UK - Classic Cars Magazine June 2008

[dinosabella]

Hmmm, I can spot a few things that are not origional.
The steering wheels, the shifter has been shortened, they added a mirror to the passenger side, and the wood in the dash is much better quality than the origional. I also think the light lenses should be red and white only, this car has amber as well but im not sure about that.

But wow it looks stunning. Thats color combo is what my car origionaly had, I painted it red about 7 years ago and i was thinking of re-painting it next year and this car is realy making me consider painting it black. I always liked the black and red color combo

[baltobernie]

Hey Jason,

This issue finally arrived at my local coffee house - nice article, and pretty accurate, I think.

Another Brit "newspaper", Classic and Sports Cars has an article titled "MGB vs. 124 Spider"in the as-yet-unreceived June issue. That should be a good one, too. Lots of interest in the Spider over there recently, isn't there?

[jasongibson]

Hmmm, I can spot a few things that are not origional.
The steering wheels, the shifter has been shortened, they added a mirror to the passenger side, and the wood in the dash is much better quality than the original. I also think the light lenses should be red and white only, this car has amber as well but im not sure about that.

I'm not too worried about some minor bits not being original, as long as it still looks like it should

The shortened shifter is so much better and a bonus is it doesn't hit my knee any more :0)
Nothing wrong with a pair of mirrors, especially when the steering wheel is on the wrong side
The dash is Walnut, think that was done in the 80's
European Spiders had Amber turn signals, see this Fiat brochure for the BS
http://www.globallistics.com/spidersweb ... dexgb.html

As for the colour combination, It has had black leather interior for the last 20 years but I got bored and fitted the red interior that i've had in storage for ........... Hmmm, I think my dad had it made around 1985 for one of his but never fitted it.

[jasongibson]

Hey Jason,

This issue finally arrived at my local coffee house - nice article, and pretty accurate, I think.

Another Brit "newspaper", Classic and Sports Cars has an article titled "MGB vs. 124 Spider"in the as-yet-unreceived June issue. That should be a good one, too. Lots of interest in the Spider over there recently, isn't there?

The yellow car in this magazine belongs to a good friend of mine Ben who runs our forum in the UK
http://www.sportspider.co.uk

[baltobernie]

Just got the issue yesterday - the yellow Spider is a beauty! A local club member is painting his car this color.

I was somewhat suprised that a British mag would rate our Spider over the MGB. Good article overall.

In this same issue, did you read the story about "the world's most beautiful roadster", the Ferrari 250 California? Except for the "gills" (which I don't like) and the covered headlights (which I do), this $4M car looks a lot like a blade-bumper Spider. If I could only get 1% of the Ferrari price ...

[spiderrey]

im not talking about the short shifter or the wood or the steering wheel. most everyone changes these things to suit thier own personal taste. i think the car is gorgeous. it says 73, but i see something that is pretty good size that says 68-69. anyone got ant ideas. again the car is gorgeous,

[pope]

How about the bumpers without overriders!

Here is a 67 Spider

[spiderrey]

thats a nice one, the 67.. overriders came on all cars, i think. what i saw was bigger then an overrider. and it would take alot of effort to replace. it wouldnt be switched, just to switch. and if you never saw a 67- 69 up close , you might not notice it.

[jasongibson]

Don't forget it's a European car, we didn't have bumper overiders

Hmmm, a larger part that's wrong

Bonnet (hood) is correct as is the grill (changed 74)

I'm looking at photo's of my dad's previous 1973 car and apart from wheels I can't see any differences
What's the prize for the correct answer

[spiderrey]

i know the hood and grill are correct. i had a euro 71 model a while ago. what i see is in pic # 6.

[jasongibson]

Engine bay shot ?

well the engine is an 1800 anyway as are many ancillaries
looking at engine bay shots on previous 73, can't see what i'm missing

Oh now you've got me.

I know that a single brake fluid reservoir is listed as from 1970 but previous 73 had twin reservoirs too
Battery is in correct place, washer bottle is a generic one, better than the bag

Air horns ?

I give up as i've got to get some sleep
Although how am I going to be able to sleep without knowing

[pope]

Is it the red krinkle paint on the cam covers?

[spiderrey]

ok, heres what i see. based on my experience. ive had two 68,s a 69,70 ,3 71,s, 74, 79 and a couple more im sure. the rad support on this black 73 is different then all other spiders ive seen. and ive seen alot besides my owen. the support un this car looks exactly like the supports ive only seen on 68 and 69 cars only. if you were to say this was a 70 i could believe that due to the weay fiat handled things. this takes nothing away from that gorgeous car, it just makes me wonder how it came to be. maybe the car was wrecked, and they just used an earlier piece. somebody please correct me if i am wrong. also besides the support being wider, the forward lip has ridges just like the 68 and 69. goodnite

[mdrburchette]

I don't see what you're talking about. It looks like my 72 support. Maybe I'm not looking at the right thing.

[pope]

Whats with the 2 inlet pipes on the air cleaner?