The Zimmer Quicksilver Was A Bizarre Luxury Pontiac Fiero You Never Knew Existed
Take one look at a Zimmer Quicksilver and you wouldn't be blamed for thinking it looked like an odd Lincoln coupe or some other forgotten 1970s land yacht. It looks like it would house a lazy massive displacement V8, ride like a cloud, and handle like a boat.
In reality, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Underneath the neo-classical exterior was the humble Pontiac Fiero, the mid-engine sportscar that tried and failed to take the performance car world by storm.
Between 1986 and 1988, Zimmer made around 170 QuickSilvers in their Pompano Beach, Florida factory, according to Zimmer Registry, a website dedicated to documenting everything Zimmer made. It was designed by D.A. Johnson, a former General Motors designer. Like it, or hate it, the QuickSilver was certainly an attention grabber. It takes a special kind of eye for design to take a Fiero and make it look as truly wacky as the Zimmer.
[Featured image by HSV via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]
An Upscale Fiero
In an interview with Zimmer Registry, the designer suggested he wanted the car to look like "a million dollars." Johnson originally had a Corvette chassis in mind when designing the car.
Bring a Trailer recently had a 1987 Zimmer QuickSilver sell for the grand total of $12,750 — rather short of $1 million. That car was incredibly well preserved and was equipped with a 2.8L V6. The prior owner saw that car for what it was, an oddball part of automotive history. A Fiero of the same vintage and similar mileage sold for $14,250 on the same site. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Zimmer had the same mass appeal as the Fiero.
Still, Zimmer should be applauded for trying to push the Fiero into a more "upmarket" clientele with its waterfall grille and gleaming chrome. While a Fiero would look more at home at a Def Leppard concert at the state fair, the QuickSilver wouldn't look out of place parked next to a yacht in Palm Beach.
[Featured image by HSV via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY 2.0]