Finally joined the "over 40" club

[kristoj]

Well,

I decided to take the wife and the Fiat up through the Ohio wine region this weekend to mark the momentous occasion. Yes, there IS a wine region in Ohio see http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 382#p55382.

Okay, I joined the over 40 years old club several years ago, I'm talking about the Fiat. It rolled past 40,000 miles and I managed to capture the odometer reading with my cell phone camera. But before there are any angry posts about working a cell phone while driving, you can see from the speedometer that I did pull over and stop before taking the picture.

I'll have to plan something really special for 50!

[kmead]

I was thinking you were talking about your Fiat, over forty would be 1970 or earlier. Mine are 40 and 41, unfortunately I rolled past 40 nearly 9 years ago.

Congrats on the rollover, on the odometer of course.

MI has a wine country too, if you come to FUN you can enjoy a part of it in the greater Traverse City area.

[kristoj]

Karl,

I have a '71 Lancia that will turn 40 years old in the spring, though my Fiat is a still-young 28. I imagine many forum member's cars will be turning 40 over the coming years.

I absolutely will be attending FUN at some point, but can't make it this year.

[DUCeditor]

There is something almost mystical about watching the odometer on a beloved car turn over a special number. Indeed, it is much like doing so ourselves. 40,000 miles makes one's car "seasoned," but hardly old, just like that equally mystical 40 year point for us.

In comparison my `77 must be considered ancient. Yesterday the clock showed 18,000 for the second time. I.e, 118,000 miles.

I wish I could look forward to aging as gracefully. My grandmother made it to 103 but to say, as I can about my Spider, that she was "still running strong" at the 100+ point would have been a bit of an exaggeration.

Just wondering... who's got the highest mileage Spider here on the forum? And what's her mileage?

-don

[ga.spyder]

Johnny,
at the rate you drive that car, it may turn 40 before the odometer turns 50!! Any word from Fiat on Cindy's new 500,as far as dates ?

[kristoj]

Now, now. My spider gets driven nearly every day that the weather is nice. The problem is that I live in Northern Ohio, where the weather is usually not nice -- especially between November and May. And I live only 2 miles from the office, which doesn't exactly rack up the miles. But cut me some slack, I have managed to put 4,000 miles on it in three years of ownership. We did over 250 miles in 24 hours this past weekend, and loved every minute of it.

Haven't heard anything on delivery dates for the new 500. I know Fiat NA hosted nearly 600 dealers in Michigan yesterday to begin the process of identifying the 200 or so that will eventually become Fiat franchises. Akron, OH (about 10 miles from me) was one of the cities Fiat listed as a target for a dealership. That would be nice to have one within 15-20 minutes of my house.

[ga.spyder]

Just yankin' your chain,John.You put about the same miles as I do on mine...maybe more! I saw the list for the proposed dealers.Not too many this way,but Atl. is about 1 1/2 hours away,and they were on the list for several.I was glad to see the plan for Fiat to have their own niche.To just throw them into Chrysler showrooms could be a big mistake.Heres hoping they get the marketing right,the product looks great.

[ga.spyder]

Just yankin' your chain,John.You put about the same miles as I do on mine...maybe more! I saw the list for the proposed dealers.Not too many this way,but Atl. is about 1 1/2 hours away,and they were on the list for several.I was glad to see the plan for Fiat to have their own niche.To just throw them into Chrysler showrooms could be a big mistake.Heres hoping they get the marketing right,the product looks great.

[BEEK]

i once had a 124 coupe i put over 300.000 miles on. got it with 150.000 and drove the rest. original motor went all the way. leaking oil, making its mark everywhere it parked, left a smoke trail behind it on the street. from oil leaking on the exhaust from the distributor and exhaust cam housing. belive this or not!. once i got tired of this coupe i found a spider needing a motor, i pulled the one from the coupe. rebuilt it. bored to 84.4 and drove it for another few years till someone wanted my spider worse than me.

[DUCeditor]

oil leaking on the exhaust from the distributor and exhaust cam housing. belive this or not!.

Sounds like my `77. The oil on the manifold aroma is part of the driving experience. Not a lot mind you. Except at season start up she doesn't smoke noticeably through the exhaust, and after the yearly addition of a `60s era gasket sweller (such as Bar's Leaks Engine Oil Stop Leak*) there is little or no visible smoking from the engine bay, but that aroma remains. Why it wouldn't be a Fiat without it!

-don

*http://www.barsproducts.com/tech/E10L_tech.pdf