67 Fiat Dino Spider restoration

I felt this car was a survivor and someone needed to save it. They will never be super valuable or collectable but they are an important part of the Ferrari story and come from that very last period of great car design in the mid 60's where you could do whatever you wanted.

Two things have surprised me so far.

1) it seems ENDLESS. There's always another problem or issue we didn't see coming. One step forward and two steps back.
2) I'm really surprised at how many parts are still available given how few were made. And how a few businesses still survive off of them.

We'll get there. I look forward to the last post after the trip to Monterey next year.

 

Just got word from Marco at Dinopoint that my interior has been sewn and is ready to ship. I'm actually getting nervous now. Its starting to come together.

I need to order the carpet set. Its the last big thing I believe, aside from the radio.

 

Paint off. Looks to be rust free. I'm going over to see it in person tomorrow. I've got a bunch of questions but honestly, I expected worse at this point!

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I did see it in person today and went over some of the next steps. Talked to the tech doing the job.

Basically, it s rust free as far as we can see. It was my guess but you never really know until you dig deep enough. The first photo shows the original yellow paint that was hidden under the door skin. There's no rust in the bottom of the doors in the inside. That brown stuff is old glue.

It has had one crunch in the nose on the driver's side, which I had guessed. It never looked symmetrical to me. The tech said that area had about an 1/2 of old Bondo. He removed the bondo and pounded it back out. You can see what it looks like now in the second photo. Not perfect yet but certainly workable. At least the steel wasn't fractured.

We are going to remove the windshield to be able to paint under the rubber gasket.

We are going to remove the 2 chrome strips under the doorsills and paint this area without masking. I've located these before a while back and have to order 2 of them.

One door handle broke when it was removed. I can get new set from Superperformance.

Honestly, we are all surprised and pleased how good the body is given how bad it looked. It had dings everywhere but no big damage that was hidden underneath.

DinoPoint confirmed the new leather interior, the new carpet set, and the trunk and hood rubber seals were shipped today.

So, getting closer. But I think maybe the paint will be done mid Jan.
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I have to go to Nuremberg in late Jan. While in Europe I've made plans to visit DinoPoint the first week of Feb. These guys have been a tremendous help! Most likely I'll be buying stuff I need but don't know I need!

https://www.dinopoint.it/

 

Got the new door handles with locks and wiper arms from Superperformance today. Door handles came as a pair with the cylinder lock and keys. I have the rubber gaskets from a previous order as I was going to replace them after painting.

I'm sure several problems I have is related to the previous owner not being able to get the correct windshield wipers 30 years ago. So far I've had to replace the badly scratched windshield, the broken windshield seal caused by the wrong wipers, the wiper arms, the wipers, the linkage and the motor just to fix the issues caused by the wipers. Most likely this all relates to not being able to get parts 30 years ago. Luckily today, its not that difficult but its not cheap. Looking at at least $2K, maybe more.

Its all the small stuff like this that slows you up and adds to the overall unexpected cost of the restoration. But, what are you going to do?

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Marco from Re-Originals just emailed me that he might ship out my new custom made top this week. Its left Italy and on the way to Houston.

 

What's in this 5 foot long package from DinoPoint?

 

A complete new carpet set made to factory specs (it has a hand made rubber mat in the trunk now. Most likely the old one got ruined and and a new carpet wasn't available 30 years ago).

The 2 chrome trim pieces that go on the lower body and the clips to hold them.

The car interior has been held up in customs for over a week. I think I finally got through to the right parties to get it released this week.


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This was the package!

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Today’s adventure of “what’s in the box from DinoPoint”. Probably 4 feet tall by 2 by 2. It’s actually 2 boxes stuck together.

I paid $400 in customs to get it here.

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OMG. Here is a complete carpeting set in the original material. I ordered it in black but they had many choices.
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These are the original rubber seals for the hood and the trunk.
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These are reproduction knobs for the heater and ventilation cables on the center console.
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And this the best part. In the box is a complete interior in the most awesome leather that I choose. Smells soooo good! All the pieces cut out already to the correct shapes. Must be 50 leather pieces total and some extra black material that I assume is some kind of trim.

It came out better than I expected. Going to be more expensive to install than I thought as well. But when finished it’s going to be fantastic.

Now I need the body shop to do their bit.
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This is the color combo

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Got UPS confirmation that Re-Originals sent my new top.

 

I'm not going to take it out of the box but the new custom top arrived from Re-Originals today. Thanks Marco!
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Ken Tyrrell's top 20 favorite cars:

1) Lamborghini Miura
2) Ferrari Daytona
3) FIAT DINO SPIDER

Other owners: Gordon Murray, Jim Glickenhaus -- and ME.

 

Today's edition of: What's in the box from Superperformance?

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