A Californian homage to Top Gear

[ventura ace]

Link to videos with Fiat content ('76 spider):

http://greatestroadinca.blogspot.com/

A

[mbouse]

Alvon,

thanks, that was fun to watch.

[jimincalif]

Thanks Alvon, the whole video is probably 45 minutes, very entertaining.

[FiatColombia1]

Nice fiat.... I like those wheels and the height. thanks for sharing it.

[svb]

Hi guys,

sorry to bump an old thread, but my name is Chris and I drove the BMW in the film.

I registered for this site because I just bought the Fiat.

Brandon (the Fiat owner & driver in the film) called me up for some advice on selling the car. I was shocked that he'd even consider it, and practically yelled at him that he could not sell it. But long story short, he couldn't hold on to it and so rather than let it go to someone outside the group, I snagged it.

I won't say for how much -- I'll just say that it has a few things wrong with it and so Brandon gave me a killer deal. My goal is to hopefully have it up & running and back on the road in time for summer!

[NitroDemon]

Im glad you did bump the thread, for I missed this one. I just watched the video and very much enjoyed it, you guys were quite fun to watch xD and also congrats on becoming the new owner of the Blue '76 Fiat! Really too bad Brandon couldn't keep it for himself but his loss your gain right?

[engineerted]

Welcome to the club Chris

That was an excellent video production. Now that you have the Spider, two things come to mind, front chin spoiler and the Abarth bumpets. Those two items will finish that car off and you will ready to hit the beach this summer.

Ted

[red107]

As a fan of top gear. I have to say that you guys should start top gear U.S.A. What a show!!!

[Foster48x]

Welcome Chris!
Glad you bumped this thread the show was extremely entertaining to watch. I like the guy with the yellow helmet, he's kinda like a mysterious RacerX sidekick. . Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with next.

Rick

[2ndwind]

Hey Chris,
Welcome to the site. I loved your road trip show. Looked like a lot of fun AND the filming was excellent.

[4babycar]

Chris,

Welcome to the site and thanks for a great video. Be careful though, you said a few touchy things within earshot of the Fiat and it has been my experience that they can be temper-mental, spiteful cars! Good luck with it and congrats on ending up with the superior car.

[Zippy]

Chris,

Welcome to the site and Fiat ownership. I'm on my third Fiat. They are fun to drive and relatively easy to maintain. I really enjoyed your video. Thanks for sharing. I'm sure you have heard from others that there are a lot more great roads in California to drive. If you ever get the chance I would recommend the drive from San Gregorio to Skylonda and then north on Skyline Blvd. Also, there is a fantastic drive from Sausalito over to the coast and up to Mt Tamilpias. You can continue on to Stinson Beach and north to Bodega Bay. On the return you can go through Petaluma and Nicasio. If you get way up north the road between Eureka and Redding is also a great drive. That's highway 299.

Have fun. Enjoy the ride.

Al

[ventura ace]

Hello Chris,
What sort of issues do you have with the car? I'm sure there are folks here on the site who have had similar issues and can give you tips for resolving them. Enjoyed your videos!

Alvon

[svb]

What sort of issues do you have with the car? I'm sure there are folks here on the site who have had similar issues and can give you tips for resolving them.

Simple stuff, relatively speaking.

It hasn't been registered in a couple of years and a little over $500 is currently owed. This is the easiest problem, obviously -- it can be fixed just with money.

However, first, it needs to be smogged since this is CA and its a 1976 model. Brandon installed a straight pipe which will have to be replaced with a catalytic converter before the car will pass. As this involves welding, I'll have to pay someone to do it.

Finally, the worst problem is the brakes. This is a problem that first appeared in our film, actually -- about halfway through. Apparently, it's gotten worse and Brandon says he suspects there is a leak somewhere. The brake pedal goes to the floor, adding fluid doesn't really help, and so the car can't safely be driven above ~10mph currently.

I've done quite a bit of work on cars; suspension, engine mods, and even brakes, to the degree that I've replaced pads & rotors. But for this particular issue, I'll feel more comfortable giving it to a professional so that at the end of the day I'll know I have a fully functional braking system. I don't know if it's just a leak (and if it is, I don't know where) or if the master cylinder itself needs to be replaced. Could be both.

So all in all, I figure it'll be at least $2k to get the car back on the road.

Then, of course, as someone mentioned above, there is the bumper situation. I keep going back & forth between wanting to put the chrome bumpers on versus the Abarth look. I'm leaning towards sinking the money into doing a full conversion to the look of the earlier pre-74 models. I haven't made up my mind on that yet, but at this point, that's way down the line anyway.

Looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with next.

That would be this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4WNCGBOfXY

[Foster48x]

Looks like another fun video. Let us know when you have the full version ready so we can check it out.
Good luck getting that spider up and running. Hopefully we'll see it in another one of your shows down the road.

Rick