Greetings from Ann Arbor

[DesmoDog]

Well not exactly Ann Arbor but close.

So, an intro... ok, Hi, I'm Craig. As you might have figured out from my username, I am a fan of a certain brand of Italian motorcycles. I'm coming off of a 30 year infatuation with them and looking at getting back into cars. At 16 years old my first car was a 1972 Triumph Spitfire. At 17 I bought a 1973 Jensen Healey which came to me as a low mile car but in boxes - the original owner had drained the oil before it got repo'd. The bank got it with a spun bearing. I bought it from a friend with all the machine work done and most of the parts bought, he had developed a severe lust for a Lotus Esprit. I kept the Jensen for quite a few years, driving it through college and into my bike phase. It mainly sat the last few years and any money I finally got from it went directly towards something bike related I'm sure.

Through the bike years I had a 1960 Karmann Ghia cabriolet that I inherited from my dad. I spent a lot of time and money trying to turn that into a Porsche. I also had a '66 Mustang convertible for a few years but that was the car that convinced me I had too many projects. I sold that, then the Ghia, and was all bikes all the time.

Now I'm prepping for retirement at the end of this month. I've been selling off even more stuff and now I find myself with space and money.

Which brings me to Fiats. With my huge infatuation with Italian motorcycles I find it hard to believe I've never owned an Italian car. I'm drawn to the 124 for a few reasons, not the least of which is it's one of the few cars I'm considering that has a rear "seat"... which means I (we) can take my border collie with me (us). When I was in school I had this burning desire to build up an X1/9 with flares and spoilers and an '80s paint scheme of neon rose (yeah... a bright darkish pink if we're being honest) and white... but I've grown some since then. And my wife would hate it. Then again if she hated it I'd have room for Ollie (the dog) so there's that. Hmm...

I'm still pretty new to Fiats so haven't decided specifically what I want yet. Part of me wants to search out an early car, but I'll probably end up establising my budget and then just finding the best car I can. I've sworn off major projects these days but am not against something that needs some work.

The weather was beautiful today so I went to a drive in for lunch. I ended up next a mint condition 124 Turbo. While waiting for my food I checked my email to find my account had been activated here. I figure that must be a sign to get serious about the search, right?

And that's a rambling intro... I'll probably just lurk mosty until I figure things out, but thanks for having me!

-Craig

[aj81spider]

Welcome! I think you'll love the Spider, and I think the "I'll determine my budget and buy the best one I can find" is the right strategy.

[TheBender]

Welcome to the group. I’ll vouch for the back seat use. Setting the budget and then choosing the best option is good. Lots of them are always popping up so take your time and you’ll find the right one.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Welcome Craig, and I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for if you give it some time. Meanwhile, there's plenty of experience on this forum to help guide you through the decision if that helps.

I tend to prefer the earlier spiders, like '69 through '73 or so, and while it's more of a feeling than anything based on actual data, the early cars to me had more of a "hand built" feel to them than the later ones which seemed more of a "production environment" feel. Others may of course disagree, and a case can certainly be made for the fuel injection versions being smoother and more refined.

I would shy away from the last years of the carburetor versions, like 1979 and early 1980 depending on which state the car came from. Reason being that the emissions stuff got so over-the-top that the cars were pretty low performing despite being bigger engines. Fuel injection solved a lot of that, though.

-Bryan