Floodwaters from Tittabawassee River ravaged the Michigan town of Sanford this week, claiming several local businesses including a Pontiac Fiero museum and workshop known as Fieros Forever.
The museum is owned by Pontiac Fiero enthusiast Tim Evans, who has been collecting, repairing and selling Fieros for over a decade. The flood destroyed the building itself and scattered Evans’ Fieros across the town of Sanford, with news reports showing some cars flipped on their roofs and others filled with mud and water.
According to The Detroit Free Press, Evans had 20 Fieros stored in the building and just one survived: the car he used to flee the area as the floodwaters began to descend on the small mid-Michigan town.
Parts of Michigan are experiencing extreme flooding after the Edenville and Sanford dams broke, causing floodwaters from the Tittabawassee River and two neighboring lakes to spill over. Evans had tried to move his cars to dry ground as news of the impending flood circulated, but was unable to get all of them out in time. He told the Free Press that he has not yet contacted his insurance company about the cars, but he has already learned the damage to his building will not be covered.
Among the victims of flooding in Michigan were a handful of Pontiac Fieros. https://t.co/eSuRdD4ebj pic.twitter.com/oH35J2VWRt
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) May 20, 2020
Evans told the Free Press the flood damage has been “devastating” for him and his wife, who began amassing their Fiero collection a little more than a decade ago. Among the cars lost in the flood were a 1984 Pontiac Fiero Indy 500 Pace Car and a Fiero-based Lamborghini Diablo replica.
Evans also explained that his love for the Fiero is tied to it being a fairly advanced vehicle for the time.
“It had a chassis that was made out of steel,” he told the Free Press. “They built the car in five sub-assemblies, and then they put it into this mill and drill machine.”
It seems doubtful that Fieros Forever will return to its former glory. Evans was trying to sell the shop and his car collection after recently suffering a stroke, but had to put the planned auction on the backburner due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the shop and its contents now destroyed, this appears to be the end of the road for the Fiero enthusiast destination.
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Comments
Loved these back in the day, the first time I heard one start with that gargling from the exhaust I was sold. But I was still in junior high so closest I ever got was reading about them. 88 GT best in class
Very sad that his collection was destroyed. Hopefully people will be able to restore some of them.
The apocalypse is upon us… Too many tragedies in a short period of time. Unthinkable we could lose so many incredible Fiero’s. To think GM discontinued the vehicle after 1988… Too think I am this disturbed by the loss of 20 Pontiac’s… Sigh
Sad this happened as a good number of these cars were in pretty good shape.
A number of them are restorable as they just floated away and damage was minimal. Others were buried in mud and flipped.
But while these are gone the Fiero is not exactly a rare car with so many built in a short time. There are a number of clean low mile models out there that are still in like new condition. I myself have one.
Tim here is not happy but he has his priorities right as he and his wife did not get hurt and they did not lose their house.
I just hope his insurance and salvage here will realize close to what he had hoped for in the auction.
No one gets into Fieros to get rich you do it for the passion for the model. Tim was like that.
I hate to say it but like most cars they are worth more in parts than complete so he may fair ok even on the damaged car by parting them out. There is a good market for good parts on these cars since so few reproduction parts.
I would love to have his rare DOHC Super Duty he had in the crate. Few are left.
The Pace car appears salvageable if the get the interior out and dry fast.. it showed little damage.
Thanks Scott. I had an ’88 GT, Black, gray corduroy, with the black wheels. Bought it new off the lot in ’88(One of 2 cars that I’ve ever bought new off the lot), and sold it in ’94 for 3 grand more than what I bought it for, and that was my down for my ’94 Vette(-of which I walked through with at Bowling Green, and no longer have). I shortened the front springs and lowered the instrument pod inside. It had less less than a grand on the odometer when I sold it to a guy in Wisconsin.
Excuse me. I ‘raised’ the instrument pod. Sorry. -Memory’s starting to get foggy on little things back that far! LOL
I was at the old Pontiac complex back around 1990. The Fiero plant was there. When GM pulled the plug on it, they stopped the line and walked away. The line was left full. Could have been re-started if they wanted to, everything was there to build them. Shame, it was a neat little car. A friend of mine still has 2 of them. I never heard what happened with all the parts and equipment that was left there. Knowing GM at the time, they junked it.
Are you sure?
There is a good deal of documentation of the line being shut down and the last two cars off the line were given away in a drawing signed by everyone on the line. They come up for sale now and then,
They tried to find a new model for the line but the killing of the GM80 model the fwd FBody replacement sealed the fate.
The plant was scrapped it and torn down I have two bricks from it here.
The car even by many on the Fiero team was never expected to last more than a few years more.
This is a sad thing to happen, but honestly he should never have put a museum of any sort in Sanford. The flood in 2017 should have been a clue.