Factory accoutriments

[MrJD]

So back in the day, if you buy a fiat spider, what did you get?

Jack and tool kit, manual(s) of some sort? Boot cover from factory?

Anyone have any clue? I'm just curious. Also, I have seen that you could order a vinyl wrapped center console from the factory. are there other interesting options out there?

[phaetn]

I think the radio was a big deal. That's apart from the standard engineering of four disc brakes and a five speed (notable as superior to Triumph TR6s and Spitfires, for instance). Sheesh, even my car in high school in the late '80s (a clapped out Renault 5) was only four speed with drums at the rear... Gawd that car was awful but I loved it. Back then I could only lust after Alfa and Fiat Spiders...

I don't think there were really that many options with the Spiders. Air conditioning at some point; some later models with automatic transmission. Maybe a hard top, but I don't know for sure. I most things were pretty much standard...

Here are some 1500 adverts (i.e. pre 124). The top one mentions an optional hard top:




This following ad looks around mid-70s 124 Spider b/c of the tubular bumper. No mention of anything special:


By 1980 fuel injection became an option, as well as leather interior and electric window lifts:


Not much else, I don't think. They threw in all the other good bits like a tach, trip meter, temp and pressure gauges. Maybe different types of rims?

Any my favourite -- an oldie, but a goodie:


Directly from their ad copy:
"The second best shape in Italy

at the hottest little price in the USA. You’ve seen the first in films. Now see the Fiat in person. Fiat is the hot one. The Italians did it the way they do most things. With style. With flair. With flourish. And there’s no Germanic thrift showing. This Fiat sport comes with all the extras at not a penny extra. Bucket seats, power brakes, leatherette upholstery, header, defroster, tachometer, dual electric wipers, safety belt anchors, bumper guards, self-canceling turn signals, help-lights and tool kit. And speaking of figures, you can’t even come close to a shape like this at a price so trim and appealing. At $2639, it’s the lowest-priced sports car in its class. Every family should have at least one Fiat."

Cheers,
phaetn

[mscafide]

No vinyl wrapped anything I ever saw but you have the rest covered.

Dealers would sell anything they could find. From the factory, not much.

Mike

[MrJD]

This is the first day I looked at mine. The vinyl wrapped center console is factory. I have seen a very few others done the same.



So other than the factory manual, there wasn't much else eh?

I can track my car back to 1986. Going to go to the DMV and see if they can trace it further... Carfax and such don't do our cars unfortunately...

[bobplyler]

Jack and tool kit, manual(s) of some sort? Boot cover from factory?

Mine came with two options, a Fiat Sonata AM/FM radio and luggage rack. The owners manual was incomplete (two sets of some pages, and the others missing). I still have the manual. It did come with a boot cover, that I still have. I swapped the radio for a Jensen cassette deck. The toolkit is incomplete.

[MrJD]

Ah yes! The Luggage rack in deed! I wish there was somewhere out there I could get the build sheet for my car.

I would LOVE to know more about the history... I have looked up the family of the person that I know had the car from 86 - 97. I am super tempted to give them a call and see if they have old stories or info.

[courtenay]

When I bought my '72 in '72, there were no "factory options". All of the cars came the same. There were a number of dealer options available, such as radio, luggage rack, fancy wheels etc. The only add-ons I opted for were an AM/FM radio and a 12" diameter MOMO steering wheel.

[spidernut]

I don't know why my post disappeared but I'll try again.

My wife and I purchased an 81 Spider new. Here's what I recall regarding standard and optional equipment:

STANDARD
- Convertible top boot
- Toolkit, jack and ratchet
- Manual windows
- Manual transmission
- One side mirror
- Vinyl seats
- Molded console
- Styled steel wheels
- Pirelli or Michelin tires (depending upon the rims)

OPTIONAL
- Alloy rims
- Turbo which came with the wheels pictured in the banner head on the orange Spider
- AM/FM Radio or Radio with Cassette Player (dealer installed)
- Leather upholstery (included leather seats, leather strip along the lower part of the dash, leather covered arm rests, vinyl covered center console)
- Side door edge guard (dealer installed like in the banner head)
- Ribbed aluminum under-door molding (dealer installed)
- Air conditioning
- Power windows
- 3 speed automatic transmission
- Additional undercoating (dealer installed)
- Luggage rack (dealer installed)
- Pin striping (dealer installed)
- Anniversary edition model (included leather, strip along dash, brown dash and upper door panels, label on the glove box door, turbo wheels, pinstriping)

There weren't many options on the Spider, but enough that you could personalize it.

Options I purchased on mine were: Leather seats (with the covered console, dash and arm rests), alloy wheels with Michelin tires (though I wanted the Pirellis). I have only seen one set of arm rests that had the sewn covers. I purchased a factory upholstered console off of Ebay and had one on my 81 new. They're way more durable than the molded vinyl.

Hope that helps.

[Tobi]

Good job on listing everything John. I had an 81 with the brown dash (plus beige leather on the lower part and the armrest), also both consoles covered in vinyl. The seats where partial covered in leather and the top of the door panels was brown as well.
The car also had the leather covered steering wheel and I have seen that in two other cases.
Where the 13" Iron cross wheels dealer or factory option and what about the 14" turbo wheels?

[Ramzi]

Don't forget the optional accessories / option such as a ski rack, fancy spoked hub caps (for early cars).... And the dreded Ziebart rust prevention.

I have a catalog somewhere with the entire list and prices for each.


Ramzi

[MrJD]

Anyone have a picture of the arm rests you are mentioning? (leather covered). I'd also love to see the dash part you mentioned.

[mscafide]

There were factory options (few), Fiat Roosevelt (importer) options and dealer options (anything they could think of).

I stand corrected on the later vinyl wrapped console, I had never seen one that I can recall.

Mike

[WYSpider]

[spidernut]

The iron cross wheels were the only alternate wheels that I was offered. The dealer cost was $250 for the four wheels with an asking price of $425ish. I paid $250 for mine. The turbo wheels were not an accessory when I bought my car - they only could be purchased with the turbo.

I haven't seen one of the covered arm rests since I sold my first Spider back in 1985. There were two seams that ran along the outer ridge of the arm rest and two on the inside grip. It was pretty cool looking and matched the console and dash.

Here is a picture of an image I found (car for sale) that has the sewn console covers and dash trim.

[mscafide]

Not an accessory but an interesting side note.

I worked part time in the parts department of a Fiat dealer for 3 hours on Saturdays in the mid 70's. It was only $4.25 per hour for 3 hours but was worth it for a 20% parts discount, use of the shop and special tools after hours to work on my cars, free parts that had been warranted back to the factory that were still good and would just be destroyed.

Chicago in the winter is crap and a warm dry place with a few lifts to work on the car was a real bonus. Mechanics were always available for help and advice.

I've gone a bit off course. The non accessory was, one year new models came out but there was a large supply of the previous year left for the entire country, not just my dealership. They had changed alloy wheels on the Spider from one year to the next, the only change …so they swapped wheels with tires to the new ones and were sold as the later model year. Employees could buy as many alloy wheels with new tires and of course balanced for $25 each. I could only get my hands on 13 of them and sold them to other Fiat friends for the same price.

Mike