Hello All,
In 1991 my mother acquired, and drove, a beautiful red 1972 Fiat 124, for one year. She then went off to college, and parked the Fiat in the garage, where it has sat for the last 33 years.
What are some first steps to getting it back on the road? I know to not even think about trying to start it without changing the timing belt/draining the gas tank/changing the oil/inspecting cylinder walls. Is there anything else that I should be aware of? (other than RUST- 33 Michigan winters in an unheated garage will be unkind to any car)
Thanks for all your help.

Welcome, and Wow, this will be interesting to watch! I've heard of spiders sitting for a few years, even ten or so, and starting up, but 33 is a long time.

I predict that it will actually run fine. Here's what I would do, in roughly this order:
1. Drain the oil. Overnight. Refill and use a new filter of course. Pre-fill the oil filter before spinning it on.
2. Remove the two cam covers and add new oil over the cams/tappets anywhere that it's dry. Put the covers back on, and you will likely need new gaskets for these anyway so you could change the gaskets at this point.
3. Squirt some oil in the spark plug holes and rotate the engine by hand a few revolutions. Clockwise viewed from front.
4. Disconnect the fuel inlet to the carb and put an inlet hose into a tank of clean gas. In other words, bypass the fuel supply for the time being.

Your carb is probably the item in the worst shape, just because it sat for 33 years with crud in it. But, with some starter fluid when trying to start the engine, the carb might work well enough to get the engine running. A carb rebuild will be a necessity.

Good Luck, and let us know how it works out! How exciting!

-Bryan

Congratulations on your rehab going forward!
In addition to draining the fuel tank, flush the fuel line, remove the carb and clean the bowl (rather than move crud into the jets, etc.).

Drain and flush the radiator. Drain the block. Remove the thermostat (it is external) and flush the block by removing the "T" at the top front of the head. You don't want debris moving into the heater core and heater valve. If you can manipulate the heater valve, you're a lucky man!

Remove the spark plugs and add some oil to soak the piston and rings before you attempt to turn it over either by hand or starter.

I would remove the valve covers and oil the cams and buckets and valve shims.

Don't rush it. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.