New member Bradenton, Florida - 1981 Fiat Spider ....

[k9dr]

Long term Fiat owner but new member from the sunny gulf coast of Florida. I stumbled upon this forum as I was preparing to sell my 1981 Fiat Spider 2000. Much like a temperamental girlfriend, I had a love hate relationship with this car. I have owned it for 12 years, garage kept and covered, but infrequently driven due to random reliability. Running low on patience and unable to get the car started, I eventually listed the car on ebay. I received few bids because the car had not been started in over a year. My reserve price was not met so I decided to give the relationship another try.

I have next to zero mechanical skills. For most of the past 12 years I have had the same mechanic, a friend, work on the car. Unfortunately, I think that was part of the problem. The repairs he made were temporary at best. The car would run great, but only for a short period of time. I recently found a new mechanic who specializes in Italian cars. I asked him to completely check and repair the car so it would start reliably and run smoothly. He did a great job and it runs better than ever. The body, interior, and electrical systems are in great shape too. I just can not bring myself to sell this car now. So here I am - greetings from Florida!!

[racydave]

Welcome, and hope you have been stayin dry!

[pope]

OK, OK
I will raise my bid to $300 for the Spider and take it off your hands.

[rlux4]

Greetings from the other coast! I'm glad to hear that you found a good mechanic, just in time. If an owner takes care of these cars with regular maintenance, and keeps it in timed and tuned, they really are pretty reliable. What seems to cause the unreliability is being worked on by someone who is not familiar with them. In my case I decided to do some serious studying to learn about mine, mainly because no one in my area knew what they were doing if the computer couldn't tell them what the problem was. Now that yours is running so well, I hope you decide that you just can't let it go.
Very nice looking car, by the way. I'm partial to the red with beige interior myself.
Ron

[msrmd]

I am glad you decided to keep her
I have always regretted selling my original 73.
As a fellow driver with limited mechanical skill and experience, I can tell you that you are going to learn to really appreciate the collected wisdom represented on this forum.
Welcome

[So Cal Mark]

welcome. Your story is a very familiar one in regards to Fiat in the US. The Fiat brand really suffered from stories of unreliability due to circumstances like yours. Even many of the dealers couldn't/didn't repair the cars very well, and we all know what horrors can befall the cars when people unfamiliar with imports work on them. Sounds like you and the car are on the right track.

[mbouse]

i hope your new mechanic restores your love for the Spider.

welcome to the site.

[Gunsmith]

Welcome to the site! Very glad to hear you kept your tempermental trophy wife/girlfriend/car. Even just sitting there people stop and stare. The right mechanic means everything! Everyone has had to sort out what some other "Great Mechanic" fixed on their car. I too have had to do that on both of my Fiats. Had the same problems with my Harleys, any problem I had with them could be traced right back to the loose nut behind the wrench. I once took my 68 Vette into a shop to have the A/C compressor replaced and when I came back they had my hood and carburator off and were starting on the vacum lines. When I asked what the @*%(^ they were doing the guy looked at me and in his best redneck accent said "This is what you call one of dem project cars." So I pushed my car out of there garage and had it towed to a shop the speacialized in classic Vettes.

With all of these Fiats in Florida we are on the road to being able to host the Southern Freak out. Ahh, I can see it now......

[JeremyB]

Welcome! I was just in your neck of the woods a few weeks ago! The last week of July, We took our daughter to (you guesses it) Disney. But, we only stayed there 4 days. Then we drove to Bradenton Beach. We stayed at a place right on the beach and LOVED it. Hell, my daughter loved Bradenton as much as Disney!
I looked high and low for Fiats there, but couldnt find any. The closest I saw was a guy driving north on the only major road in town, in an older Alfa Spider.
Hell, you all should do a FFO of teh south. Set it up for early spring, so we can go somewhere warmer! Some may not drive teh Fiats due to weather, but it would sure give us an excuse for a trip to a warmer area!

[Europa]

I think we should follow up on Gunsmith's suggestion. I've seen so many members and new members from Florida. I'd love to meet up with you all. I am relearning the "joy" of owning a Spider. It'll probably be few more weeks before I can my Spider back on the road again.

Looking forward to seeing everyone else...

[k9dr]

I'm not into organizing events, but I will certainly try to participate. How many other Florida members are out there ??

[ShazDlux]

Wow...looks great man. Strange that my 81 spiders side mirrors are different. Wonder why that is?

[dzyfngrs]

I thought I was the only one in South Orlando with a Spider ('79 2000). And then I saw another 79 in the next subdivision from me. The guy has good taste.