FIAT Dino/FIAT 2000/FIAT 124.....spyders

Attached are some photos of my 124 Abarth CSA replica road race car. This is my 2nd Fiat road racer. I have raced a 124 Coupe for 6 years in The Corinthian Vintage club. We race Texas World, Hallet, Eagle Canyon, and Motorsports Ranch. I just finished the Spider and am selling the coupe. They are great cars! I can give many tips on Fiats.

I have also included some pictures of 03872 my 1972 Dino. I bought it in August, started disassembly in december, took it to Metal Rehab the first of February to be dipped, and it was just transported to Stuarts Paint and Body in Dallas last week.
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hey I have one of those 124 hardtops rotting in my backyard, for years now I am careful to not break the back window Not had the car in 4 years but still have the top. The 124 do look good with that top on them.

 

Corrected in a later post.

All Turbo's were 1995cc and injected. The Alfas are heavy and expensive to fix.

For nearly a decade, I worked on these cars new at a dealership where I sold the last new Pininfarinas imported into the country. We had several Turbos come through, and once the overboost limiting switches were fixed, they ran fine. No problems.

Colors were white and "champagne." I saw few blue Legend Industries cars. I did "de-turbo" several examples when we couldn't get pieces anymore, mostly manifolds. The turbo was actually an IHI unit (Japanese), not BW. The 1608 is a sweet engine. It's square, 80mm x 80mm. The 2-liter motors are not "revvers" but they're rock solid and do have mega torque.

The 1608 was the 125 engine family, a derivative of the 1438 124 engine. The 1592 was the first of the 132 engine family, which evolved into the 1756cc and 1995cc engines.

Not surprised. They're sweethearts. I still prefer the injected car, though.

On the money! I had the IHI units rebuilt at Turbo-Aire in Charlotte when the cars were new. There were two pressure switches as you say, and they were the difficulty most of the time. I had dozens of 124's of all flavors and my white Turbo was a great car! I brazed a LOT of manifolds, however...

I remember briefing new car customers on proper warm-up and idle cool-down on the Turbo Spider. I still have the cool "impeller wheel" graphic decals somewhere. The dealership I worked in had been Fiat-only since 1966 when I started there in 1979. When Fiat stopped importing, Malcolm Bricklin took over the importation of both the Spider and the X1/9 under the Pininfarina and Bertone badges. I remember going up to Accokeek, Maryland for product and service training at IAI, the distributor. After ten minutes, the instructor turned the class over to me for the next four days, because I knew more about the cars than he did...

These cars had a bad rap. They were inexpensive, fun cars that if properly maintained and cared for by knowledgable dealers and independents, were no less reliable than any other car. Most of the electrical issues that hauntend them were because most dealers didn't know how (or didn't care) to fix them and "patched" or "rigged" the cars, causing further problems. I replaced a lot of cam tower gaskets and distributor seals, fourth gears popping out and rear axles, but the cars were robust and a real bargain. The 124 is also a terrific race car! But that's a whole 'nother story.

If I were buying, I would call Danny O' Donnell at Fun Imported Auto and Toys and ask him to find me a rack and pinion equipped 1985 Pininfarina, or the most cherry 1982 2000 Spider he could fine. I would expect to pay $7K-$12K for a really cherry 1982-1985 Spider.

They're great!

 

in the family we had just about every iteration of the 124. Inexpensive and a great range of cars.
The video on your site is something else! enjoyed it! I was rooting for ya all the way!

 

That was a fun deal! Glad you enjoyed it.