Fiero Dutch Classic 2017

A more beautiful day could not have been ordered for Saturday, September 16 for the 2017 Fiero Dutch Classic at Neffsville. The weather was sunny, warm and included a nice breeze which kept our shady area of the parking lot delightful throughout the day. This great weather brought out a total of 23 Fieros, 20 of which participated in the judged portion of the FDC.With all of those Fieros also came a great group of Fiero people who enjoyed a day of camaraderie amidst a showfield of great Fieros and an incredible display of other makes and models. Although counts are not officially in yet from Neffsville, it appears that they had nearly 500 cars in attendance.

The large showfield featured cars of all makes and models from Tin Lizzies to Ferraris. There were also a plethora of other vendors catering to all

interests, male and female. The food was marvelous as always and the free lunch tickets that are included with entry were generous and fulfilling.

The Fiero showfield featured a variety of stock and custom Fieros, as well as a handful of daily drivers. This year there were not any modified Fieros in attendance at the FDC, although the main showfield featured Corey Leppo’s modified 3800SC Fiero which also paid tribute with a display to late member Mike Mayer in a location that could be seen by all. Mike’s widow, Nancy, is a volunteer for the Neffsville Rotary and she made a special visit to the Fiero showfield to see friends and also to watch Mike’s former car, a beautiful medium red metallic 1987 GT, capture first

place in the Stock Fastback class with its’ new owner, longtime MAFOA member, Kathy Jack. This win served as a neat remembrance for Mike in a very competitive Class with 6 beautiful stock fastback specimens. Jeff DeDay captured a close second place with his MRM 1988 GT followed by new MAFOA member, Eric Phillips in third with his red 1986 GT. Also worth mentioning in this class were Tom Derr’s 1987 MRM GT, Joe Aponick’s MRM 1988 GT, and Don and Donna Preul’s beautiful red 1988 GT.

Bruce Homeyard captured first place in Stock Notchback with his all-original, silver 1985 GT with approximately 50k on the odometer. He was followed by Tina Weaver’s Ferris Bueller dedicated 1984 SE which beat out Jim Gilbert’s black 1985, driven by his daughter, Jennifer Goss. Longtime MAFOA member, Jeff Ramberg, also brought out his silver 1985 GT toround out the Stock Notchback division.Although there were no modified vehicles on the Fiero showfield this year, the custom classes did not disappoint. There were 6 Fieros ranging from Tom Harding’s wildly customized “Vader” to Lee Hirneisen’s gorgeous 3,156 mile red 1988 GT which featured minor customizations including a beautiful set of rims. Lee’s car was the darling of the show that day - capturing not only first in his class but also scoring the “Best of Show” trophy. It was easy to see why - his car was a gorgeous time capsule of what a Fiero looked like when it rolled off the showroom floor. His set of rims only enhanced the image and made the car look really sharp! Lee beat out Tom and Dwane Jackson’s MRM 1988 GT and Garry Dammons white 1987 GT, who tied for 3rd in the Custom Fastback Class. For the notchbacks, Charlie Witherspoon’s red 1986 SE captured 1st Place over Ron Spencer’s beautiful MRM 1987 SE. The Daily Drivers were also well

represented with 4 cars of varying looks featured in the class. Cody Kline brought out his low mileage but now daily driven red 1986 SE to win 3rd. Second place in the Daily Driver class went to Robert Wright’s customized orange/black 1986 SE and first place went to Zach Zimmerman’s blue 1988 Formula which featured a fairly new “wrap” job to show off the beauty of this option for vehicle finishing. Kenny Darlington also joined the Daily Driver class with his red 1988 GT.

Following the trophy distribution, members had the opportunity to win a variety of prizes in the raffle including a host of parts donated by Freysinger Buick/GMC in Mechanicsburg and other goodies donated by a variety of MAFOA members. The swap meet was also booming with a plethora of parts, literature and Fiero goodies brought by show attendees.