Junkyard 124 "B" Coupe!

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viotti600
Posts: 249
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:08 pm
Your car is a: 1972 Fiat 128 Wagon
Location: Norco, CA USA

Junkyard 124 "B" Coupe!

Post by viotti600 »

I came across a 1970 Fiat 124 "B-Series" Coupe in a local junkyard on Friday. Anyone need anything from it?

Details...

Body: Mix of Bondo & gray primer over the original French Blue. Hood is in overall good shape (if you ignore the bad paint/primer) except for a 2" round bulge where someone had slammed the hood down onto a mis-aligned distributor cap (repeatedly). Drivers door is decent with a spot of cracking Bondo near the outer front/rear corners of the door skin, definitely savable. Passenger door is good overall. Trunk lid is not so good with a Nissan Sentra rear spoiler/wing on top & the area around the trunk lock is a bit wavy (the car had been rear ended). Front chrome bumper was in fair shape with 2 small dings & a slightly-tweaked d/s corner - I couldn't decide on buying it, so I left it on top of the car. Rear chrome bumper is straight with no dents (I bought it). Both bumpers were missing the overriders. I nabbed the front grille, both headlight surrounds (which match the grille) & both taillight assemblies.

Glass: Windshield is cracked on p/s & has 2 bb holes/divots. Door glass, rear 1/4-glass & rear window are all ok. Front vent windows are siliconed in place (might be plastic, not glass).

Interior (black): Dash is toast, period. Dash-end plastic vent pieces are ok (no cracks). Upper half of center console is gone, lower half is cracked/torn. Passenger seat is gone (along with the seat-mount risers normally welded to the floor), driver seat is crap. Both door panels have a speaker hole cut in the lower front corner, drivers panel is also torn around the window crank handle. Both rear upholstered 1/4-panels are in decent shape. Rear seat bottom half is in good shape, top half is sun-baked along the top edge/surface. Headliner & rear window shelf material are gone. Black carpet is a little worn near the rocker panel edges & a bit dirty, but would probably clean up well & be presentable (ie: if this was an 850 Spider or Coupe, I likely would've saved it for myself).

A late 124 Spider steering wheel was installed (fair condition, rubber grip cracking from exposure), I took the hub for my 128 & hung the wheel back on the steering column. 3-lever steering column switch unit fully intact, including plastic surround (now sitting on floor). Glove box/tray is intact. Seat belts were crap. Rear view mirror was aftermarket. I removed the instrument cluster, but couldn't decide if I should save (buy) it, so it's still there. Decent black panel with silver border, 140mph+ speedo, 9k rpm tach & normal oil/fuel/temp gauges, VDO vacuum gauge instead of original clock.

Suspension: all stock & intact, but rear control arms are bent.

Drivetrain: engine had been converted to a late fuel injection set-up, I'm guessing it's either a 1.8L or 2.0L unit in there now (couldn't read the block stamping, too dark). I took the Marelli EI distributor, coil pack was missing already. FI air cleaner housing was gone, but AFM was intact. Good-looking aftermarket aluminum radiator installed - I'm guessing from a Volvo since there was also a Volvo plastic coolant reservoir tank installed, as well. Aftermarket thin-profile electric fan mounted between grille & radiator (not a bad fit, actually). 4-1 stock exhaust manifold, center pipe cut out between downpipe & rear coffee can-style exhaust. Trans, 2-piece driveshaft unit & rear end all intact. The car had a set of unknown-brand alloy wheels on it when I saw it sitting in impound last week, but apparently one of the junkyard workers had to have them before they set the car out in the yard (though they kindly left the 1 very-bent wheel still on the car).

If there's anything on the car that someone needs, let me know. I plan on going back within the next few days to get a few more things & can grab whatever for you then.

Also, some of the parts I saved from it & will be selling soon (after a bit of cleanup & photos) are:

- Front plastic "honeycomb" radiator grille & matching r/l alloy headlight surrounds (selling as a 3-piece set).
- Late 124 Spider Marelli electronic ignition distributor & coil pack assembly.
- IMI gear-reduction type starter motor.
- Late 124 Spider steering wheel HUB, also fits Nardi/Momo steering wheels.
- Rear chrome bumper blade, no overriders, no brackets (though I CAN go back & get the original brackets, if needed).
- Right/left taillights (complete, but very faded lenses).
- Trunk lock with key.

Will probably post an ad for these items tonight/tomorrow. ;)

POSTSCRIPT: I went back to this car again yesterday morning in order to get a few more things. Unfortunately, someone took the instrument cluster after I left the day before. On the bright side, I did get the snazzy IMI gear-reduction type starter motor after wrestling all of the FI gear out of the way (I'd forgotten the swivel attachment for my sockets, so I had to access the upper 2 starter bolts the hard way - from the front). While removing the lower starter bolt from under the car, I noticed what looked like a custom-made drive shaft (the front half). Then I noticed the transmission case looked different for some reason. What the...? Wiping off the dirt-encrusted casting numbers on the side of the casing revealed that it has a Fiat 131 transmission installed in it! :shock:
fiat218
Posts: 5745
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 1969 124 AS spider

Re: Junkyard 124 "B" Coupe!

Post by fiat218 »

Ok, I will take that tranny :D
Jim
East Grand Forks MN
1970 Fiat Spider BS1 ( FOR SALE
1969 124 AS Spider
2017 Abrath
2018 Alfa Romeo 4c Spider
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