Old 124 Owner

[MarkKrieger]

Hi, my name is Mark, I owned a new 1972 Fiat 124 Spider back in the early 70s. I bought it via the "pickup at factory USA model" program in August 1972, flew from Geneva to Milan, picked it up, drove it back to Geneva -- where I lived in 1972 and 1973, I was an American visitor at CERN -- and then I brought it home to the USA. It cost about $3k, maybe a little less.

The car was a nice dark blue model, it had a tan interior, black top, I'll see if I can find a picture, I might have one around I can scan in. (I found one, it is me in front of the house I rented, the garage was shared with two Ferraris owned by my landlord! I will post it in an update). It went all over Europe -- we had lots of vacation -- and then we took it home -- we kept it until about 1982 or 83, when so many things were wrong with it, and my family had grown to 2 kids and the car was not very sensible for me as a daily driver. I donated it to the local High School auto program. They fixed the rust in the hard gas line, put in new seats, etc, then one of the HS students bought it from the program, and then I lost track of it.

Even for those times, with really unreliable cars, this car was very quirky. It went through many wheel bearings while in Europe and under warranty. It overheated a lot and they could never fix it: I finally hotwired the electric fan, that kept it cool. It was very detuned for emissions, I was easily able to make it much better by fixing the ignition timing to be sensible. Rust was no fun, nor were sticky manual chokes in the winter…..or dead starter motors....

I've owned many many cars, but it was my first nice car, I loved it. Since that car, I've had a Rabbit GTO, Porsche 914 and Porsche 911 (day racers, my business partner raced them, I garaged and drove them in nice weather), now a weekend Boxster, it is lovely and refined.

I have been semi-retired, looking for a car project, and I thought of the Spider. I would want to refurb one, mostly for fun of doing the work, also to drive, probably to eventually sell. I've seen one or two out there, I live in a NY suburb, I have some questions, I hope this will help:

1. I did a lot of work on the 914 we owned, I know a fair amount about rust issues on that car. What rust issues should I look for in a 124 Spider? Let's say 1975-1980 (which I see some for sale)...what other weak points?
2. I hate the later bumpers, but earlier cars, like my nice 1972, are not often found. Can small bumpers be purchased for a 1975-1980? Or can I just take the bumpers off and pass inspections?
3. What shop manual do people use? I had an old Haynes manual for my old Fiat, but it is long gone.

thanks in advance,

Mark

[MarkKrieger]

Here is the image, might be very small --- http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8509/8508 ... 3eb7_m.jpg

[Exit98]

HI Mark,

Where are you in NY? There's a whole bunch of us in NJ. http://www.njfiats.org

You'll find all the answers to your questions in tons of threads on this board. Just try out the search function.

But to get you started, the cars are easy to find and easy to fix. Parts are easily available. There are great vendors and used parts are plentiful.

Finding one with minimum rust issues is a challenge particularly in the salt states, but they are around. Take your time, look at a bunch of them, the fun is in the journey. Shipping one from the west coast is doable, that's what I did. Rusted shock towers are the kiss of death, and you have to look very closely.

69 to 74 had the little bumpers and minimal smog stuff. 75 to 80 were very restricted but can be desmogged easily as long as your state doesn't require testing. NY is OK I think. Lot of the younger guys go for the 80's on cuz they like the fuel injection. To each his own.

Crash bumper cars can be converted but it isn't easy and body work is required. Some guys like the no bumper look like the one at the top of the page.

Pay for a no rust car (well there's no such thing), you won't be sorry.

[Exit98]

Mark, BTW, I also bought a brand new 1972 Spider back in the day, not in the Mother country like you, I got it from a dealer in East Orange NJ. It wasn't my first car but its the one I've tried to replace 40 years later.

[MarkKrieger]

Hi,

thanks for the quick responses. I am in NJ (about 30 mi south of NYC). I am going to look around for one. Shock towers? Is this both front and rear which are bad rust-wise?

Mark