Funny thing is, just a few days prior to buying the Spider, I had never even considered buying a Fiat. I am a long-time German car enthusiast having owned mostly BMWs begining in the early 80s (my father bought a brand new BMW when I was a teenager and I was hooked).
So I already had an '89 BMW M3 with less than 50k miles on it which rarely gets driven accept to the occasional car show
I decided I really needed a convertible that I could actually drive occasionally and enjoy with the kids. I had been shopping for a 911 SC cabrio when, by chance, I ran across the Spider for sale in my local paper. At first I was a little put off by the fact it had a couple of minor dings and had been repainted at some point. But the car had been kept in a heated garage by the owner (who only drove it occasionally in the summer months) for more than 20 years, and thus had zero rust. Then I drove it and wow, what a blast! I bought car pretty cheap thinking I could drive it a year or two, make a couple bucks and get my Porsche. But I have since been using it as my daily driver on every sunny day and it just puts me in a good mood every time I drive it. I have no intention of selling this car -- EVER. Forget the Porsche, this car is fun to drive, gets more attention than I care to have, is really easy to work on and the parts are just ridiculously cheap! You guys should compare BMW and Porsche parts some time just for entertainment value.
And the people I have met thus far in my local FLU chapter are a lot more laid back than some of the folks in BMWCCA and waaaaaaay more laid back than the PCA.
So it looks like I will be around for a while.