Just bought a one owner '77. My mechanic, Rocco, looked under the car and said BUY IT! Very solid, good history, but needs pretty much everything soft in the interior redone. Can anyone comment on whether various interior parts like door panels, upholstery kits, carpet, consoles, etc. from suppliers like International Auto, Vicks, Ricambi America are worth buying? I could go the more expensive Andy's Spiders way, but my usual restoration shop (Rocco, at Rock's Auto again) says "why rebuild or recover it, if you can buy a good replacement?" Any insight would be helpful.

If you want it done right go the the vendors you just listed. If you just want a driver, then buy used parts one at a time as they are made available by people parting cars out. Also, your list of vendors isn't complete. I don't remember if we have a better list here or not. There was, at one time, a good list on the FLU.org website.

Others less biased can comment on quality, but I'd just like to mention that AFAIK we are the only ones that carry the soft dash and lower console.
The hard repro dashes and consoles are the same ones regardless of where you buy it from.

And the soft console is definitely on the list. The plan is to do the seats and door panels first as they are really bad, then do the mechanical freshening, including most rubber parts (hoses, belts, fuel and brake lines, etc). Next, refinish the stock steel wheels and mount the set of hubcaps we found, and find the right tires. By spring the car should be a great driver, look presentable and be a blast to drive all summer. Next winter it'll go in for paint, carpet, assorted other interior parts and a new cloth top.
We're going for original looking, so once all that is done, we should be able to only maintain it and enjoy it!

Hi Lindsay is your mechanic Rocco on Kingston road he mainly works on Ferrari's , if so he is a great mechanic to know does awesome work.
Nick

Lindsay, I saw a soft dash with a slight imperfection being sold by Auto Ricambi at a substantial discount last week. I'd look into that if you need a new dash to save a few dollars for sure. A couple questions to ask. Do you want the car to remain stock on the interior? Less people today know what a stock Fiat interior looks like? Would you be opposed to a little travel? This forum is a great place to help identify any spiders in the bone yards. You might find an interior in good shape and make an offer that will save you a ton. One option that you may want to keep on the table for a smaller car like the spider is a custom car interior shop. I suspect they could put down new carpet and recover dash/seats/doorpanels inside of a day giving the car a fresh look.

>... any spiders in the bone yards. You might find an interior in good shape and make an offer that will save you a ton.

Have you ever seen a Spider in a salvage yard with a good interior? I have not in the last 20+ years. Usually there is a reason why they are in the bone yard

FWIW I purchased a soft console from autoricambi and couldn't be happier with it.

Still need to replace the dash someday (dash mat currently covering the cracks ), but will replace with a soft dash when I get around to it.

Yes, Rocco on Gerrard is my mechanic. He services my Ferrari and is a good friend. He'll probably help me with the Spider as well, but to save money we'll (my GF and I; this car is mostly for her!) try to do as much as we can ourselves. We're not too concerned with totally original, but as close as is practical, parts and money wise. It's as much about the journey as it is the destination, but bottom line is we want it to be nice!

Have you ever seen a Spider in a salvage yard with a good interior? I have not in the last 20+ years. Usually there is a reason why they are in the bone yard

Csaba, I've seen a few really bad ones in salvage yards and have to agree with you about hard to find interior parts. A couple years ago there was a 74 in a salvage yard in San Antonio. I paid $100 for the complete instrament panel with all gauged, Chrome front and back bumpers and tool kit from trunk. Sold the bumpers for $100 and called it a win. The car was an exception to the rule as it had a clean well kept interior. The car was moved a week later and i could not locate it again to strip it more.

The door cards I got from IAP look great.

If you have a black interior, your job will be easier as you don't have to match various tan or blue bits.

Check out http://www.convertibletopguys.com. They seem to be very reasonable when it comes to price. I just bought a boot for $125.00. Everyelse was $250.00 plus. Complete interiors front and back seat covers for around $375.00. I don,t know if they do door panels.