I visited this site a few years back when I owned my first Fiat Spider, maybe more than a few. I had to sell it when I got divorced to escape an insane X and moved 2000 miles away.
I got the itch to get a toy when I seen a VW Puma for sale. I had never seen one and they looked like a mix between my Fiat and an Opel GT. I couldnt find a Puma in a decent price range and so I decided to look for another Spider.
I found a 1980 in Georgia, the guy said would start but wouldnt stay running and wanted $1000 for it. It needed some love but the interior looked nice, it had a new top and the RIM were a GT rim I had never seen on one before. Look like my dads rims on his 1975 Toyota Celica GT. I drove 4.5 hours, spend 2 hours trying to find a dolly to drag it home, after I got everything together the guy says, Oh the motor has a hole in the block and I forgot to mention, there isnt a title... Needless to say, I didnt buy it but here are a couple of pictures of the car with the slick rims. It was also the first one I had ever seen with an Automatic.
I called a guy I had talked to the week before. He had a 1980 needed a little work but drivable, he wanted $2000. I went and took it for a spin and it was NICE. The seats someone put in from I dont know where, they need to be replaced bad, they are held up but bolts and nuts. There was only a couple small patches of rust that would need to be taken care of. He told me he had a box of parts that went with it, the valve cover was leaking a bit. I get the box home and there is a FULL engine gasket and seals set, and I mean FULL set. Set of Tie Rod ends, set of ball joints, the front connecting rod, lots of odds and ends, plus a catalog for ordering all the parts for the entire car. I cant remember the name of it, its out in the shop, if anyone is interested.
So here she is, I really hate the rims and tires, even though he had the tires put on less than a month ago, they are so tiny. It is so low geared, about 4.5k RPM at 65 I think it was, I need to get some bigger tires on it or something. The motor runs great, has a small leak from the cam cover/valve cover.
I tried resizing the images on photobucket and they are smaller there but for some reason when I post them here they are huge. Not sure what I am doing wrong. The engine picture resized but the rest didnt. Dunno...
Anyways, I look forward to learning a lot from those that have been there, done that on these fine little vroom vroom machines!
Matthew
1980 Fiat Spider