New Member
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SPYDER66028
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Sat Sep 02, 2023 11:46 am
- Your car is a: 1975 SPIDER
New Member
New member here. Car is a '75 Spider with ~60K original miles & location is Washington's Olympic Peninsula. I'm the car's 3rd owner; previous owner brought the car from Kansas. Detailed repair logs includes transmission, valves, carb, overhauls... scary stuff for such low mileage & I'm still identifying repairs that appear to have been done incorrectly. I've owned Jag, MG, Triumph, Healy, and OSCA cars. The Spider car came to me as 100% stock, and I do love the performance and handling. Fiat's approach to engineering is, however, intriguing!
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SeattleSpider
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:19 pm
- Your car is a: 1980 Spider
- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: New Member
Welcome! Note this site does not seem to be used as much as it was in the past. There is a lot of good information here, but sometimes you have to search. There are also some really nice and knowledgeable people who respond well to questions.
As you can see from my handle, I am here in Washington located in Seattle. Where on the peninsula are you? Two things of interest for NW Fiat people: (1) there is a local Fiat Club - FIAT Enthusiasts Northwest Italian Car Club - https://www.fiatnorthwest.org/index.html - but they do not seem to be too active anymore; and (2) If your Fiat is running and you are up for it, the MG car club has a fun rally every April starting in Burlington called the "Tulip Rallye". See: https://www.mgccnwc.com/ This year it is Saturday, Apr 20, 2024. I tend to go to see the cars, but only once have I actually done the Rallye. In the past a lot of different car clubs showed up so there were a lot of fun cars to see. For a couple of years there was even a 1920s Bentley.
Anyway, welcome. Enjoy the site, and enjoy your Fiat - they can be lots of fun!
As you can see from my handle, I am here in Washington located in Seattle. Where on the peninsula are you? Two things of interest for NW Fiat people: (1) there is a local Fiat Club - FIAT Enthusiasts Northwest Italian Car Club - https://www.fiatnorthwest.org/index.html - but they do not seem to be too active anymore; and (2) If your Fiat is running and you are up for it, the MG car club has a fun rally every April starting in Burlington called the "Tulip Rallye". See: https://www.mgccnwc.com/ This year it is Saturday, Apr 20, 2024. I tend to go to see the cars, but only once have I actually done the Rallye. In the past a lot of different car clubs showed up so there were a lot of fun cars to see. For a couple of years there was even a 1920s Bentley.
Anyway, welcome. Enjoy the site, and enjoy your Fiat - they can be lots of fun!
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18Fiatsandcounting
- Posts: 3799
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: New Member
Welcome! As for your note above, this isn't necessarily a guess for concern. Keep in mind that these cars are now 40 to 50+ years old, and they were designed as an affordable sports car that would maybe last 10 to 20 years tops. Repair shops (and dealers) were all over the place in terms of quality. I had to rebuild the engine in my '69 spider after only 44K miles, and carb swaps are common. Transmissions usually last quite some time, but maybe not so much if the car was driven hard. Which they often were.SPYDER66028 wrote:Detailed repair logs includes transmission, valves, carb, overhauls... scary stuff for such low mileage & I'm still identifying repairs that appear to have been done incorrectly.
That being said, the engineering design on these cars was actually way ahead of its time. 4-wheel disc brakes, double overhead cams driven by a toothed rubber belt, hemispherical head, dual braking system, a heater that wasn't half bad, a poor man's version of anti-lock brakes on the rears, a convertible top that was a marvel of simplicity to raise and lower, even a collapsible steering column of sorts (a good thing to have in a serious accident....).
-Bryan