Fieros and POCI, why are they at odds with each other?

[039951]

I have been a POCI member since 1979. I like all Pontiac's. Old and New. I sold Pontiac's for many years. I bought a Fiero in the summer of 2001 after a divorce in 1999 and had to sell the Trans Ams. I am I guess an old guy 65. I was in charge of ordering Firehawks at the dealership I worked at. That was fun! I have driven a Fiero daily since November 2001. Yes in the winter and in Michigan. I prefer road racing over nascar and drag racing. I bought the Fiero because I missed not owning a Pontiac. Plus I wanted to get back into Solo 2. I was doing Solo 2 with a 69 Z/28 when I met the ex in 74. She had plans that did not include me Solo2 ing. Thus the pursuit for a Sporty Pontiac. Why all this information, to give you a little background before I proceed.

Now on to the subject. Before I bought my first Fiero I was aware of them but not to knowledgeable about them. Now having owned and driven them daily since 2001 I have a good understanding about this very unique Pontiac. And BEST of All, Pontiac didn't have to re badge or share with stinkin chevy. After I purchased a Fiero I was looking for some information and advice on the car and noticed The Lack of Information about them in POCI. So through the tedious search process I ran across Pennocks Fiero Forum. Just a few years ago there was 30,000 members worldwide. I found a lot of great information about these unique little cars. I still kept my POCI membership. I was a little disappointed that there was very few if any articles on the Fiero. I noticed the lack of any acknowledgement of them. Seems like all most all the articles in the Smoke Signals over the years were about GTO's. Lots of nice GTO's but no Fieros. I got the feeling over the years that Fiero was being ignored by the POCI members. It felt like POCI was a bunch of snobs, if you didn't have a GTO or a Pontiac with a Pontiac engine you were second class citizens. I know this is the reason POCI doesn't have a lot of Fiero owners for members. Over the last few years it looked promising. I think after bothering Don about Fieros I think SS was on the verge of having something about them in SS and more than once in every 4 years. With Don I felt The Fiero Community was going to see a lot of information in SS. I hope the new editor does something about getting Fiero news into SS and not just about old cars. This will make it easier to "sell" POCI to Fiero owners. Most Fiero owners are cash strapped if you will and watch were they spend their money. It is hard for them to shell out $40 per year for a Pontiac organization/magazine that ignores Fieros! CAN YOU HEAR ME POCI BOARD MEMBERS? Sorry but that is the cold hard facts. Until POCI embraces the Fiero community you will not see many join POCI. Really surprising that the one true Pontiac, not shared with any other GM make gets so little acknowledgement. I still love Trans Ams, but really enjoy my Fiero because it is more of a sports car than any other Pontiac! For those of you who are not familiar with the Fiero Community check out Pennocks Fiero Forum.
Once More: HEY POCI BOARD MEMBERS AND NEW SS EDITOR, Acknowledge and embrace the Fiero Community! If you want them to join POCI! Stop being snobs.
And news SS editor, a short article EVERY month about the car or some of the Fiero car shows will help. As of now their isnt any.

And one more thing. HEY POCI BOARD MEMBERS AND SS EDITOR, if you really want to win brownie points and get more Fiero members, think about sponsoring or helping with the 35th Anniversary meet. If this event happens there will be several hundred Fieros showing up. Depending on the location there may be more. When the Michigan Fiero Club held the 20th and 25th there were 300 or more cars at the events.
I have some ideas for the Board and SS but not here.

[POCIClubOffice]

Thanks for the feedback. I emailed your post to the editor and the POCI officers, Paul

[POCIClubOffice]

I'd be happy to help with the effort to resurrect a Fiero Specialty Chapter for POCI, just call or email me at the POCI Club Office.

We had a Fiero Chapter a few years back, we just need some volunteers/new blood for officers and a newsletter editor.

[DynoDave]

Hello 039951. Thanks for your post.

I have to say, I run into some of this myself. As an owner of a 3rd Gen. Trans Am with "corporate" power, you get little more than a sideways glance from some Pontiac purists. Throw in plastic body panels, mid engine, 2 seats, and the Fiero seems hard for a lot of folks to relate to. I love 'em, by the way.

Look, I don't envy the Smoke Signals (SS) editor's job of having to pacify a lot of interest groups within the Pontiac world. I'm also a Walter P. Chrysler (WPC) Club member. While the WPC magazine is devoted almost exclusively to pre-1960 cars, SS seems to very heavily favor the 60s. Understandable, given the average age of members, and what they grew up with.

But my interests are broad, and as a lifelong Mopar guy prior to the purchase of my T/A, my need and desire to learn all I can about Pontiac history is large. I'd love to see a little more about the early cars, more about the divisions history, etc. More about the plants our cars were built in, the central office, interviews with engineers, designers and other leaders who are still with us. I've really enjoyed the article about the grey ghost, the GMC Cannonball truck, etc. There's so much to learn. And yes, I would love to see something comprehensive about the Fiero. If these stories were done in the past, more senior members might not want to read them again, but I'd sure like to.

[039951]

Dave I also enjoy reading about early cars and the history of Pontiac. I also enjoy reading about all early cars. I was fortunate in the fact that I was selling Pontiac's on and off from 1977 to 2001. I really was in to Trans Ams and enjoyed selling them also. I had couple that were in different stages of restoration. But I was given a divorce and that ended the trans ams. So after a couple of years of being single and no Pontiac I ended up in Fieros. Long story.

Steve
Grand Rapids, MI

[DynoDave]

Steve,

Some good dealership memories, I'm sure. I worked at a (can I say this here?) Chevrolet dealership for a short time, and even in that couple of years, saw some very interesting things! :D

Fieros have a very interesting place in automotive history. A Pontiac only vehicle, with a whole host of firsts and engineering innovations, they are really a special vehicle. Hope you were able to get out and enjoy yours a bunch this summer.