I'm wondering if it's worth the price. It's got less than 80k on the odometer, no rust, new paint job, the rims and tires were replaced, the engine has had all of its hoses and stuff replaced along with normal maintenance. It apparently gets started often and moved around to keep it fresh instead of rotting, and it's a garage kept car. The interior, while it isn't atrocious, is a little messed up, and that's probably the weakest part of the car. He's also got all the maintenance logs apparently...I haven't seen it in person yet (it's in another state)
He wants around 6k for it..I'm just wondering if it's a good idea to buy it. I have an '81 but restoring it would cost more than 6k (It was in a flood) and I'd love to be able to own one and drive it to school and work and stuff (I'm 20). I currently own a big boring Chrysler Concorde, and these fiats sound like a blast! I haven't been able to fully experience the joy of driving one though
Is hard to tell without seeing it. but Iwhen I think of a 6k spider I see a very solid car mechanically in great shape, good interior and very clean.
I have seen many spiders for sale with a nice coat of paint... sweet coat. check for rust in trunk, under the carpet, shock towers and underside. If there is too much difference between exterior and interior condition (engine, floors, seats consoles.. etc) to me is not a good sign. I rather get a solid well maintained car with old paint.
FiatColombia1 wrote:Is hard to tell without seeing it. but Iwhen I think of a 6k spider I see a very solid car mechanically in great shape, good interior and very clean.
I have seen many spiders for sale with a nice coat of paint... sweet coat. check for rust in trunk, under the carpet, shock towers and underside. If there is too much difference between exterior and interior condition (engine, floors, seats consoles.. etc) to me is not a good sign. I rather get a solid well maintained car with old paint.
just an opinion
There's a single rip in the driver's seat, and maybe 2 cracks in the dashboard from what I've seen, and a crack in the center console. So while it's damaged, it's not THAT bad, the seats look intact too, which is impressive given how cruddy the stock seats on these cars tend to be (mine have broken teeth on the seat adjustment mechanism)
He said there's no rust, but I'm unable to travel for a bit due to finals in school. So I can't check the car out unfortunately
Usually 82's are used as donor cars. Your question was how many 82s can you get for $6000? The answer is...all of them.
Just kiddin, $6000 does seem like a lot for the car, even though I havent seen it. Especially with a just OK interior. Since your only 20, I think you should save your money and go for a $3000 Spider and then have a little left over for some fixes. I am always suspicious of new paint and then it goes up for sale.
Good Luck on your search. With pics, we could help you even more.
For $6000 the car should be in outstanding condition, inside and out. There are a lot of us who paid less than $3000 for our Spider in very good condition. Even an 82!
Also, I'd never buy a Spider sight unseen. Where is the car located? I'm sure a forum member in the area would offer to go to it and check it out.
Ron
Ron Luxmore rlux2n2@gmail.com
'82 2000 Spider: after 26 years between Spiders.
pope wrote:Usually 82's are used as donor cars. Your question was how many 82s can you get for $6000? The answer is...all of them.
Just kiddin, $6000 does seem like a lot for the car, even though I havent seen it. Especially with a just OK interior. Since your only 20, I think you should save your money and go for a $3000 Spider and then have a little left over for some fixes. I am always suspicious of new paint and then it goes up for sale.
Good Luck on your search. With pics, we could help you even more.
That's pretty much it for the interior, there's a spot on the dash as well.
It's so hard to find a good ~$3k spider around my area, they're all about as bad as my current one, either not running, rusted out, and I'm trying to find one that's in good shape already so that as soon as I drive it home it doesn't fly apart and die on me.
rlux I agree about that, I'm going to go look at it before I commit to anything, it's only like a 2-3 hour drive to where it's at.
Regardless of wether its an 82 or a 72, a 6K car or a $500 car, If you want to drive it on a daily basis and have a reliable vehicle plan on spending at minimum $1000 in replaceable parts. They are fun cars and a blast to drive, but they require an owner who is wiling and devoted to learn to work on it, sometimes frequently.
