So here is the Spider we bought in November 2013, It is a rust free California car. The down side is that we found out after we bought it was that it had been crashed. At this point I'm pretty sure that it had been straightened after the crash. We are going to have the uni-body checked before I reinforce the uni-body..


Here is the 69 Spider we bought as a parts car, some rust not super bad though...

Here they are taking up both sides of our two car garage, I'm not a fan since my Jeep project is on hold until all the parts are stripped off the green car...


Spending the day outside while I clean up metal shavings, dirt and rust off the floor. I also had to find a place to put all the parts I took off both cars. Yeah oversized garage, that's oversized!!!!! I would hate to see undersized!!!

Here are the areas in the cowl that will need attention, this is what made look further into what happened to our Fiat.
I figure after all is said and done the car will have 1 quarter replaced, the fenders removed and maybe replaced, also the front and rear valances and the section between the tail lights yeay body work!!!!
I wonder if the person that reinstalled the front fenders was the same person that straightened the uni-body? I wonder if there brother was Frankenstein? The quarter panel must have been installed by the same guy, hackerville..

Nice car to start work on even with previous damage I see a lot of these guys start with projects that have more holes than a chain link fence! Where are you in Washington? I am over in Gig Harbor there are several good sources of parts in the area.

Wow, big job but it looks like you know your way around. Gonna be a beauty when you're done.

Good luck and keep the inspirational pictures coming.

I'm actually in Beaverton OR. I've actually done a fair amount of work on my own cars over the last 35 or so years. I started on muscle cars, now I'm into Jeeps I have a pretty built 97 Cherokee and a 1970 Jeepster. This Fiat is the girlfriends car, she had one as her first car, she drove it until she graduated college. I've always loved them and we've been looking for over 12 years for a rust free car.

You will all find this amusing. I was burning the paint off our Red keeper fiat today in the areas that are suspect to me. The panel between the trunk lid and the rear bulk head, you know the one the quarters welds onto. Yeah well its not welded onto the quarter panel. Or the trunk brace for matter.

I don't understand doesn't anyone have pride in there work anymore!!!!! And I'm pretty sure this was done awhile ago.
I guess on the bright side it means It should be easy to remove.
I am going to need a quarter panel, the tail light panel and the lower valance.

My next question is who makes the panels with the best fitment? I dont want to spend any money on crap panels.

Thanks Jason.

Okay its been awhile since our car has been touched, after many months of it lingering in our garage I convinced the girl friend at the very least should be measured. Me and my buddy loaded it up and took it from Beaverton to Eugene to a body shop called Metal Works. After 2 weeks they called to tell me in fact the car was straight. At A cost of 200.00 and they said there were not that may places to measure from. After that I had a discussion about work I wanted to be addressed. We received two quotes for 3000.00 each.. So I decided which what I wanted done at this time and took some work that I wanted done from each quote.. Fix the passengers shock tower, weld in the gap in the drivers quarter, between the wheel well and the door, remove the second rear sway bar and repair the frame rails in that area, skin the front frame rails, weld the driver quarter back onto the upper body, the area between the trunk and the cockpit. 3,000.00 total in cost...

After looking at the car more myself I've decided I'm going to do some work body wise on the drivers quarter panel, The quarter was never welded into the trunk floor between the back of the rear wheel and the wrap around to the tail light, so I will handle that and I will also be pulling the dent in the back of the rear quarter, most of which was half heartedly pulled then filled, I will also grind all welds down in the drivers front fender which where never ground down, I will also try to pull the inner skirt and the fender closer to each other, Seems this was also half heartedly done.

I may also cut out the front passenger side marker light patch which was horribly welded in (Earlier fender put on the car) I may then cut a section out of the front fender on the 69 front fender that's in my side yard ( Saved front clip from the 1969 I hacked in two)

Okay back to body shop work, the other 3,000.00 quote was to replace the floor board and toe board on the passengers side. Also to replace the rear upper and lower valance. (I supply the panels) I also received a quote to acid dip the car and epoxy primer it 1,900.00

After this process the car will be ready to put on a rotisserie.

There are no new pics at this point, stay tuned to my life long headache...