Future Florida Fiat Owner?

[71FloridaSport]

Hello, everyone. I had no plan on becoming a vintage Spider owner, but I stumbled onto an ad for a 1971 model recently and am considering it, and am looking for advice. I am in NO WAY mechanically inclined, and am wondering if buying it would be getting in over my head. I owned a 71 Triumph GT-6 back when I was a teenager and somehow survived. More recently, I had a 91 VW Vanagon which I also survived -- mostly through the kindness of fellow VW owners and VW friends. I can assure you VWs and Triumphs aren't exactly known for their reliability.

I haven't looked at the car yet, but it looks good in the pictures (don't they all?) and the price seems beyond fair. For the most part I would have to depend on local garages to keep it running, though none of them are Fiat specialists. Is that asking too much? I pamper my cars and won't be using it for daily transportation (obviously).

Anyway, any thoughts/advice is appreciated, as are your opinions on 50 year old Fiats in general. Thanks in advance!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

You know, it's funny, but I have had friends with spiders that used them as daily drivers and had almost no problems, and I have had other friends whose spiders were just a money pit and source of frustration. I never have figured out why some spiders end up in one category and some in another, but I think two things contribute:

1. Whether the car was well maintained originally. Back when Fiat spiders reached the top of their popularity, they were cheap yet fun sports cars, but many owners just drove them into the ground as they never expected to keep them for decades. So, there was a lot of deferred maintenance. Not all spiders of course, but many. I mean, if you bought a Mercedes or the like, you expected to maintain it. If you bought a Fiat spider on the other hand, you expected to have fun with it and then move on to something else when it stopped running.

2. Previous owner hack jobs. A source of frustration for many buyers, but a large number of of Fiats with issues were simply due to the fact that the previous owner attempted repairs on their own, but without knowledge (and possibly also $$$). So, repairs were done on the cheap, maybe got the car working, but caused issues later down the line. There were some garages that were guilty of this as well. Just did enough to get the car running again but never really fixed the issue.

Anyway, I realize I haven't answered your question. If the '71 you're looking at didn't suffer from one of the two issues above, it might be a fun sports car with little issues. That being said, I would expect to put some money into it initially to replace the timing belt, do a brake job, and replace all the rubber coolant hoses and fuel lines. Any decent shop should be able to do a competent job on those. But, and this is a big "but", many shops these days have workers who were trained on cars driven through computers, with parts that you simply replace on a set schedule. Your Fiat will require an "old school" mechanic who knows the nuances of 50 year old cars.

-Bryan

[71FloridaSport]

Thanks a lot Bryan. Just the sort of impressions and info I was looking for. I'll talk to my new mechanic (we just moved) and see how deep his "bench" goes re his employees.

[jskinner96]

where are you in Florida? I'm in the panhandle and have been restoring my first spider for the past 18 months or so. Could have never accomplished it if it weren't for the all the help from the nice folks on this forum.

[BEEK]

I am in central florida. Would like to know where you are located as well