Hello from Albertan Winter Texan

[SquadraFiatDriver]

This introduction is a little.... no... quite lengthy but, as my wife Linda and I have a previously prepared bio it was easier to simply edit that to suit rather than prepare something new which would contain much of the same. The following is an edited extract from our personal bios including details on our history with FIATs. So, FWIW, here it is:

In 1970, I was the contracted driver for Squadra FIAT Canadese, the FIAT Motors of Canada rally team, competing in the Canadian Rally Championship (CRC) with FIAT 124 Special sedans, a model just being introduced to the North American markets. That was a year of moderate successes mixed with mechanical and structural failures that resulted in a number of "DNFs", which were due, in a great part, to the lack of experience in rally car preparation by FIAT Canada's own staff mechanics.

At the end of that year, I declined to renew my contract and instead, as FIAT Canada was offering a substantial contingency awards program for privateers, Linda and I formed Trident Rallysport to contest the rally championships in Ontario (OPRC), Canada (CRC) and North America (NARC) as well as the Canadian round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), the Rally of the Rideau Lakes.

With Linda as my co-driver, support from FIAT Canada and sponsorship from Dino's Garage, and later Yonge Steeles Motors, both Toronto Fiat dealers, together with Gino's Sports Car Accessories, an importer/distributor/retailer of Italian auto accessories and performance parts based in Hamilton, ON, we prepared and competed with 124 Specials modified to the European spec "TC" version with the 1608cc twin cam engine and 5 speed tranny, and then a 124 Sport Coupe initially built for the 1971 BC Centennial Rally, Ottawa to Victoria. In 1972 we added a 2 door 128 sedan for winter rallies to have the advantage of FWD on snow and ice. In 1973, Canada Cartage, a major Toronto trucking company, came on board with additional sponsorship.

With the help of an experienced and very talented FIAT mechanic, Stew Ade-White, I did most of the preparation and maintenance myself except for engine and powertrain upgrades which were carried out by Leny Rabitto of Leny's Garage in Toronto. Leny was a former CanAm crew chief and one of the leading sports car racing tuners in Toronto. His shop was equipped with a dyno, something rare in that area back in those days.

When FIAT withdrew their contingency program at the end of 1974, our direct support ended with it. The sponsorships we had were, by themselves, insufficient to cover enough of the extensive travel costs incurred in chasing the top level rally championships so, through 1975, we sold off all the rally cars and temporarily withdrew from competition. We returned in 1976 to compete in the OPRC with the refurbished 124 Coupe which we bought back from the fellow we had sold it to a year earlier.

During this period my daily driver was a FIAT 124 Spider, 1608cc rally spec engine of course, and Linda's was a 124 Special sedan with a transplanted 1438cc twin cam engine and 5 speed tranny. Due to the accumulation of FIAT 124 spares in our shop, we managed to keep Linda’s 124 TC running in top condition until 1980.

Based on our successes running only a few of the events in the 1976 OPRC, we returned to full time competition in mid 1977 with a Production Class (stock power train) VW Rabbit (Golf). We had support from VW Canada and a substantial dealer sponsorship from Agincourt Autohaus. In 1978 we won the Production Class titles in the OPRC but feel our crowning achievement was finishing 9th overall in the Criterium du Quebec, the Canadian round of the WRC. Our Production Class Golf with the stock 78 hp engine had the lowest horsepower rating in the field of 61 cars that included "works" teams from Europe, the USA and Canada, many full Group 2 or Group 4 rally cars with up to 3 or 4 times the power of our stock engine Golf. Our power disadvantage was compounded by being unable to afford the time to take the week prior to the event to make “pace notes” so we drove the entire rally using only the organizers’ route book for guidance.

In late 1978, VW Canada's advertising and promotional budget administration was moved to VW USA and the support we had from VW Canada was no longer available. So once again, due to the economics of travel in in top level rally competition in Canada and the USA , we decided the time had come to retire from rally competition, this time permanently.

I continued in the sport as Ontario Region Rally Director until 1983 and, with my counterpart from Quebec Region, co-founded the Interprovincial Rally Championship (Ontario- Quebec). Linda worked with me as my administrative assistant.

