"semi" since it really was not a barn. It was a nice house in Bellevue, WA., thats on the market for over a million dollarinis. An older guy showed up at my Seattle bike shop with his 1990 BMW K1 that he bought new. Wanted to sell it so I bought it. Was giving him a ride home and he was telling me about the old Fiat he had owned since 1974. He had bought it for his son in hi school who evidently never liked it that much. 34k miles on the clock it had. He paid $2859.84 for it 5/26/1974 from Metro Imports here in Seattle. The story was the car belonged to the Fiat western region sales manager at the time. Checked out the car and it was a model I had never seen or heard of. And this is coming from an absolute gearhead geek who's first car was a '72 124 Spider and has owned countless Fiats/Alfas with a few F-cars sprinkled in. I left and did some research. I came back yesterday the 16th, made an offer and towed it out of there to my friend's shop 3 miles away. But first we were crawling around in his attic rounding up all the extra parts and I spotted a pair of vintage 60's table lamps. Turns out his wife bought them at Frederick & Nelson in 1969 and stored them away in the 70's. $150 each over 40 years ago. I had to have them so we did a deal. The guy compared me to the dweebs on "American Pickers" at that point but I was not offended After a brief self-reflective moment I was right back in the game. The car has had some work done in the past. Tune ups, brakes, gearbox rebuild, etc. It actually runs pretty well. The clutch starts to slip within a few miles but thankfully the guy had sourced new clutch parts way back in the day. He was the kind of guy who would buy whatever he could find for it over the last 37 years and pile it up. The pile of extra parts is fairly extensive. The crown jewel being a factory hardtop that I don't suppose grows on trees. What do you think f-chatters? Restore or sell? It would not take much to make her into a reliable driver. She's pretty solid with not much rust. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Kiesan, you are often stumbling into these finds, awesome! I dream of stumbling onto something interesting like this!
Thanks man. Yeah the interior is a treat on this thing. Right now there are quite a few spare parts stacked in there but in the next few days (prolly tomorrow) I'll have those out and take some pics.
Congrats on the find. The car looks fantastic. I would keep it and perform whatever mechanical repairs you deem necessary as you are running it (back) in. It really presents itself well for a car that has been parked up. I think it would be great to leave it in the present condition, hold off on the restoration, and Drive It. Best of luck and, most importantly, enjoy it!
Found this aluminum tag amidst the pile 'o parts. Its stamped # 21630 which, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with the chassis # of the car. Perhaps it was attached to the hardtop for some reason? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'd double check on that PF tag. It's identical to the one on my original PF hardtop for my Fiat 124 Spider. Not super familiar with 1200/1500 cabs though, so Miltonian may be correct.
Fantastic! I don't believe that the OSCA-engined cars (this one and the later 1600S) were ever officially imported into the US by Fiat, so yours was likely brought in by a private individual. I believe that the early US spiders all had the 1200 cc ohv engine until the styling was revised (around '63) with the full-width grill and engine size increased to 1500. It was at this point that the OSCA unit was increased to 1600, but again that car was never imported to the US by Fiat. In 1965, the cars got an all-synchro 5-speed gearbox to replace the 4-speed that's on your car (which if memory serves has no synchro on 1st gear). If you need any hard to find parts, try Danny at Fiat Fun in CT. The website lists mostly stuff for later models, but he had replacement brake calipers for my '65 Fiat Moretti Coupe. http://www.funimported.com/new_usedparts.htm When my dad ordered our car, he has the option of getting the Fiat 1500 engine or the OSCA 1600 twin cam. To my eternal regret, he went with the Fiat engine due to the concern about long-term parts availability for the OSCA. My car is pictured below. It shares its chassis and many parts with the spiders, including the unusual steering box set-up. By all means keep it! Image Unavailable, Please Login
It appears that I may be wrong about the tag belonging in the engine compartment, I haven't been able to find a picture that shows it. Somewhere, there must be holes that match the holes in the tag. Does it belong with the top? Could be! As far as stateside availability of the OSCA-engined 1500, the car tested by Road & Track in April 1960 was provided by a private owner, but the magazine says that "....Dealers no sooner get one (a 1500 Spider) into their showrooms than it is sold, which is just dandy for the dealer and Fiat, but made it hard for us to find one for a road test."
Well, from that it certainly appears that the early OSCA-engined cars were imported by Fiat after all. I'm quite sure that the later 1600S was not. Jeff, do you have a copy of that road test for scanning? I'd be very interested in reading it. I do have the 1500 Spider R&T road test from 1965.
dinodan that car is a stunner. Me likey. More pics of the little guy. Could not find a place in the engine room or anywhere on the hardtop for that 'farina tag, hmmm. Guys if I want to sell this pup do I just pop it up on Ebay? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The PF tag on my hardtop is on the inside of the top, driver's side, between the rear window and the bottom edge. If you search around the lower rear perimeter of the hardtop, you'll likely find a couple rivet holes.
Sorry if you have to sell the car before you get a chance to drive it. There probably are not many people who know what it is, but it appears that to some extent, you have a "time capsule" example. If you can get it running, and hold out until the next Italian Concours, you might find a good buyer at a good price. Here's an old magazine cover showing a blue one. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hello there, Do you still have that osca? Or the hardtop for that car? Look if you have disc brakes in the back. If you do then it's a 1962 model. Only in 1962 Fiat 1500S osca had disc brakes all around. I was reading that they only made 80 1500S osca cars but I find it hard to believe. If you sold on Ebay how much did it go for? I have one and I was thinking about auctioning it. GB
I would be interested in your Fiat Osca. I have several, parts , etc. will you send me some details? [email protected]
