Greetings from the Bay Area, CA

[analogdigital]

Hello all.

I love 124's for a number of reasons... my dad had one when I was a kid, the styling is gorgeous, my wife is Italian (like, from the country Italy Italian, not Italian-American).. the list goes on.

As such, I'm about to purchase my first 124 and I wanted a project car. My wife and I just had twin girls and with the pandemic and everything, I need an outlet. I've always been a gear head and have worked on cars in the past, but never done anything soup-to-nuts. I know I'm a beginner, so I wanted something not too complicated, not too expensive, not too delicate to wrench on, and still has the "cool" factor. Figure an old Fiat roadster checks all those boxes.

I put a post on CL saying I was in the market for a 124 and as luck would have it someone contacted me who used to run a very well respected Fiat shop and had since retired (knowing where I am I'm sure some of you can guess the shop, but I'm not going to mention any names ).

Regardless, he has a handful of 124's in various stages of completeness, but there are 2 that checked most of the boxes.

1. '83 Pinin. 80k miles, pretty much every part needs a work-over, body is straight, no rust, needs paint. Runs & drives
2. '82 124 Turbo. Will be a show car, 60k miles, new custom green paint, custom leather upholstery, custom 15" wheels, new suspension, upgraded brakes. Lancia pistons... the works. Set up for upgrades to push ~200hp. Dash needs to be put back together and a couple other things but it's the total package. Doesn't run... yet.

Obviously there's a pretty big price difference between the 2, and he's trying to sell me hard on the turbo with good reason. Once it's complete it'll be a much better investment given all the great work and upgrades that have already been done.

As crazy as it sounds tho, I think I'm gonna go for the Pinin. Once (if) I finish it, there will be no doubt that she will be my car. It'll also give me a chance to really learn how everything works, and I won't have to be super paranoid I'll chip the paint =]

Anyways, my name is Matt and I'm excited to be here. Once I take delivery on one of them I'm sure I will be on here ALOT.

[SteinOnkel]

Hello and welcome!

I'm finishing up the main project part on my '78 and selling it soon. Going to move on to another platform. I bought it two years ago to save it and I've done pretty much exactly that.

It's freshly painted. The mechanics have been gone through and the transmission rebuilt. The car is about as far as I will take it, but if you want to take it to ten tenths, it'd be a good base. The dashboard and center console could be replaced, I suppose. Seats have decent covers, not great. The engine still has good compression, but it's not very pretty and could be rebuilt (and upgraded ), I suppose. Wiring is working but standard 124 wonkiness. It's driveable, but not completely back together yet. Top still needs to go on. That's still in really good shape, by the way.

For someone like you, I'd let it go for what I'm into it (I have a spreadsheet).

Car is located in Santa Rosa. Come by anytime to check it out, pet it, touch it or just to hang out.

Cheers
Steiny

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Anyways, my name is Matt and I'm excited to be here.

Welcome Matt, and I'll be interested in following along in your adventures as you get into them. Like many on this forum, I've owned multiple 124s in their various versions (spider, coupe) and 131 sedans. I did much of my Fiat wrenching in the 1980s and early 1990s, but then work got in the way, so it wasn't until a couple years ago that I picked up the hobby again.

Anyway, there's lots of expertise on this forum, so ask any questions you want.

-Bryan
PS: Rule #1 of the forum: Always give Steiny (SteinOnkel) and me a hard time. It keeps us honest.

[rdv]

Hi
and welcome too! Good reasons to go with a .. classic Fiat 124 Spider !

You come from the Bay Area? Still a hotspot for Fiat Spider. The worldwide Spider Register counts ~ 20% of all CA Spider that come from the complete Bay Area. Here's the list of all CA Spider (act. 1137 cars):
https://www.fiatspider.de/register?Fahr ... California

You can add 2 more cars, would be great to include your family's cars!

Ciao, Ralf