Hello Everybody,
My first Fiat was my '69 124 spider that I got from my dad when I went off to college in SoCal, and I still have the car. It's on its third paint job (always red) and either third or fourth cloth top, and given that it endured winters in Virginia, there's little rust. It's also survived being driven across the country a couple of times. It has a 2 liter block with the original 1438 cc cylinder head, and I know there are those that say this can't (or shouldn't) be done, but it's got almost 80K miles in this configuration with no issues.
I'm currently slowly restoring a '71 124 spider that I bought as a "backup" about 30 years ago, but although driven quite a bit in the past, was never fixed up. Fortunately all the parts are there and in relatively good shape. The paint is downright nasty as it looks like someone tried to repaint it with a spray can at some point, but that can be fixed.
In between these two cars, there have been 16 other 124 spiders of various years. Hard for me to believe sometimes....!
Anyway, looking forward to participating in this forum.
-Bryan, outside of San Francisco
From Virginia to California
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18Fiatsandcounting
- Posts: 3799
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
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JohnMc
- Patron 2018
- Posts: 226
- Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:30 pm
- Your car is a: 1970 Fiat 124
Re: From Virginia to California
I had a 1969 Fiat 124 back in 1972-1976 when I was in college - went between Walnut Creek and San Diego.
Now am living in Elk Grove and have a 1970 - not in as good a shape, but working on it.
Now am living in Elk Grove and have a 1970 - not in as good a shape, but working on it.
-
18Fiatsandcounting
- Posts: 3799
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: From Virginia to California
Good to hear, John.
You know, now that I think about it, my '69 has survived:
1. Several girlfriends in college.
2. Next to a house fire, where the left side of the car was melted (tires, light lenses, and cloth top).
3. About 4 accidents, including one that required a whole new front end (not me; that was my dad).
4. A smashed in oil pan due to me thinking this was an off-road vehicle (in Arizona). Required filling the engine with 10 quarts of oil and limping home all the way to LA with a non-functioning oil pickup snout.
5. Floods, where I used to see how fast the car would go through a foot or so of standing water. (about 30 mph, apparently)
6. Practice driving in snow. Basically finding an open parking lot with snow, and spinning the car around as fast as I could (Whoo-Hoo!!). Beware the parking bump stops...
7. Back and forth across the country twice.
8. A trip from Phoenix AZ to Pasadena CA in 4 hours. A little less than 400 miles, and the first 3 hours of this trip were averaging between 105 and 110 mph, slowing down only as I hit traffic approaching LA. The car performed flawlessly.
9. Death Valley, in July 1989, 127 oF that day. A few instances of vapor lock climbing over the pass on the way out, otherwise all good.
10. Moving off to college, with all my possessions in the Fiat. About 800 pounds of cargo (measured on a truck scale) all the way from VA to CA. I even had possessions stuffed in the engine compartment and in the space behind the front grill and just below and in front of the radiator... Clothes, bicycle, stereo with speakers, books, and of course, my Led Zeppelin albums.
11. A broken gas pedal linkage, which I fixed by running a piece of string from the carburetor throttle shaft, around the radio antenna as a fulcrum, and then back through the passenger's vent window to me in the driver's seat. Once you get used to pulling the string to give it gas, you kinda got the hang of it.
OK, enough of shenanigans and foolishness in my youth. You can sorta sense why I am attached to this car, though. We've been through a lot together.
-Bryan
You know, now that I think about it, my '69 has survived:
1. Several girlfriends in college.
2. Next to a house fire, where the left side of the car was melted (tires, light lenses, and cloth top).
3. About 4 accidents, including one that required a whole new front end (not me; that was my dad).
4. A smashed in oil pan due to me thinking this was an off-road vehicle (in Arizona). Required filling the engine with 10 quarts of oil and limping home all the way to LA with a non-functioning oil pickup snout.
5. Floods, where I used to see how fast the car would go through a foot or so of standing water. (about 30 mph, apparently)
6. Practice driving in snow. Basically finding an open parking lot with snow, and spinning the car around as fast as I could (Whoo-Hoo!!). Beware the parking bump stops...
7. Back and forth across the country twice.
8. A trip from Phoenix AZ to Pasadena CA in 4 hours. A little less than 400 miles, and the first 3 hours of this trip were averaging between 105 and 110 mph, slowing down only as I hit traffic approaching LA. The car performed flawlessly.
9. Death Valley, in July 1989, 127 oF that day. A few instances of vapor lock climbing over the pass on the way out, otherwise all good.
10. Moving off to college, with all my possessions in the Fiat. About 800 pounds of cargo (measured on a truck scale) all the way from VA to CA. I even had possessions stuffed in the engine compartment and in the space behind the front grill and just below and in front of the radiator... Clothes, bicycle, stereo with speakers, books, and of course, my Led Zeppelin albums.
11. A broken gas pedal linkage, which I fixed by running a piece of string from the carburetor throttle shaft, around the radio antenna as a fulcrum, and then back through the passenger's vent window to me in the driver's seat. Once you get used to pulling the string to give it gas, you kinda got the hang of it.
OK, enough of shenanigans and foolishness in my youth. You can sorta sense why I am attached to this car, though. We've been through a lot together.
-Bryan