so how?

[mipstien]

did everyone get involved with fiat's?

i stumbled upon mine just by chance while looking for another car to fix up. the price was right and the type of car was what i was looking for. i spent months looking for a car to fix up. this was goin to be my first rebuild and i wanted something fun. after going through all the other cars i saw this ad on craigslist of a running car near my house. i thought great! then drove 10 minutes away and went to look at it. rough car i thought but at least it ran so i could get it home. came back later that day with my g/f and she agreed it was rough but she thought it was cute and decided that we could do it. next day we drove it home.
my short story of how i got my fiat. so whats yours?

[seventil]

did everyone get involved with fiat's?

i stumbled upon mine just by chance while looking for another car to fix up. the price was right and the type of car was what i was looking for. i spent months looking for a car to fix up. this was goin to be my first rebuild and i wanted something fun. after going through all the other cars i saw this ad on craigslist of a running car near my house. i thought great! then drove 10 minutes away and went to look at it. rough car i thought but at least it ran so i could get it home. came back later that day with my g/f and she agreed it was rough but she thought it was cute and decided that we could do it. next day we drove it home.
my short story of how i got my fiat. so whats yours?

I lived in Italy for 5 years, stationed near Venice for the USAF. Always liked Italian cars, especially old Fiat Spiders.

Nothing would have came of that, probably, if I hadn't met a French/Italian girl. Her Dad is Sicilian and loves Spiders, but mainly new ones. I've been looking in France for reasonably priced one to restore, finally found one a couple weeks ago...

It's not in bad shape, but I'm looking forward to the day (in a couple years) where it's finally cherry.

[MNspiderman]

I actually came across a man, wife and two small children that were living 80 miles from me. They were (are) very poor, lived in a very old house and he was barely surviving off of ebay sales from items he bought at yard sales. He was talking to me about eating rice or cereal for diner a few times a week and then he began talking about how terrible the bathroom was. (being i am a contractor) House was built in 1895, only had a tub and toilet and it was the only bath in the house. I felt bad for they guy and i remodeled his entire bathroom with a stand up shower, new sink and toilet, tiled the floors, shower and walls, a 10K value. All for free, I provided the materials too. I just felt like doing something super nice for someone that was in need. So i did it. You can't imagine the excitement on their faces when i was done. Well he happen to have a fiat spider jammed in the corner of his garage with a cover over it. Didn't run or anything. Something he bartered for years earlier. So being he had no funds to fix it or pay me. He gave me the spider. Thats how i got bit by the spider.

[red107]

Grew up overseas. We lived in San Vito/ Brindisi Italy and my dad had a 850 spider. Then we moved to Germany. Mom wanted a X-19 but she couldn't find one so they bought a 81 spider new ( which I own now) We also had a 1984 131 Which my uncle blew up on the autobahn. While I was in college I got a 75 spider and sold it when I Joined the navy and was stationed in Spain and while I was there I owned a 1978 124 sedan, 1982 131 and a 84 Panda. So I guess it in my blood.

[mipstien]

Well those are a lot more interesting than min. Ever thought of writing a book lol?

[katsi]

When I was 15, my parrents bought me a 1972 Dodge Colt (see photo) which was actually a mitsubishi for $400.00 from the a family that lived a few doors down from us. It had 172K on it and I loved it instantly. My dad's intentions were that I used this car untill I became a confident driver and then go out and get something else. He would get really pissed at me for fixing this little car up and when I was 17 he MADE me go down and look at Toyota trucks. We found a couple used ones at the Subaru dealership and got the papers all lined up. I did not know which one I wanted and asked for a couple of days to think about it. Actually, all I wanted was to keep the Dodge Colt. Yes, my dad was quite ticked off about the whole thing. Anyway, a few days went by and I got sick of my dad needeling me about the issue so I went down to the Subaru dealership to get one of the freaking trucks my dad was insisting I get as he was out of town on business at the time. That was in July of 1984 and it was also the first time I ever saw or actally noticed a Fiat Spider. It was in the back of the used cars at the Subaru dealership. It was a 1978 red with tan interior and had white racing stripe. It was awesome and MUCH less than the trucks. I asked the guy and since my dad had alyeady insisted I purchase something from this dealership, he said OK and I signed the papers that my dad had already worked out. That was a Wednesday. I had and loved that car for two more days untill my dad got home the following Friday. My mom tried to convince him and he was a little hesitant but agreed to take a ride. By the way, my dad lost a few buddies in HS due to a convertable rolling over. So, he HATES convertables. I guess hitting 80 mph as fast as I could was not a good idea with my dad in the passinger's seat. He asked to drive it and drove directly back to the Subaru dealership. About 45 minutes later, my dad came out of the offices and the guys pulled the Dodge Cold out infront of the building. We drove home without a word being spoken. I had the Dodge\Mitsubishi for another 4 years. It was awesome, candy apple red, loweredd, keystone classic rims with eagle GT's. That is, untill some drunk chick decided to T-Bone it. I have always wanted a spider ever since and, now I got one.

