Longt time Spider lover and owner is happy to be here

stefhahn · Post by **stefhahn** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:11 am

Hi there,

I'm happy that I got into here - many thanks to Mark for his help!

I am the proud owner of a ivory '79 Spider 2000, a nice beast - I did purchase her (she's called "Piccolina", italian for "the small") way back in 1990 and did restore everything (took me until 1997...)... new leather interior (burgundy/black), new paint (after complete body overhaul), all screws replaced with stainless steel, turbo wheels, 132C2000 engine etc. etc. - last year I started to change her look towards a 124 AS by replacing the tube bumpers w/ some old style bumpers, original gauges, grille etc. - if you like I can post some pictures - some more things "need" to come.
I use her as the vacation car - our daily drivers are a BMW 320D Touring and a MCC Smart Convertible - e.g. this year we've been ~1000 miles through Italy (the Piemonte wine and food region) - she runs strong and reliable and I love it love it love it !!!!

So - I'm looking forward to some nice discussions making friends here

ciao,
Stefan

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:53 am

More pictures would be great! It looks like you did a fine job changing it to an AS. Members here will want to know about your bumper conversion.
I hear there's a pretty good Spider following in Germany. Are they easy to come by? Welcome to our forum!

stefhahn · Post by **stefhahn** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 7:48 am

Ok, here some more pictures:

This was the look after restoration before the conversion:

And here some pictures from our journey this year - unluckily my licence plate holder broke off the first day (stupid me broke it off while entering the car park of our first hotel in Switzerland....) - therefore she is not as nice as she could be

I got used bumpers through Ebay (rear) and a fellow spider friend of mine (front) and did restore them. The OEM bumpers sold by many dealers are told to be of weak quality (rust & badish chrome) - and are rather costy if this is right.
Even I had the orginal brackets for the old version, I did not want to drill holes into the body - so I did use brackets from http://www.del-priore.com - they did cost a medium fortune, but they use the original US-spec holes etc. on the body. Maybe I'll convert back one day - who knows?

It's easy to get a hold of a Spider in Germany as many got reimported from the US in the 1990ies - but (there is always a but) - There are just two types of cars around: really good ones - or really bad ones. Good cars are getting rather expensive the last two years.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:26 am

great restoration! The bumpers do look very good on that car

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:59 am

welcome to the forum. and wow! thanks for the pictures

i am confused about the side marker lights. those front ones certainly look old-school and someone did some major body work. Also, i could not see the rear side marker lights. what style is used?

nice looking car, looking forward to conversing with you more.

stefhahn · Post by **stefhahn** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:05 pm

Well, I did convert the front side marker lights to the Euro-Style sidelights as used in the BS - an easy and cheap find. And - yes - the rear side marker lights are gone with the bodywork... italian look

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:24 pm

whew!! contrary to popular opinion, i have NOT lost my mind.

great looking change to the side markers. i love it.