It's difficult to recall exactly now, but I think I was browsing CraigsList for something British (MG I think) and came across an advert in which the poster was selling multiple cars. One of them being a Fiat 124 Sport Spider. Embarassingly, not knowing what that even was, I googled for photos and when I saw this - I fell for it instantly.
Perfect proportions. Beautiful shoulder line. And those wheels looked so retro cool. I just knew I had to have one.
I initially started looking for a sub $3,000 car. I had other projects in the works and I wasn't keen on spending a lot. I just wanted something I could drive into the countryside once a month. Nothing too demanding. After looking at some really tatty late 70s cars, I wised up. I decided it was best to look for a pre 1974 car. Which would mean; carburettors, smog exempt and small chrome bumpers (as opposed to the hideous rubber ones the later cars had).
I found an interesting 1969 Spider in Northern California on Ebay.
I spoke to the owner a few times and was keen to bid. But in the last 30mins of the auction, the auction was cancelled with a bid of $3,000. I tried to call the owner to figure out what happened but he wouldn't return my calls. I think he was worried that the car was going to sell cheaply and cancelled the auction. I wish he wouldn't have been such a douche about it if that was the case.
Anyways, things went silent for a while until I saw a posting on BaT for a 1971 on Ebay.
Given the exposure it got, I knew bidding on it would be a bad idea but lunacy kicked in and I ended up sniping it for the grand sum of $6,110. It didn't feel too painful at the time because it looked like I wouldn't need to do much mechanical work at all. But after the car was shipped from Florida to me and I had a chance to look over it, things weren't so good. Luckily the body was good, that I was very pleased about. Chrome was good too. But the mechanicals and electrics were a mess. So far I can see an intermittent stall, driveshaft rebuild and new clutch for starters. I'm going to have a lot of work to do before I can drive this thing safely. But I'm determined. And equally so not to lose any money on it either. So, here we go again :)
Thanks for your blog. Like you didn't know anything about Spider before i bought it. I think I was a little more fortunate in the car that I bought. My car didn't need too much work, but glad to read your blog in case I need to do some of those repairs. Keep it up.
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