before I knew it I was doing 80, thinking I was a legal 55.
The ferry was booked solid so I spent the night sleeping in a campground in the passangers seat and when my eyes opened I had one of the worst back aches of all-time. So the next shot to the The Rock was out of Homer but not for a few days so I got a room at a slummy hotel that looked a lot like a bunkhouse back at the Wards Cove plant in Naknek. I was right at home.
When I finally got back to Kodiak my folks wouldn't let me drive it until we'd worked a deal with State Farm so I hid it under a blue trap. T-Bone came over and was sitting on it, totally unaware of what was under his arse so I showed him. The car was a secret for until school started.
It was a fun car despite being pretty worthless in snow and would be the catalyst for eventually becoming a Miata owner (x 2).
The Roslyn to Kodiak cannonball run.
The auto shop teacher opening the hood to discover no motor.
Carolina Katie sitting on the back at Deadman's.
The motorheads "stealing" the wheels off the rear while we jocks played Kenai on the hardwood.
Backing into a ditch in the dark on Pillar.
Driving from Seattle to Arcata in one day.
My sister ended up with it my second year of college and broke the world record for most Samoans in a two seat car (6). A record with Cal Ripken potential to never be broken.
Today Fieros are still popular wit the kit car crowd, turning them into fake Ferraris and dropping V8s in them. I saw an electric one the other day which I'd wuv to have. 89! But I'd take my black '99 MX-5 over it any day.
But Pontiac has a very special place in my....heart. My first car was a Pontiac, the sourest of lemons known as the Fiero. It was bright red and a 1984 model, the first year they were made. An upperclassman named Eric Mix had a black one and was the inspiration for getting one.
Fiero is Italian for "Burned Alive". Mine only caught fire once on I-5 near Toledo and left me taking a Greyhound back to Humboldt County for Thanksgiving where I had dinner in a Denny's knockoff. Open face turkey sandwich. Pontiac wasn't lying, they did build excitement.
I bought the car my right after my first season in Bristol Bay after seeing it in an ad in the Anchorage Daily News while my Dad drank coffee at the Leader Creek Inn. When the last fish was caught and the Vanessa was ready for the warehouse I flew to Anchortown and was picked up at the airport by the family who owned it. They lived in Palmer and they put me up for the night.
It was so glossy when they rolled it out of the garage, this is burned into my memory like one of its famous mid-engine flame ups. When I woke I forked over $3800 and set off for Seward, my first time driving outside of Kodiak. They warned me the car often was going faster than it felt and before I knew it I was doing 80, thinking I was a legal 55.
The ferry was booked solid so I spent the night sleeping in a campground in the passangers seat and when my eyes opened I had one of the worst back aches of all-time. So the next shot to the The Rock was out of Homer but not for a few days so I got a room at a slummy hotel that looked a lot like a bunkhouse back at the Wards Cove plant in Naknek. I was right at home.
When I finally got back to Kodiak my folks wouldn't let me drive it until we'd worked a deal with State Farm so I hid it under a blue trap. T-Bone came over and was sitting on it, totally unaware of what was under his arse so I showed him. The car was a secret for until school started.
It was a fun car despite being pretty worthless in snow and would be the catalyst for eventually becoming a Miata owner (x 2).
The Roslyn to Kodiak cannonball run.
The auto shop teacher opening the hood to discover no motor.
Carolina Katie sitting on the back at Deadman's.
The motorheads "stealing" the wheels off the rear while we jocks played Kenai on the hardwood.
Backing into a ditch in the dark on Pillar.
Driving from Seattle to Arcata in one day.
My sister ended up with it my second year of college and broke the world record for most Samoans in a two seat car (6). A record with Cal Ripken potential to never be broken.
Today Fieros are still popular wit the kit car crowd, turning them into fake Ferraris and dropping V8s in them. I saw an electric one the other day which I'd wuv to have. 89! But I'd take my black '99 MX-5 over it any day.
