Fiat Hunting:

[thechadzone]

Today my brother and I got sick of working on the brakes of my 124 Coupe, and decided to take the 850 Spider out for a cruise instead. It was a perfect day for it, and likely one of the last 80 degree days we'll have this year.

Neither of us had anywhere in mind to go, so I decided that we'd take a tour of the Fiats that we'd heard about, and those that we knew about within our valley of residence (Eugene, Oregon).

Here's what we found:

OK, it started with finding my brother's Spider:

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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 1 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Next, a trip to what is somewhere between a private collection of cars, a salvage lot, and a used car lot. There we found a Fiat 128 "Sport L" under a willow tree. It looks complete and restorable if you're into that kinda thing... Also there is a Bertone 850 Coupe that is rusted way beyond salvation. Too bad. Next in that yard is a Fiat 1100 that's pretty damn cool for a non-sporting Fiat.


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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 0 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 11 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 12 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Our next stop introduced us to two 850 Spiders in a private lot owned by a towing company. It was deep in the industrial park, and had a sketchy circle of travel trailers off to the side of it. There were lots of "No Trespassing" signs. I was able to waive someone down who knew how to get a hold of the owner of the lot, & I have an appointment next week to see the two 850 Spiders, and whatever else can't be seen from that side of the fence. Notice about 30 feet behind the green 850 there appears to be an NSU Prinz. I want it. Judging from the amount of '50's & '60's American cars in the lot, they're not gonna know nuthin' 'bout no Fiats...

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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 6 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 8 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Next we were off to The Sports Car Shop, which is an amazing showroom, restoration, and service company that does almost exclusively old school Euro sports cars. Fellow fiat finatic Trent was there in his 850 turbo sedan. It's freakin' amazing. Volvo turbo & intercooler, John Deer alternator, Suzuki GSXR front brakes, Honda Accord radiator... This guy is an amazing engineer!

Inside the service shop is one of the owners' Fiat 600 Multipla nearing the end of its comprehensive restoration. I noticed it's getting a 903cc 850 motor. This thing is a full nut & bolt perfect car. It's owner also owns an 850 Spider & a 600 Abarth racer. This shop has had 3 aluminum bodied Abarth racers in the shop within the last year. Amazing.

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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 9 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 10 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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Of course I just HAVE to include a gratuitous shot of my Coupe, which we took for a 5 mile trip on a country road with very iffy brakes, & only the driver's seat installed. It'd been "couped" up in the garage for six weeks, so it was time to stretch it's legs. Sure is loud with no muffler...

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Fiat Coupe Drive Sept 25 2 by thechadzone, on Flickr
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We also found an early 1.8 Lancia Beta rotting away in a back alley, but I forgot to take a shot of it. It was a very cool tour of Fiats, & a good excuse to just drive the car around. I've seen photo evidence of a 124 Sedan in a salvage yard 100 miles away. That'll have to wait till next Saturday!

[TulsaSpider]

Wow and awesome adventure! I have seen one other running Spider in Tulsa, so my tour would be quite short! Thanks for sharing!

[kmead]

My friend Lavin and I would do this when we lived in Pasadena California. Sadly we didn't take pics. It was amazing how many Fiats there were there twenty years ago. Wish I hadn't been a student back then I could have owned a nice variety of rust free toys (I did buy three before I left the area and still have them).

Thanks for the great pics.

By the way picking up the 850 Racer would be worth your while. A standard 850 Spider can be converted using parts from such a basket case. Racers are worth quite a bit and are a great driver. I would love to have one.

[mdrburchette]

Great adventure! I would have to travel far and wide to find Fiats not already in my back yard.

[narfire]

Thats quite a hunting trip. There is only a few around here.
While hunting fiats,some members here have noted there is no-bag-limit either for these cars or species restrictions....more the better

[Zippy]

Notice about 30 feet behind the green 850 there appears to be an NSU Prinz. I want it.

You want an NSU Prinz? Check out this ad on craigslist http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/1975385428.html

[Exit98]

The question is: Why do you want an NSU Prinz?

(Not that there's anything wrong with that)

[thechadzone]

That's a fair question, and honestly I'm really not sure why. The specific output of its engine can't touch that of the Fiat 850, and it'd be a real parts hunting challenge here in the western US. I guess I want to save it from a lot full of '60's Thunderbirds more than I want to see it through to completion. If nothing else, I've owned the other two rear engined offerings from Germany, and I really enjoyed each of them, so...

I can't get close enough to it to positively identify it, but I'm pretty sure it's an NSU. I'm looking forward to finding out.

[BEEK]

to hunt fiats one needs only to use castrol gtx for bait. pour a bowl, follow the leak... then you have sucessfully found a fiat!

[mdrburchette]

Hahaha....that really is funny. Ron says my Fiats are marking their territory.

[ga.spyder]

Nice tour..that was fun reading !
Denise,do you own anything that holds oil?Last time I saw the 72,it was covered with it.

[mdrburchette]

Dang Craig, that was a low blow. I seem to recall a certain 82 that was blowing oil all over everyone last year at Dixiefest. Mine will be all cleaned up this winter.

[BEEK]

i once had a fiat nicknamed "exxon valdez" it was an environmental disaster everywhere it went. you could even see it coming by the distributor/ exhaust cam housing/ rear main seal, leak on the exhaust,