Following our retirement from rally competition, Linda and I took up sailing. In 1991 we stopped working to pursue a life of travel. We spent over 20 years doing just that, the first 10 years in Europe and the Mediterranean aboard our 37 ft sailing catamaran, which we had custom built in England. Following a car accident in the UK which left me with chronic cervical pain that made the rigors of sailing more than I cope with, In 2003 we made our final passage bringing the yacht across the Atlantic to sell it in the USA.

After the yacht was sold in January 2004, we relocated our home base to Lethbridge, Alberta (no sales tax in Alberta) and continued our travels ashore with a series of travel trailers until 2011, when the combination of my cervical pain, bad knees resulting from more recent injuries and a developing peripheral neuropathy condition made setting up our 36 ft HitchHiker 5th wheel trailer (5W) at the end of a day on the road, and then making it ready to travel the following morning, more painful than I was willing to continue to tolerate.

In 2013 we purchased a manufactured home in southern Alberta as our summer residence (eventually year 'round) and parked our HitchHiker 5W permanently in an RV Park in Mission, Texas, to serve as our winter "snowbird" home for the foreseeable future.

That done, my thoughts turned to a long time ambition to have a vintage sports car when we stopped travelling. Because of our background and familiarity with the FIAT 124 series, selecting which vintage sports car we would choose was a bit of a "no brainer". After considerable research we decided the models of choice were the 1983 to 1985.5 Pininfarina Azzurra or Europa Spider 2000.

As we wanted a small RV for the north-south-north migrations and some occasional touring from time to time when the travel bug bites, and it isn't possible to tow a car behind a travel trailer, we purchased a low mileage 29 ft Safari Trek Class A motorhome (MH). With hydraulic levellers, an on board generator and the ability to lay down and stretch out when travelling while Linda drives, the MH is far less work and much easier for me to handle than the Sierra HD pickup truck and 5W trailer.

No longer needing our Sierra, we traded it on a new FIAT 500c Abarth Cabrio to serve as our daily driver and "toad" (RVer speak for a vehicle towed behind a motorhome). As classic car insurance will only allow limited use of the car and the Spider will be based at our Texas home, being put in storage over the summer months, the Abarth will easily satisfy our desire for sports car performance on a daily and year 'round basis.

The last step in preparing to begin our search for a Spider that fits our needs and criteria was to order a new custom aluminum tilt-deck car hauler. The builder, JIMGLO Trailers, modified their 17 ft model by extending the front stationary deck by 18 inches so we can transport my mobility scooter sideways behind the 40" high stone shield/storage box and in front of either car. We took delivery of the trailer in August so the search for our Pininfarina Azzurra or Europa Spider 2000 is now officially on!

The primary criteria are, of course, the car must be a rust free and a "driver quality" example as I am no longer physically able to carry our any major repairs or restorations myself. The present plan is that, once we have our stock spec Spider, it will be subjected, in stages, to some powertrain and suspension performance upgrades to be carried out by specialists. I would like to compete in auto slaloms or gymkhanas and the like. I feel that, despite passing my 70th birthday, I can still drive competitively and know my competitive spirit is still alive and well.

I look forward to being active on this forum and using knowledge gained here in the pursuit of our ideal Spider and, once that objective is reached, in the selecting the best performance upgrades and which specialists to use to have them installed.

Thanks for reading

Gord

[spiderdan]

Hi Gord and welcome.
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your bios.
Sounds like you and Linda have had a great "Fiatfull" life, and are continuing with this pattern (obsession) .
I hope you find a cherry "Pininfarina Azzurra or Europa Spider 2000".
You guys deserve one and it would obviously be going to a great Fiat loving home!
Good luck and be well.

[aj81spider]

Great story. Welcome aboard.

[RRoller123]

Welcome aboard! You will find plenty of knowledgeable and friendly people here.

Here is a thread on how to post pictures directly to the forum:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21014

And here is another picture-posting thread:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 12&t=23084

And here is a link to a map of Spider owner’s locations. Many forum members have listed their locations.

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=191825

Pete

[TX82FIAT]

Welcome, we have a FIAT group a few hours North of Mission in San Antonio. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month and I'm sure they would love to hear some of the details of your travel and FIAT ownership. In addition there are a couple Texas Hill country runs that often involve a track day at Harris Hill in San Marcos. If you are in the SA area around the first Tuesday please join us. Welcome again. Ray