[kmac33]

Got mine from my dad. I wanted this car from the time I was old enough to actually start thinking about what car I wanted to drive. I begged and begged to get her for my 16th birthday, but thankfully, my dad was smart enough to wait another 25 years before passing her on to me. Hopefully the full restoration I am putting her through will keep her on the road for another 30 years and I can pass her on to my son.

[narfire]

First fiat in 76 went with dad looking at cars(first car) Choice between a land cruiser that had a gimpy ball joint &rust and a 70 spider that ran well but the top was a bit iffy. Bought the spider. Had a gas with the car for several years then bought a Rabbit and sold the fiat for $500.00.
Today(3+years ago) .. I was delivering some wood trim to a fellows house and noticed the front end of a car poking out under a tarp in his driveway. Having a fiat in the past,I commented is that a fiat? Yeup ..do you want it? Pulled the tarp back and a 79 spider completly stripped and in a primer of some sort was there. Have any parts? yeup, downstairs in the crawlspace. I found the engine block and a zillion other parts boxed up. He was great at taking things apart but did'nt know or want to put it back together. Got the car to the shop and all the boxes and then wondered what to do next. Figured I needed a parts car as individual new parts was going to be expensive for my means. Found a 80 FI in Eugene OR and went for a drive. Brought the Fi back and figured after reading a bit,the FI was a better engine(in stock form) than the carb'd 79 and the body was'nt bad so that became the project. After close to a year the body was painted and I thought sorted and put it back together. I had traded timbers for painting and body work,but they got the better deal. Last Jan. I had it painted again and some more body work done to get it where it should have been in the first place. During this time I needed a few more parts so I bought another parts car... Last year I bought a couple more spiders,a 72 that Launie help me rescue in Victoria and another 72 in Calgary that has rusted floors and shock towers but drives and stops great. I hope to have the first 72 ready by the end of May and the other is next winters project. I need a Craigslist block on the computer so I don't get any more of these cars.
Chris

[courtenay]

I got my first Spider in '72 as a University Graduation present to myself. I looked at MG's, TR's etc - but found that as I was (am) a big guy, I had trouble fitting behind the wheel. Same problem with the Fiat, mainly because of the size of the steering wheel. I couldn't shift between first and second or get on and off the clutch because my knees were crunched against the wheel. So the dealer sales guy showed me their rally car with a 12" MOMO wheel - and voila - sale made.
Sold the car after I got married. Couldn't fit groceries and a car seat in it.
35 years later I was converting a bunch of 35mm slides to digital for my mother and found some old pics of my Fiat. Got the bug again! I joined this forum and mentioned that I was thinking of getting back in the game. Narfire sent me a note saying that Spider Jim, who lives about 40 minutes north of me, had a Spider for sale. Couple of weeks later, I was indeed, back in the game with a mint '80 Fi. 62,000 kms, absolutely no rust, and apparently never driven in the rain!! Which is probably why it only has 62k kms being a west coast car. I couldn't be happier!! Oh yes...had the same problem with the steering wheel, so my new Spider now has a 12" MOMO wheel!

[mipstien]

No offense but u guys make me feel young I'm only 27 lol. I was raIsed around mg's my mother had a 72 back wheni Was a child and I loved it but they didn't wanna fix something minor so I dreamed about finding a little convertible like this.
Speaking of being tall how much where those steering wheels? And how much are the michigan short shifters approx?

