1984 Pontiac Fiero Pace Car
Personal story and photograph submitted by owner Ken Shadlak
for participation in the the 2008 GM Century Cruise
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved cars. As a boy, my dreams were to own a Corvette, and to have a car I could enter into the Autorama. My father owned GM products while I was growing up, and I have worked at GM for over 29 years. Since my dream car was always a Corvette, I worked and saved all my money, and when I was in the 11th grade, I bought a 1966 Yellow Fast Back Corvette. It had a 327/365hp small block with a 4-speed. This was my first car. Boy was I cool. I bought that car in 1971 and have been driving GM vehicles ever since.
Since my Corvette experience, I have owned several other GM’s muscle cars. I’ve had Novas, Chevelles, Camaros, and of course, more Corvettes. When the Fiero first came out, I knew I just had to have one. The body style, in my opinion, was way ahead of its time. I had a new wife, and thought it would be a great car for her. The first Fiero I bought was a red 1984 Fiero SE with a 4-speed, for her. She loved that car, maybe more than she loved me. I always liked the fast-back design, so I sold the SE and upgraded to a bright red 1988 Fiero GT with an automatic transmission. Four years later, when baby #1 came, we parked away our little Fiero, and bought her a "Mommy mobile," a Chevy Astro Van.
I started using the 1988 Fiero GT for joyrides, but always craved more power, I looked into different engine conversion options. I needed the V8 power that all my past GM muscle cars had. So after considering the options, I decided to upgrade my '88 GT to a Northstar. I found a Cadillac with the Northstar L37 300 hp engine option. It was mated to an electronic 4-speed, automatic transmission. I researched how to put it in and, now that I am done, I have been having a blast with my car ever since. I’ve entered my car in numerous car shows and was accepted in three Autoramas. My car has been published in newspaper articles and in the Woodward Dream Cruise Collectors Edition magazine.
I love this car too much to give it back to my wife. Feeling guilty for taking it over, I had to buy a toy for her. She now owns a 1984 Fiero Indy Pace Car. Once we got that car for her car, I still couldn’t leave it alone. I added a real Pace Car Scoop with functional strobe lights, and wheels that look just like the prototype Indy Pace Car at Indianapolis Speedway.
We are members of the Michigan Fiero Club. We show our Fieros as a family and we find a lot of joy in being together with our two sons, one in each Fiero. They always fight over who gets to ride in which car. The next project I have planned, is to update the motor in the Pace Car to an original Indy Pace Car Super-duty 4.
GM’s Century Cruise pays tribute to GM’s past and the passion owners have for their vehicles. On Saturday, August 16, 2008 this vehicle and more than 100 other classic GM vehicles will cruise from the GM Global Headquarters at the Renaissance Center up Woodward Avenue to the heart of the Woodward Dream Cruise in Royal Oak and the surrounding suburbs. One of these vehicles will be crowned “top cruiser” based on a text voting campaign.
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