The Pontiac Fiero is enigmatic. It’s no C8 Corvette, but when it launched in the early 1980s, the rear mid-engine sports coupe was probably pretty exciting. Over time, it became the preferred platform of various Faux-rarri kit cars and a number of other off-color modifications.
Recently, a few photos and a video resurfaced on Facebook after three years, showing off what might be the most unique Fiero build in the world pulling out of an O’Reilly parking lot. It didn’t have an obnoxiously exotic fiberglass body kit or crazy LS1 swap; instead, it had a humongous propeller fan mounted to the rear.
This fan car—not to be confused with Gordon Murray’s legendary Brabham BT46 F1 racer—is a unique mesh of Pontiac and swamp boat. The section of the Fiero where the rear-mounted engine would normally be is empty, as the wheels are no longer powered by the Iron Duke, or the more potent V6, or anything at all, really.
Instead, the car zooms along using a large fan salvaged from an airboat.
According to the car’s then-69-year-old owner who showed up a few weeks later on a Fiero forum to defend his creation, the propeller is spun by a 375-horsepower, 400-cubic-inch Chevy small block. If you look closely, you can see the engine mounted about four feet off the ground, attached to the center of the fan where it provides the necessary power to twirl the six-foot propeller.
The car predictably sounds like an airboat cutting through the wetlands, except the boat is a Fiero and the swamp is just a regular old paved road. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that if you didn’t know this car was nearby, you’d be looking around for a small plane flying overhead as it jetted down the street.
As for the legality of the car, the owner claims law enforcement greenlit it for use on public roads given that it was registered and insured. We weren’t able to find any specific statutes explicitly forbidding this contraption in Iowa’s vehicle code, so we’ll have to take his word for it. In the meantime, let’s all just appreciate that someone was willing to put this much work into slapping a propeller on a car that can’t even fly.
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