A Californian homage to Top Gear

General chat about the car goes in here.
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ga.spyder
Posts: 3478
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:19 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Blairsville ,Ga.

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by ga.spyder »

Hey Chris,
loved the videos! You could do worse than an American version of Top Gear...absolutely my favorite show.You might want to get a manual,and look into the brake rebuild.The brake systems on these cars are fairly simple,and parts are cheap and available at most chain parts stores.I am in the midst of doing a brake re-do on my wifes 77,and I am not a master mechanic :? Good luck with the car and keep the videos coming.
Craig
Craig Nelson

1982 Spider 2000...pride and joy
1981 Fiat X1/9..gone but not forgotten
1976 124 Spider..the self-healer
2001 BMW 328ci daily driver and track car
Fling It Around Turns !
svb

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by svb »

ga.spyder wrote:You might want to get a manual,and look into the brake rebuild.The brake systems on these cars are fairly simple,and parts are cheap and available at most chain parts stores.I am in the midst of doing a brake re-do on my wifes 77,and I am not a master mechanic :?
I may give it a shot. It sounds like it is probably pretty simple. Here is what Brandon said:
Never had any problem with the brakes at all the first four years I owned the car. First problem surfaced when we had to refill the brake fluid during the first film. I had some things done by a Fiat mechanic in Redwood City a few months ago, he noticed a problem then, but we both thought it was a slow leak. He topped it off and I was fine for a while. Then the last time I moved the car, December, the front reservoir was completely dry.
svb

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by svb »

UPDATE

I had my shop take a look at the Fiat. Basically, the entire braking system needed to be replaced. If there was a part that had anything to do with stopping the car, it was bad in one way or another. My family has been using this shop for years so I trusted them on this. They said, among other things, the master cylinder was leaking, the lines were leaking and frayed, the calipers were frozen, etc... Given the scale of the work necessary I told them to go ahead and get it done rather than attempt it myself.

So I am picking the car up this weekend and driving it down to LA. I should hopefully have some new photos online soon!

And now I've got about 30 days to deal with the smog issue but luckily I know a guy who will hopefully be able to help me out with that. :mrgreen:
User avatar
ga.spyder
Posts: 3478
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:19 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Blairsville ,Ga.

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by ga.spyder »

It always helps to''know a guy'' :lol:
Craig Nelson

1982 Spider 2000...pride and joy
1981 Fiat X1/9..gone but not forgotten
1976 124 Spider..the self-healer
2001 BMW 328ci daily driver and track car
Fling It Around Turns !
dzyfngrs

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by dzyfngrs »

Welcome Chris,

I drove those roads when I lived in Foster City. Nothing else like them in the good old US of A. Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Frank
azygoustoyou

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by azygoustoyou »

Welcome to the site Chris. Cool videos! Congrats on your new car. Once you get it back, you'll appreciate the new brakes. It's always nice to stop. :P Keep the video's coming. Between pic's and videos. We can't get enough.
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spidernut
Posts: 1906
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:20 am
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider Automatic
Location: Lincoln, CA

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by spidernut »

Thanks for posting the video. That was indeed fun to watch. Glad to hear you joined the Fiat crowd. They are a blast to drive, but do take much more care than newer cars just due to the age of the vehicles. There are many of us in the Golden State, so feel free to touch bases with us from time to time!
John G.
1979 Spider (Owned since 2000)
1971 124 Sport Spider (Owned since 2017)
1977 Spider (Sold 2017)
1979 Spider (Disposed of in 2017)
1979 Spider (Sold 2015)
1980 Spider (Sold in 2013)
1981 Spider (Sold in 1985)
2017 Spider (Owned since 2019)
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SLOSpider
Posts: 1140
Joined: Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:10 am
Your car is a: 1973 124 Spider 2.0FI
Location: Lompoc, Ca USA

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by SLOSpider »

Good Video as I live here I see all those roads, mainly on My VFR recently. I see you found Jims import auto parts in San Luis for your oil cap! You couldnt meet a nicer guy there. Welcome to the site. I miss my Blue spider too :)
1975 124 Spider
1976 Mazda Cosmo http://www.mazdacosmo.com
1989 Chevy k5 Blazer
1967 GT Mustang Fastback
svb

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by svb »

Coupla shots from my drive down to LA. We took a bunch more of the car itself but they're all on 35mm and haven't been developed yet (gotta finish the roll).

Image

Image

I think I need shorter legs and/or longer arms.
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Europa
Posts: 512
Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:02 am
Your car is a: 1983 Pininfarina Spidereuropa
Location: Ft. Lauderdale

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by Europa »

svb wrote: Image
Who took this picture? :o
1983 Spidereuropa
Verde Scuro
svb

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by svb »

Europa wrote:Who took this picture? :o
Haha... she took the picture.
markpink

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by markpink »

This was a great video.

But since I owned a black bwm 325i and Two Fiat 124's I might be a little prejudiced. But I will tell you that I have no desire to own a Dodge Neon....

Mark
markpink

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by markpink »

This was a great video.

But since I owned a black bwm 325i and Two Fiat 124's I might be a little prejudiced. But I will tell you that I have no desire to own a Dodge Neon....

Mark
markpink

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by markpink »

This was a great video.

But since I own a black bwm 325i and Two Fiat 124's I might be a little prejudiced. But I will tell you that I have no desire to own a Dodge Neon....

Mark
Last edited by markpink on Sat Apr 17, 2010 10:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
svb

Re: A Californian homage to Top Gear

Post by svb »

markpink wrote:But since I own a black bwm 325i and Two Fiat 124's I might be a little prejudiced. But I will tell you that I have no desire to own a Dodge Neon....
That's a common response. Outside of the autocross/SCCA arena, no one even knows what a Neon ACR is, much less what it is capable of. The Neon was the fastest for a reason; it's a brilliant drive. But being seen driving it is another story. And any non-ACR Neon is entirely worthless -- it's only the ACR that is even worth bothering with.

As of today, the car is finally road legal!! I managed to get it smogged last weekend, and so now I'm good to go, at least for another 2 years!
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