[courtenay]

I paid $199 CDN for my MOMO - but pretty much everything up here is exorbitant! I'd suggest you google MOMO and find a dealer/distributor in your area. They have a pretty wide range of product. The good thing with MOMO is they bolt right on to the Spider steering hub for the later years.

[spiderrey]

Mn spiderman, I have tons of respect for you now. More people should be like that. Off topic. My buddy became an elecrician and opened his own shop right out of high school. One day he saw a story on the news about some old retired guy who had little money and just paid a cntractor to rewire his house. They did a lousy job and nothing worked. They left and now he had no money to fix it, and no working electricity.
My buddy felt bad for the guy, so he took his whole crew to the guys house and rewired the whole thing and replaced anything that need replacing. The ol guy was so happy. It didnt cost him a dime. Stories like these are to rare.
Back on topic. In 1978 i was in high school driving a 74 vw bus to school. Might be the best vehicle for a kid in high school. It was always loaded with friends to and from school and to and from school games. One day my mom came home and told me her boss was going to sell her one of his cars, she said he had one of theso Fiat sports cars. I thought about it for a second and recalled seeing the x adds on t v recently where an x backs out of a wedge shaped box and drives away. i thought, this might be cool. A few days later she showed up with an orange 71 124 spider, not even close to what i was expecting. I gave it the thumbs down and walked away. One day she needed the bus so i got stuck with the spider for school. That was all it took, I never gave it back. When I graduated from high school , she bought me some daseys for my car and that was the start of me changing everything on that car. Sadly i sold it to buy a new 83 GTI. Got back into it about a dozen years ago when I felt my boys were old enough not to need all my money anymore.

[Fiat88]

I'm just 21 now but about about 3 years ago I was looking for my first car, didn't have my license yet just my permit, so I figured I would look at some cars online to get an idea of what I wanted. My dad told me to look into a acura integra but I didn't really want one. So I started looking at some sports cars and noticed a cool looking sports car in my price range. A Fiat spider. I showed my dad and he thought it was cool too but didn't understand why I wanted such an old car. He told me he had a late 60's MG which was small and had trouble with the eletrical system or something and the car used to cut out on him, he said not to get a manual one so I searched on ebay for an automatic trans. A few months later I bought a '79 automatic on ebay from a guy in Illinois which took about a month to get to NY because the shipping company had to get someone to pick it up and transport it. Got it in August of 2008 and as they say the rest is history...

[jimincalif]

Back in 1974, a buddy's father bought a new Spider and took me for a ride. I thought it was really cool (my parents had detriot iron). I later bought a 128 3P, my brother bought an X-1/9, but I always liked the Spider's style.

[Snoopy]

When i was young i love this cars: Alfa Spider, Triumph Spitfire, Fiat Spider. But they are to old and expensive. We had a neigbour which always repair his Spitfire.
I first bought an old Opel Kadett then an old Golf 1 (Rabbit in US) and Golf 2. Then I change to Fiat: Panda, Uno 1, Uno 2 ...
(My Father Fiat Tipo, my mother Panda Uno and Punto, my sister Panda and UNO and my girlfriend 127 )

I meet a friend with an Spider he bought in US in bad condition and rebuild it. Soon he had big problems with rear end and tranny and after and small accident he sold the spider (no more money because he was still student).

I want an cabrio and because I need more place i bought an Renault 19 Cabrio und then Megane Cabrio. Because of kids I change to Renault Scenic, then Ford C-Max, second car Audi A4.
Some day i saw the New 500 sold the Audi and get the 500. Back to Fiat. I meet the friend which owned the spider because he bought a Fiat 500 too ! So we meet sometime and he show me his Ford Mustang 67 Convertible he bought in the US. But to expensive for me.
Some day he want again a spider (rembered old times over 20 years ago) and bought an Spider in US. Since this day i want I Spider too (last year). Nearby I found a nice one and bought it. (The friend let his spider in the US because he change to US to work there. No Spidertours... maybe later if he returns.)