When I think of a 6K spider I see a car with no major problems, a good previous owner(s) who have performed regular maintenance, wiring with no obvioulsy major hack/splice jobs with the exception of the radio. A decent interior that may need a console/dash/seat cover, and a decent exterior. Pictures of the car will speak for themselves and give a good indication of the cars real value.
A lot of spiders are comming on the market now that the economy is down and people don't have the money for their toys. I'm sure you could find a good spider close by for less than $3000 or even $2000 that is in comprable shape. Or find a parts car for a few hundred and with your 81, graft them into one good car.
There are two schools of thought when bringing a car back on the road, and this applies to all cars, not just Fiats. The older the car the more true it is.
1. Put it up on jack stands and spend several weeks/months/years going over every single part and system, inspecting, rebuilding, and refurbinshing. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time, but when you are done you can drive it with confidence and you will only have minor bugs to work out and tweek. You may replace a lot of components, but you will only do everything once.
2. Replace the obvious things and drive it as is. You may make it here or there, but you can count on something giving out at some time and leaving you stranded. A $100 tow charge could have bought a lot of Fiat parts. You may fix one thing and then next month something else goes out. This may seem like the cheaper route, but its not. Ordering a single part every few weeks will incur shipping charges that exceede the parts price. You will remove a part one week, then next month have to remove it again to get at something deeper in, and you end up doing everything twice or more.
A car thats been off the road for 10 years will not go back on the road in 10 minutes, or even 10 hours (safely and reliably).
manoa matt wrote:Regardless of wether its an 82 or a 72, a 6K car or a $500 car, If you want to drive it on a daily basis and have a reliable vehicle plan on spending at minimum $1000 in replaceable parts. They are fun cars and a blast to drive, but they require an owner who is wiling and devoted to learn to work on it, sometimes frequently.
When I think of a 6K spider I see a car with no major problems, a good previous owner(s) who have performed regular maintenance, wiring with no obvioulsy major hack/splice jobs with the exception of the radio. A decent interior that may need a console/dash/seat cover, and a decent exterior. Pictures of the car will speak for themselves and give a good indication of the cars real value.
A lot of spiders are comming on the market now that the economy is down and people don't have the money for their toys. I'm sure you could find a good spider close by for less than $3000 or even $2000 that is in comprable shape. Or find a parts car for a few hundred and with your 81, graft them into one good car.
There are two schools of thought when bringing a car back on the road, and this applies to all cars, not just Fiats. The older the car the more true it is.
1. Put it up on jack stands and spend several weeks/months/years going over every single part and system, inspecting, rebuilding, and refurbinshing. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time, but when you are done you can drive it with confidence and you will only have minor bugs to work out and tweek. You may replace a lot of components, but you will only do everything once.
2. Replace the obvious things and drive it as is. You may make it here or there, but you can count on something giving out at some time and leaving you stranded. A $100 tow charge could have bought a lot of Fiat parts. You may fix one thing and then next month something else goes out. This may seem like the cheaper route, but its not. Ordering a single part every few weeks will incur shipping charges that exceede the parts price. You will remove a part one week, then next month have to remove it again to get at something deeper in, and you end up doing everything twice or more.
A car thats been off the road for 10 years will not go back on the road in 10 minutes, or even 10 hours (safely and reliably).
Very true.
I guess I'm too picky, there are tons of 70-79 Spiders around me, but the '80+ FI Fiats are harder to find.
It's worth what you are willing to pay and also depends upon where you are located. Some people will pay top dollar for a rust free car. Cosmetics are not what's important. Seat covers don't cost very much but parts and labor do.
Most of the fuel injected cars go for more money as they are more desirable to the general public and less issues than some other years. The highest production was the '79 and in my option the worst car mechanically. I disagree of the '82 being a rusty car (not sure if you were kidding?), in fact I have seen far less rust on the 81 & 82 cars. We have a few in our club with over 200K miles on them and still win a concourse trophy.
The NADA blue book values are higher, but it is a standard for what sellers set:
Low- $4,800, average $8,000, high $13,400.
You can always offer them less and see if they take it.
We are generally spoiled here in the Northwest as we do have a lot of rust free cars. But - it's rare to find a reasonably decent, well maintained FI car for under $5K.
