Hello all from Savannah, GA.

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:12 am

Hi guys and gals, I'm new to the board, hailing from Savannah.... I know another guy from Georgia... guess we have plenty of Fiat Spiders here in this state.

Well I bought this 1980 124 Spider last month for my son, just this Oct. turned 16 years old, he is one lucky kid, anyway the car came from Arizona and it's completely rust free, it's the carb model so it'll be fun for him to work on.

I've completely removed all the interior down to the bare floor pan and redone all the upholstery (it was red, now biege/sand), redone the console, radio console, and working on the dash (all recovered and stitched in leather), will redo all the wood with cherry veneer/cherry shift knob, cherry armrest, etc., recovered the map pockets, and sunvisors in the same biege material, etc.

I've ordered all the drive train components to replace any worn u-joints, guibo, and bearings, and drained all old fluids and introduced the best there is into the engine/transmission, etc.

The car's body is very nice but could use a custom paint job to remove any ripples on the quarter panels, but I consider this more a cosmetic defect and I'll get those done later, the car has the original 14 inch Cromadora Iron Cross alloy wheels but need to be restored to it's original sheen.

Alot of work but well worth it for my son and later on get another for me as I've now got the Spider fever!

I've been reading all the posts and get to this board everyday to see what's new... I'll be posting before and after pics of the car when we're done with the car.

I'm an aerospace engineer working for Sikorsky Helicoptors in Jupiter, Florida but live in Savannah so I travel alot.

Glad to be onboard with alot of similar people doing good things for this excellent Fiat model.

Nick

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:41 am

Welcome! Your son sure is lucky to have such a sweet car! Actually, I've often thought it would have been smarter for my mom to make me drive a two seater when I was a teen. It keeps your passenger count down, which can be a very good thing at that age! Also, be comforted in knowing there is essentially no back seat (if ya know what I mean

). He will be a chick magnet in this sweet ride, though,

Make sure to make a road trip (or two) in it with him.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:25 am

welcome! I'm sure we'd all like to see pix of the dash as well as the rest of the car

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:13 pm

welcome. glad to hear that you aren't selfish with the new phat ride.

i mistakenly was when I first obtained my first Fiat. wish i could go back and re-do that decision.

you go DAD!

please post some pictures as soon as you can.

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:03 pm

Danno wrote:Welcome! Your son sure is lucky to have such a sweet car! Actually, I've often thought it would have been smarter for my mom to make me drive a two seater when I was a teen. It keeps your passenger count down, which can be a very good thing at that age! Also, be comforted in knowing there is essentially no back seat (if ya know what I mean ). He will be a chick magnet in this sweet ride, though,

Make sure to make a road trip (or two) in it with him.

Yes.. that was the original idea, to keep the 'kid count' down by only having himself and hopefully the chicks.

We've driven the car for sometime when we first picked up the car, but surely after all the restoration it'll be due for several trips definately!

I had one during my younger years and it got totalled, so I spent some time contemplating getting one for my son, my daughter didn't want one when I suggested it to her (she got a Mazda 3) and NOW she wants one!

This will be one fun project... and I applaud all those that tackled the upholstery and dash as it's pain but worth it when you see the results.

Thanks.

Nick

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:05 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:welcome! I'm sure we'd all like to see pix of the dash as well as the rest of the car

Soon....

Thanks,

Nick

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 4:13 pm

mbouse wrote:welcome. glad to hear that you aren't selfish with the new phat ride.

i mistakenly was when I first obtained my first Fiat. wish i could go back and re-do that decision.

you go DAD!

please post some pictures as soon as you can.

Thanks, although my wife thinks all the work is somehow related to me keeping the car, I can't and I believe it's time for the kid to grow wings and see the world as I had back in my college years when I was lucky to own one.

Problem will be when his friends see him in a fully restored show quality car, although most are driving BMW's, Accords, Mustangs, etc.

Gotta tell ya, even with the new cars mentioned above... people just stop and gawk at the Fiat when we drove it almost as if they were witnessing a Ferrari driving by, it's a great feeling that can't be had by new cars today.

What does everyone suggest for insurance as I was looking at Haggerty's?

Thanks,

Nick

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:30 am

I just changed the insurance on both my Spiders to Hagarty and it fits my needs but it's not for a daily driver. When I called, they were pleasant and very helpful, and I couldn't believe the money I saved over conventional insurance. One thing that pleased me was the amount they were willing to insure my restored Fiat for. They guy asked how much I had in the car and what I thought it was worth and didn't even flinch when I told him. Other insurance companies would have required an appraisal and documentation.

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:33 am

mdrburchette wrote:I just changed the insurance on both my Spiders to Hagarty and it fits my needs but it's not for a daily driver. Other insurance companies would have required an appraisal and documentation.

I have the car insured now but only liability while I work on the car, but when finished with the restorations I'd like either an appraisal or to insure it for what I think it would take to replace it for the worth of the car plus my time spent on it... can't forget that!

Thanks,

Nick

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:56 pm

FWIW I got a Progressive quote for liability at my states minimum requirements and it was $164 (per 6mo). That's pretty decent I'd say.

I went with my state farm for coverage though, because i get a multicar discount through them and it bumped down the rates of my other two vehicles, so was cheaper all together.

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:32 pm

My Hagarty insurance is liability/comp/collision with their best tow/roadside assistance coverage which includes 150 mile tow for any of my vehicles, even the ones covered by another insurance company. For both my Fiats the price for this was $315 a year cheaper than my inurance with Farm Bureau and I didn't have collision then.
They insure cars that are being restored, whether they are driveable or not. You should call them and see what they have to offer. I still can't believe insurance can be so inexpensive for all the coverage they offer.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:12 pm

the value of any insurance is how they respond to claims. Hagerty is well known, so I would expect that they handle claims fairly, but it would be interesting to hear from someone that filed a claim

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:44 am

It might be worthwhile to move this subject to it's own thread since we've now high-jacked the introduction. But, here is another option;
http://www.grundy.com, or 800-338-4005

radiopilot · Post by **radiopilot** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:27 am

Thanks all, I have Progressive on all my cars but they suggested getting 'antique' car insurance since I have a max of 4 cars insured and they have an insurance rider on the spider now, so I need the Haggety or Grundy to insure the full value of the car.

Car is looking great and awaiting the carpets and sound deadener (Dynamax) before I take some pictures.

In the mean time you can see the car as I bought it at the dealer.

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/car ... 82746.html

Was it a good buy? I think is was (no rust), everything else was a piece of cake... by the way the red interior parts I removed will either be sold or added to the parts for sale on this forum or Ebay.

Nick

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:14 am

Wow, what did you do with all the red interior? It seemed to be in pretty darn good shape. I'm surprised you replaced it. I personally don't like the red, but at least it was in good condition! If you have the same color I do right now then I like that the best. Better than black....

When you ran through all the work you were doing to it I thought it must be in awful shape. Have you seen pictures of my car? THAT'S a car that needs your hard work, lol....

Still looking forward to the pictures of the finished project!

edit: didn't read your whole post, you told us what you did with the red stuff!!!