Fakes and the real thing

When I was 308 shopping, I had multiple RSS feeds set up in my reader and I looked at a LOT of ads. Even though I now own a 308, I still have these feeds going and still look at ads to see what the market is like. In short, the market sucks (for a seller) and it's definitely a buyer's market. Every now and again, I see an ad for fake 308s -- the most famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) is the Pontiac Mera.

Based on the Pontiac Fiero, the Mera rebody was actually a dealer option in 1987. I remember seeing pictures of these back in the day and thinking that maybe this was the only way I could get something close to a real 308.



Have a close look at the picture above. Can you tell which one is the fake? From the back at this angle, it's actually pretty tough to tell the difference. It's obvious from the front and sides but from the back, these cars would fool a lot of people. The real 308 is on the right and the Mera is on the left.

The kicker is that 308 prices are so ridiculously low now that it makes no sense to have a fake. I'm shocked at the lengths some Mera owners go to to make their darned Fiero look like a Ferrari. Have a look at this joker. How much did he spend on that fake Ferrari interior?