The 1990 Fenton GT
1990 Fenton GT: Its a shame some things are only good on the outside.
But what do I mean by that? Well, lets jump straight away from this car and into a history lesson on why it was created. Throughout the 1980s, FHL had enjoyed enormous success with makes like the Fenton ET and Everette Winthrop raking in cash and customer satisfaction. FHL was on the cutting edge of automotive and giving the Europeans and the Japanese something to scare them at night when they were plotting how next to stick it to Ford and General Motors. And FHL was determined to keep it this way.
While FHL was doing fine in terms of its more modest luxury cars and was toe-for-toe on economy with the Ellston and Withrop, they had shied away from the supreme luxury and halo cars they had made in the late 1960s and early 1970s – cars like the GT and the ZL. This gap in the market was getting filled in now by BMW and Mercedes. In order to bolster brand image and better compete with the European luxury cars, Fenton started developing a new series of killer halo cars in the late 1980s. These were to be cars that could take on the BMW 6 and 8 series and Mercedes C class. Being such a powerful force in the market they could afford to take the risk and might have worked. But then the bean counters got involved.
Originally, a new engine was going to be developed solely for the new halo cars. This would have meant FHL was producing four engines of totally different architecture though which would have been a costly endeavor. Although it was probably the right choice, given what each engine was suited to do, the bean counters decided they wanted consolidation. So for the 1990s, the engineers got forced into producing the turd that was the Fenton 60 degree Modular Engine.
Similarly with platforms, the engineers had intended to role out two new platforms for the different types of halo cars they would be making. Penny pinching executives though wouldn’t let that fly and the two different platforms were melded into one via some shoddy engineering. Thus, the Fenton Charlie platform was born.
What did this then all mean for the poor 1990 GT? It was horrible!
This car failed. It failed as hard as the Cadillac Cimarron. It failed as hard as the AMC Marlin. And the worst part was that it wasn’t just one part of the car that was broken. Many things were broken.
Lets start with the chassis. Remember how I mentioned that the Charlie Platform was two different platforms melded into one via crap engineering? Its no joke. See Fenton engineers wanted to make a mid-engined sports car alongside a front engine GT car but had to make do with one platform so what did they do? The rear frame of the car is detachable! Its a detachable subframe so that a whole different suspension and rear section can be placed on the car, one for and front-engine / RWD car and one for a rear-mid-engine / RWD car.
The problem here is first of all weight balance but this was mostly a problem on the RMR layout. The second problem was that the attachment points were under engineered. Water leakage into the joints frequently cause premature rusting of the chassis and in serious cases, there have been document instances of the rear suspension just breaking off of GTs of this era. The water leakage in these areas was also near wiring harnesses for the car, causing frequent electrical problems including but not limited to parasitic draw killing batteries, sagging air suspension, and dead light bulbs. The body panels and their attachment points were also not so greatly designed thanks to the detachable subframe causing grossly accelerated rusting of the rear quarter panels.
But as bad as the chassis was, there is no excuse for the engine. The Fenton 60 degree modular engine was nothing but classic bean counting shitting on good engineering. Cool! A modular engine can be a 2.8L V6, a 3.8L V8, or a 5.6L V12 which is what the GT had! Interoperable parts, common block architecture, shared tooling. Great, right? WRONG!
Because of the common block architecture, a cooling system that was developed for the original 2.8L V6 and 3.8L V8 that were initially to be the sole members of this design was adapted to the V12 the engineers wanted in the new GT. The result was a cooling system that did not circulate well enough for a long, large engine. Fenton Modular V12s would pool hot coolant at the back of the block and uneven heating would cause accelerated gasket wear but worse than that: block cracking. Yes. Fenton Modular V12s were known for cracking blocks.
These problems were so bad that Fenton issued a recall in late 1994 to correct the bad seals and to add additional ad-hoc cooling measures to V12 models. In 1995, the V12 was dropped in favor the V8 but the damage was already so bad that the GT only lasted that one final year. In 1996, the model was cancelled.
Which is all the more a shame considering the things FHL did right. Aluminum hood and trunk lids helped save weight. An air-ride suspension along with a very high quality interior made it exceedingly comfortable. Variable boost hydraulic steering made piloting it both easy and fun. The styling was sleek, fast, and futuristic. And handling and aerodynamics were not necessarily the best, but good considering what the car was trying to be. I mean if a 5.8s 0-60 isn’t fast enough and over 1.0G lateral acceleration isn’t good enough for a luxury sport coupe, then what the hell is?
The car was never destined to the be the BMW 8 series killer it set out to be. Plagued by issues, the 1990-1995 GT only sold just shy of 18,000 across all years. These issues caused many to end up in junk yards and scrap heaps. Finding a working GT of this era today is rare. But if you do, you’re in for a treat if for no other reason than how the car looks. Should you own one though?
Well now in the modern day, since we know how, why, and when these machines will fail, maybe. Because sure, by all accounts, this car might be a pile of crap. But we can’t know what success is without failure and history is not complete without a record of failures. You would be doing everyone a favor to make this car your labor of love and keep one running today. A 90-95 Fenton GT is like that first time you fail a test in a class you’ve had straight A’s and you remember walking out of that test feeling like you had aced another; as much as you would like to forget it, that test is the best way to remind yourself that you need to be better. And because of that, more than anything else, it deserves to be pinned on your wall.
1990 Fenton GT: A reminder that not all things in life can be golden.
Specifications:
- Wheelbase: 2,500 mm
- Length: 4,310 mm
- Body style: 2-door coupe
- Seats: 4
- Transmission: 4-speed automation, 5-speed manual
- Engines: 5.6L V12
- Layout: Front engine, rear wheel drive
- 0-60 mph time: 5.8s with 5-speed manual
- Top speed: 258 km/hr (limited to 240 km/hr)
- Fuel Economy: 16.9 L/100km with 5-speed manual
Engines
12VB-W56M
Base engine
- All alumninium; cast bottom end with forged pistons
- Single overhead cam; 4 valves per cylinder
- 87 mm bore X 78.5 mm stroke - 5600 cc
- 9.5:1 compression
- Multi point EFI
- 238.2 kW @ 6100 RPM
- 471 Nm @ 3100 RPM
12VB-H56M
Identical to W56M variant except as follows
- 9.7:1 compression
- 267.8 kW @ 6200 RPM
- 499.5 Nm @ 3700 RPM