Turbo Fuel Injection Engine - 1981 Spider 2000

[cajunFiat]

I have a 1981 Fiat Spider 2000/Type 124 CSO/pininfarina. It has a fuel injection turbo engine. Inside on the dash there is a turbo guage. I acquired this Fiat years ago from a guy who had parked it in storage for a number of years. It was not running at the time so I had it towed in to a shop that only worked on Fiats, MG's, and other like small roadsters. It only needed a tune up. He told me that he had worked on a lot of Fiats but had never seen one with that engine. He thought it was somewhat rare. Does anyone know if this engine is rare in these cars? Does it add any value to the car? Thanks.

[So Cal Mark]

those cars are fairly rare and usually demand a higher price than the non-turbo cars. Does it still have the Legend turbo?

[TulsaSpider]

Lucky!! We would love to see it!

[zachmac]

The Legend cars were selected somewhat randomly as the came off the oat in the US and sent to Legend Industries where the turbo equipment was installed. As far as i know it is a bolt on turbo unit with little or no internal engine changes (someone?). As Mark said, they are somewhat rare in that it was only for a few years and a limited number were converted (again, someone?).

The decals and the gauge were also added by Legend. I think I remember reading that neither Fiat nor Legend kept great records (we are talking pre-PC age here!) so you could re-create one today by simply collecting up the parts and doing the same conversion. This makes them rare but not necessarily valuable. I would think a good running Legend car (a lot of the turbos didn't last a long time) would fetch only about a 10 to 15% premium over a non-turbo (IMHO). Several members here have either updated to a modern unit or built a custom turbo or supercharger as again the Legend system was an add on that had no way of taking full advantage of the potential of turbocharging.

[BEEK]

no internal engine modifications, ive owned probably 5-6 of these cars, driven 2 daily. the first one i bought as a dealer demo in 1984, it ran very good, had 12,000 miles on it... lots of test drives i guess. the second was in 1998, it didnt have the punch that the first one did same boost ect. an aftermarket turbo setup would be way better in my opinion. bottom end that could stand 12psi boost and look out! proper fuel management is where the legend system lacked. limited by the l jetronic system

[kristoj]

Legend also added a link to the distributor to limit the advance on the turbo models. It is generally accepted that around 700 turbos models were created from late 1980 through mid-1982. Also, valuation of all cars depends mostly on condition. However, in my experience, turbo models in very good condition can bring a much higher premium than 10 or 15 percent. I have seen them sell for over $12k.

[adrians]

Legend Turbo have an additional sticker on the left hand door frame - with a 'warning' about the Turbo installation. Also the emissions sticker on the front windscreen cowl has the additional booster switches noted as well.

All the internet sites state 700 built however someothers say 1200.