1981 Fiat Spider 2000 -9200km!!!!

[berarco2000]

Hi Guys, I just wanted to say "Hello"! After a 20 year absence of owning Italian cars I am back. My 10 year old is obsessed with cars and was instrumental in my purchase. I found the car in a small town south of Montreal, Quebec... Canada. She hasn't been drivin more that 1000km in the last 5 yrs. I have never seen a car so clean, and everything works....perfectly! The car still has all the original stickers, and some of the plastic that covered the carpet. I took a wonderful drive this weekend in wine country here in Ontario and was blown away not only by the beauty of the changing colors of the leaves but, by how incredible it was driving with the top down. The car runs wonderfully! Unfortunately the winter is coming and I will be storing the car for the next 6 months so, that was it for this year. I will be checking in regularly and probably bugging everyone with questions on what I should do in the spring before I start using the car.

Cheers!

Carlo B
http://www.carloberardinucci.com

[baltobernie]

Bonjour, bon giorno, and Welcome. That sounds like quite a car you've found; how did you discover it?

How about some photos? http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... it=+photos

Quite a few owners in your area; maybe some of them can help you with local parts and service sources.

[Nancy1340]

Welcome and congratulations Carlo!!

Pictures, pictures, pictures.........

[berarco2000]

That's the best I could do for now, I'm at work and photobucket is not cooperating.

CB

[Snoopy]

Welcome ! Seems to be a very original nice looking Spider !

[2ndwind]

Welcome and congratulations Carlo. Nice Car.

Aside from preserving the car, did the previous owner keep up with the maintenance? Did he/she change the timing belt recently? How about the front end bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends? Or the guibo?

[berarco2000]

Hi again, the car actually went through an inspection and everything on it is pristine, the previous owner did have the timing belt changed about 5 years ago, but it only has about 1000km on it. The tires on this thing are original as well, I'll be changing them in the spring. I've been looking for the original "turbo" style wheels that came with the 82', I've have had no luck. If anyone knows of any available(4) I'd be interested.

CB

[berarco2000]

Hi Everyone, I just added a whole bunch of pics, if you click where the picture used to be it will take you to photobucket and you can see them all there.

Cheers!

CB

[Nancy1340]

My God, that car looks brand spankin' new. Beautiful.

[james124]

Congratulations Carlo. I believe that is the car in the most pristine condition in Canada. The original owner, a French-Canadian gentleman collector, contacted me a couple of years ago to discuss the potential market value and the best way to sell the car. I believe that is one of the last Fiats sold by Luciani in Montreal before moving out and on to Alfa Romeos. I would not be surprised if he gave you the original invoice. You do not have to confirm this, but at the time he was hoping to get in the low twenties for the car. In any event, the car was stored as a museum piece and is quite unique in Canada. Enjoy, JimmyG

[berarco2000]

Hi Jimmy, Yes the car did belong to a French gentleman he in turn traded the car in for a Porsche at his buddy's dealership. The dealership was a small place south of Montreal and had the car for about 1 year in their showroom, the intention was not to sell the car, the owner of the dealership was to keep it as a sort of trophy. I live In Toronto and had been watching this car online, I finally went down to MTL this Aug and could not beleive my eyes. I thought "there must be something wrong" I had the car checked out and it was all original, I just recently had the muffler changed and next year will be looking for some original mags(if i can find them at a reasonable price). The car runs like a charm! It's now in storage and I cannot wait till May.

Cheers!

Carlo

[james124]

Carlo. You should not have any difficulty finding original mags. You might want to contact Courtney in BC. He seems to have access to used parts. You may also want to consider he Rotas sold by Socal Mark, which seem to be a big hit.
However, it may be a good idea to get 14 inch (15 inch even better) mags since the tire selection is limited at 14 inches and disappearing altogether at 13 inches. Good luck, JimmyG

[courtenay]

I think James has been confused with Chris (Narfire) who is also in BC and does have a few spare parts in his collection. I do, however, have a spare set of original 13" Cromodoras (no wheel caps or bolts) that are in pretty good shape.

[narfire]

Gio at "Clemente four auto sports" had a set of turbo's(14") with rubber. I can't remember what he wants but the website has a link. He's in Vancouver on Kingsway.
Chris

[james124]

Yes. Sorry about the confusion, Chris.