Pontiac Fiero
One of General Motors' good intentions that went awry, the mid-engine Fiero was snuck past the automaker's board of directors as a "commuter car." Excitement was so high that Pontiac's then-boss, Bill Hoglund, came to New York for the introduction in 1984. I took him for a test drive upstate, and we got lost somewhere around West Point, arriving an hour late for lunch. The Fiero's life was cut short by performance, reliability, and safety issues, and is now more curiosity than classic.
