hello, my name is charles c. aka classiccarsman. i do not currently own a spider, but the time seems to be right to change that. the spider has been a favorite of mine since the early 80s. for various reasons i never got one. my concern now is the availability of parts and adequate servicing is this area. looking to resolve these concerns in this forum.
classiccarsman
new member Santa Maria, CA
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mbouse
Re: new member Santa Maria, CA
no offense, but any one that is thinking of buying a 30+ year old car, and not doing any of the work is either rich or foolish, or both. what kind of service concerns you? What are you willing to do, willing to learn? what will you not be able to do?
Wear items and normal maintenance parts are still readily available for most all Spiders. Trim parts, and interior items are starting to slowly disappear, especially with the older models. these items mostly are found either with the catalogue vendors or on forums such as these in swapping with other Spider owners.
Wear items and normal maintenance parts are still readily available for most all Spiders. Trim parts, and interior items are starting to slowly disappear, especially with the older models. these items mostly are found either with the catalogue vendors or on forums such as these in swapping with other Spider owners.
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Pick
Re: new member Santa Maria, CA
Welcome aboard from another newbie.
As far as parts go, availability is currently good for commonly needed parts such as driveline, suspension, engine and interior. Common consumables such as brake, clutch, belts, tune-up and other maintenance bits are readily available and very affordable. Harder to find trim, body or glass parts are usually available as a good used part from someone in this or other forums. There seems to be a great 'family' or cooperative effort in keeping these fun cars up and running.
One thing that has impressed me is that many of the owners drive their cars very regularly, even in foul weather that keeps owners of other (<cough>LBC<cough>) cars hiding indoors. A co worker of mine has driven his 124s as his daily commuter car in the Washington DC area year round (until a KILLER deal put him into a pristine early Miata). While there are some pristine 'garage queens' (very few from what I hear) most are driven, worked on and played with on a regular basis.
As far as service goes, others will be able to respond more knowledgably. Being a former professional(?) mechanic in another life, I do my own work with the exception of machining. My 1978 is a rolling work in progress supported by new parts from Vicks, IAP, Bruces, Midwest and other vendors along with a shed and garage full of parts from a rotted out low mileage 78.
Get the cleanest 124 that you can afford, some reproduced manuals, a reasonable set of metric tools, ask questions on the forum, find a local/regional club if there is one and get out and drive, wrench & enjoy...or at least drive & enjoy!
As far as parts go, availability is currently good for commonly needed parts such as driveline, suspension, engine and interior. Common consumables such as brake, clutch, belts, tune-up and other maintenance bits are readily available and very affordable. Harder to find trim, body or glass parts are usually available as a good used part from someone in this or other forums. There seems to be a great 'family' or cooperative effort in keeping these fun cars up and running.
One thing that has impressed me is that many of the owners drive their cars very regularly, even in foul weather that keeps owners of other (<cough>LBC<cough>) cars hiding indoors. A co worker of mine has driven his 124s as his daily commuter car in the Washington DC area year round (until a KILLER deal put him into a pristine early Miata). While there are some pristine 'garage queens' (very few from what I hear) most are driven, worked on and played with on a regular basis.
As far as service goes, others will be able to respond more knowledgably. Being a former professional(?) mechanic in another life, I do my own work with the exception of machining. My 1978 is a rolling work in progress supported by new parts from Vicks, IAP, Bruces, Midwest and other vendors along with a shed and garage full of parts from a rotted out low mileage 78.
Get the cleanest 124 that you can afford, some reproduced manuals, a reasonable set of metric tools, ask questions on the forum, find a local/regional club if there is one and get out and drive, wrench & enjoy...or at least drive & enjoy!
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rlux4
- Patron 2022
- Posts: 4211
- Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 8:32 pm
- Your car is a: 1982 2000 Spider
- Location: Granite Falls, Wa
Re: new member Santa Maria, CA
Welcome to the forum. I'm betting you know which end of a box/open end wrench is the box. Part of the joy of owning one of these fun and affordable "classics" is the time spent working on them. Even though I grew up working on cars, everything up to and including engine rebuilds, there are plenty of times I have to come to the gang on FiatSpider.com and get help. There is always plenty of knowledgeable and friendly help forthcoming. The forum is so busy that a lot of times you get your answer in minutes! Good luck finding the perfect car to scratch your itch. Ron