UPDATE
I had my shop take a look at the Fiat. Basically, the entire braking system needed to be replaced. If there was a part that had anything to do with stopping the car, it was bad in one way or another. My family has been using this shop for years so I trusted them on this. They said, among other things, the master cylinder was leaking, the lines were leaking and frayed, the calipers were frozen, etc... Given the scale of the work necessary I told them to go ahead and get it done rather than attempt it myself.
So I am picking the car up this weekend and driving it down to LA. I should hopefully have some new photos online soon!
And now I've got about 30 days to deal with the smog issue but luckily I know a guy who will hopefully be able to help me out with that.
