My model car collection, by and large, tends to eschew household-name supercars in favour of less obvious candidates for teenage bedroom wall poster worship, hence the Opel Manta and Citroen CX being among the treasures in my attic.
So, while bored on a train journey and idly browsing my Android mobile eBay app, which I have set to search only for 1:18th scale with price <£20, I was surprised, nay, shocked to find the model in these photos among the massed ranks of Bburago Ferraris. Yes, it’s a Fiero.

.I can’t help but wonder if Yat Ming, the makers of this diecast, might have introduced it to their portfolio by mistake. They may have seen it among Pontiac’s 80’s line up, noticed the pop-up headlamps and the rear spoiler and mistaken it for some kind of supercar, or perhaps something along the lines of an MR2, not something made from bits and bobs from the Chevette and Citation parts bins.

Ah, but this is a model of the Fiero GT. This car was GM’s answer to those who moaned that a mid-engined sports-car (or something which looked like one) should have more than the old 92hp Iron-Duke four for motivation. “Suck on this” they said, and proudly unveiled this new 140hp 2.8 V6 variant.
Other than Fiero enthusiasts and other weirdos like me I can’t imagine the target audience for this model being especially vast. Maybe these models are in every corner-store Stateside, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen one for sale in the UK, and I certainly can’t imagine many pubescent collectors of budget 1:18s choosing this semi-obscure mid-engined Pontiac over a Ferrari or Porsche from the next shelf over.

The model itself is pretty fantastic. As you’d expect with a budget model there are have been a few production short-cuts taken; the windows have no side glazing, the front hood is non-functional and the pop-up headlamps don’t. Additionally, I had to use a fine fiber-tipped pen to darken the areas between the spokes on the otherwise crisply-detailed alloy wheels in order to create some illusion of actual gaps between the spokes.

The overall form is well observed, though, and the paint finish generally well applied. I must give particular credit to the way the PONTIAC script is embossed into the metalwork below the rear lights, a really neat touch.
Other fine detail is very good. The tampoed GT and Fiero decals are nicely applied and I really like how the full-width cover for the rear lamp assembly has been handled. Yat Ming have made a excellent job of the exterior.

Inside things are still good, but not quite AS good. All the disappointments involve a lack of extremely fine detail, it seems that Yat Ming were far more fussed about getting the outside right, and many of trivial little issues I’ve found could probaby be overlooked if we were being at all fair. I’m talking about things like the instrument pack being a printed sticker like in ’80s Bburagos, rather than photo-etched, and the radio / HVAC controls being a uniform moulded grey finish rather than realistically finished like you might find in an Auto Art.
But this isn’t an AutoArt and I think the overall job is very creditable, more so when you look at the excellent seats, complete with tampoed Fiero crests.

Out the back, or rather, the middle, you’d expect to find the engine, and you do. And it’s actually rendered with surprisingly high fidelity.
The intake casting is the right colour, and has a spiffy Fiero logo tampoed upon it, though the red is perhaps about three times as shiny as it should be.
Other than a lack of plumbing and important bits of wire, as a representation of a form I don’t think it’s fair to criticise it too harshly. It’s a budget model, after all, and it’s a model of a fricken’ Fiero.
And there we have it. A model the likes of which I never thought I’d see, let alone own. And for just a small handful of cash (unsurprisingly I was the sole bidder) I was delighted to add this second Pontiac to my collection.
(All images copyright Chris Haining / Hooniverse 2015)