Well after trolling ebay for years, I finally found a car exactly like the one I bought in high school as my very first car. 1974 Fiat Spider. Exact same color and interior as my old one. The thing that attracted me to this car is that it was still in the possession of the daughter of the original owner. It lived in a garage its whole life in Minnesota as a second car and then moved to California about 11 years ago. It still has its original paint and top! Never been in an accident and only has some surface rust underneath. Included are the original title, manual, and even the user manual for the cassette deck installed by the dealer. Here are some pics of the car being delivered to me two hours ago. My plan is to drive it the way it is for a while and then fully restore it. Comments? Advice? David Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nice....my very first car was a '74 124 spider as well....white with red and had the bigger rubber bumper 'nipples' 'breasts actually!' Love the wheels yours came with, great score! Enjoy! Congrats.
If you're rejoining the Fiat-owning club... Join the forum at www.mirafiori.com/forum/entry.html Get familiar with: www.fiatplus.com www.vickauto.com www.midwest-bayless.com www.international-auto.com (conveniently close to you)
My favourite colour combo. Same engine as in the Beta coupe I once owned. Had my brother do the belt and it was trouble free afterwards. Nice find and congrats.
Change the timing belt if you can't verify when it was last done, it's an interference engine. Have a careful inspection done of the front end-in particular the crossmember where it bolts to the subframe rails and around the front a arms and the lower arms themselves. The T-belt is easy and a lot cheaper than a top end rebuild, The crossmembers can come loose and crack and tear off if neglected, some ball joints sold as replacement parts are suspect and can pull out of their sockets. The A arms get fatigued and crack around the ball joint. The rest is the usual old car story-rebuild the whole thing over the years as you drive it : ) Congrats it's a great looking car and you have the super light magnesium Cromodora made factory mags, their Cromodora number is CD 3. '74 has the best single plane intake the cars ever came with and the non-CA origin means you got chrome bumperettes, rather than the big tit rubber bumperettes. A non CA 74=last of the good ones in my opinion. Best single upgrade is to convert to the 79 and later electronic ignition system or add The Crane 3000 electronic ignition kit to the existing distrib. Have fun! I am a regular at mirafiori.com which was mentioned earlier, another big site is fiatspider.com. The crowd is smaller at mira, but the knowledge base higher IMHO. PB
Good question. I plan to drive it as for a while. No parking lot stress! However, all the bushings are worn out, the interior is shot, and everything is very worn. It starts, drives, and stops well, though. My plan is to totally restore the car and upgrade the drivetrain, suspension, brakes, etc. I want all the mods to be fairly invisible. I like the stock interior and I don't think I can improve on the design so it will get a stock redo. Lovely steering wheel. I definitely want more power, but not so much that the car is too high strung for driving around town. I've been trolling ebay and parts seem plentiful, unlike my Ghibli.
I used to have one just like this -- same color and everything. I actually liked the 1800cc carbed version better than the F1 2000's. Have fun!
Hi neighbor (I grew up in Vienna), The DC Fiat club is very active and fun. http://www.dcfiats.org/ and the Fiat Lancia Unlimited club is holding their annual 'Freakout' in Charlottesville VA this year. http://www.fiatclubamerica.com/ I've owned several resto-rodded Lancias with same engine and know them pretty well.
What a great find. If I could find a 1970 124 Coupe like my first car I would buy it! Also had numerous 124 spiders and coupes, as well as a Lancia Beta coupe. My favorite of all those cars was the 1970 124 coupe. What wonderful cars to drive. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login