How many Miles On Your Spider?

[redcars]

My 82 has 109,385 miles on it now. It had 87500 on it when I bought it 11 years ago, so I have put 2000 miles a year on it. I have receipts from the previous owner that shows a" european car specialist " completely rebuild the head. When I bought it 2 months later it was leaking so much oil onto the exhast manifold that it was unsafe to drive. This person (not a real mechanic) used cheap paper gaskets under the cam boxes with out lining it up properly and then pushed the bolts through the gasket where ever it was in the way. When I checked the valve stem seals they where hard and brittle. The bill that came with the car was for value job new guides ect most of it BS. I put in valve stem seals , gaskets, and adjusted the valves and it has been good to me.
I have 3 other cars and two other hobbies. The reason for the low mileage. I probably should sell one or two cars. I find it hard to do.

[kilrwail]

I bought my ’78 Spider new and it now has 151,000 kilometres on it. The engine has never been open, but the transmission was rebuilt at 88,000 and the differential replaced at the same time. I’ve done the usual maintenance items like water pump, radiator rebuild, timing belt, brake calliper rebuilds, rebuild front suspension, replace shocks, etc. I just finished replacing the timing belt tensioner spring retaining bolt with a larger diameter bolt, which was not a fun job. I used the car as a daily driver (summer only) for six years and after that it’s been for pleasure only. It’s been repainted once (2006) and still has the original interior. The longest trips it’s ever been on were FFO in Detroit and Pennsylvania, each about 500 miles. I now trailer it when going long distances for shows. I still love driving it on the twisty two lane country roads around my home.

[Stuknot]

My sister bought her 77 new and took it to Florida for a few years. She sold it to my brother in the early 80's. He took it to Arizona when he moved. For many years it was his daily driver to and from the Phoenix airport. He kept it on a rigorous maintenance schedule. Finally, in 2014 he called me and told me it was in the shop in Phoenix. The shop wanted $2,000 to complete some work on it and he didn't think he could convince my sister-in-law that paying that amount was worth it. He called me and told me that if I got to Arizona and paid the shop's invoice he'd sign over the title. I'd had a 74 for a short time in the early 80's and had lusted after his 77 for years. It's been repainted and gone through several tops over the years but it's still looking good. I flew out to AZ with my son, we picked it up and drove it home to California. I've had it at Allison's in Upland a few times since then - most recently for work on the ignition system and an alternator upgrade and it runs like a champ. Bottom line: 334,000 miles.

[spider2081]

Wow what a great story and who would believe the miles driven. Fiat Club America is looking for stories like this to publish in their magazine. I sure would love to read more of the cars history. Just sayin

[blufun]

OK here we go. I bought my '79 Spider new for $8900, the dealer had it sitting on the lot right next to the highway where I saw it everyday on my way to and from work. It caught my eye because I already owned a '74 Fiat X19 which I was crazy about, but the Spider was simply an awesome beauty, the light Blue body, tan top and interior was a drop dead eye catcher. Well within the next several weeks of gawking at this thing, I had all I could take and stopped in for a test drive. I have to admit it didn't come close to the driving fun quotient of my X19, in fact I was a little disappointed it didn't have the rack and pinion steering like the X19 or even the leg room, which is not asking for much because I'm only 5'9". However, my X19 was starting to give me problems because I didn't have the wherewithal of doing all of my own maintenance like I do today, so I opted to trade it on the Spider. They gave me $1400 on the trade, so I drove the brand new Spider away for $7500. The next year (1980), the same car was selling for $20,000 new. I currently have 147,000 miles on it as a Summer driver. I did all of the maintenance myself including rebuilding the tranny, installing exhaust headers, Ansa muffler, and a high perf 36/36 full throated carb with manual choke, it runs and sounds great! I've also done the routine stuff like a couple top replacements and 2 paint jobs, the last one was done with showroom quality. So the moral of the story is this car has been a part of my DNA for 42 years and counting, I only wish it handled like that X 1/9, that car was unbelievably fun to drive, must be the mid-engine design. The tradeoff for the Spider is I get loads of comments from admirers at every stop light