My rarely seen vintage

[g60racer]

1973 Fiat 124 Spider 1600S, 21k original miles. My dad was the original owner... I inherited it after he was killed in the line of duty, ten years ago. She has some running board rust going from its two years spent in Hawaii, but still runs very nicely.

http://www.hostdub.com/albums/g60racer/dad_sbday2.jpg

http://www.hostdub.com/albums/g60racer/dad_s_bday1.jpg

[ManaSteel]

cool! any plans to restore it more?

[Tom (aka Godzilla)]

I love the old skool Euro two seaters.

TJ: Care to share what happened to your dad?

[g60racer]

Yes, I do plan to do restoration work on it... starting with the floorpans, they need to be cut out and have new ones welded in. Then I have to repair the driver's seat (the adjusting gear is stripped). Then a new top, freshen up the suspension (new OEM shocks/springs/bushings/motormounts) and after that I'll work on reconditioning some little stuff, like rechroming the air cleaner box.

My dad was a two star Navy admiral, in command of the Carl Vinson battle group. He wasn't a pilot by profession, he was a tin can driver his whole career, so when he took over a carrier group he had to learn all the air group's jobs. He was on a checkout flight in an F/A-18D over New Mexico, when the pilot decided to play "scare the admiral" in the jet, lost control, and crashed into a mountain, killing them both. That was may 18, 1995. He was the first admiral to die in the line of duty since WWII.

[stevehayes01]

Sorry about your father.

The Fiat is not a powerful car but they are a blast to drive!! My brother had an X/19 Berrtone and my buddy had a 124 Spyder 1800 so I got to drive those alot growing up. Nice to see some old school roadsters out there that are out of the norm!

[g60racer]

Definitely not fast. But it is a very fun car to cruise in.

The 1800 and 2000cc motors that came in the X/19 and later Spiders had a lot more pep to them, compared to the 1604 in mine. It puts down 67whp on the dynojet :) I'm sure if I wanted to go crazy, I could build the motor up with all the typical stuff (wilder cams, ported head w/ big valves, dual weber sidedrafts, higher compression ratio) but I just don't feel the need to go fast in this car.

[deWolff]

Definitely fun car i have had two both 1800's .While your checking things out underneath i recommend checking the front cross member at its attachment points as they have a tendency to get tired and if it lets go the coil spring will cause the suspension to rupture and the drive train to become out of align with disasterous results to the trans radiator and possibly the driver if it happens at a critical time i could have been killed in mine without some quick thinking.

[g60racer]

I actually had that happen to my 1975 Fiat 126 Spider 1800. I was so pissed off at it for nearly killing me that I pulled an Office Space copier on it... took a baseball bat to the car (after stripping it for useful parts) and then sold what was left to Ecology for $50.

[deWolff]

Still pisses me off it was a clean car red alloys nice tan interior= junk. Needed a trans radiator and under carriage work to fix.

[g60racer]

That would be very frustrating.