Possible First Fiat Purchase

[NCBeachBum]

Looking at possibly purchasing a Fiat Spider from an owner who has lost interest or restoring his. Thank you for the wonderful forum. I am now in a much better position to understand some of the issues I may be facing. Individually the issues like electrical and motor problems may not be as daunting as I thought looking at the resources available. Believe i am going to pull the trigger and make the purchase. Nice to see such a passionate group.
I do have one initial question.
What book or books are considered the "must have/s" when working on and bringing these cars back to good working order?
Thank you.

[RRoller123]

The general consensus is that you need multiple manuals because they all are good at some things and terrible at others, and you need the overlap. There are a bunch of them available on the web, Brooklands publishes one, formated like Haynes, and there is a "FIAT 124 Spider Shop Manual" (factory?) floating around too which is quite a few hundred pages and very good.

Get the Artigue or similar Electrical and FI manuals and go to Mirafiori too. There is an amazing amount of info out there, including Electrical Diagnostic manuals most of it free to download and print.

Good luck!

[NCBeachBum]

RRoller123
Thank you. This forum, the depth and breadth of the discussions, and the enthusiasm expressed by members was what put me over the top. The cars appear to be fun and if I can come to terms will post pictures. Looking forward to expanding my knowledge. Should be an interesting journey.

[mdrburchette]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Fiats! I see you're a North Carolinian. What part of the coast are you from?

[SlimRon]

I'm going out to Toronto from Western Canada in a week to check out the 1970 Fiat Spider I put a deposit on. The engine was upgraded 20,000 miles ago from the original 1438 to a 1608 so it should have lots of power. I was originally looking at the 1980 and on fuel injected models to avoid a carburetor. The current owner sent me a video of the car with the engine running and it runs smoothe - a lot smoother than some of the old carbed Chevs and Fords I used to drive. If the mechanical condition is as nice as the body and interior I'm planning on driving it 2,000 miles home.

[courtenay]

Very ambitious, Slimron! I drove my '72 from Vancouver to Winnipeg and back - only I did it in 1972 when my car was a few months old...
Make sure you have your Visa card and CAA membership with you.

[giuliot60]

Welcome Beach Bum. I'm in NC too.

Good luck!

[NCBeachBum]

Mdrburchette;
Actually near Raliegh, but spend a good portion of the time in Atlantic Beach. If you know of any events in the area please let me know. May need to pass on this one, but still looking at it. Will send you a pm as well.

SlimRon:
Good luck on you purchase. Let us know if you have any unscheduled excitement or if it goes through as you planned.

[OffThaHorse]

@NCBB...welcome to the forum, good luck with your project.

I'm also nursing a 78 back to health...enjoying it so far even though i havent done much.

I'm in Fayetteville NC...I have only seen one other spider here briefly, and never saw it again.