Owner Thread: 1982 Spider 2000 - Nero

[aevansgatech]

Hey guys,

The welcome pages are always nice, but I saw this idea on other forums and love the way it works. I peruse some of the forums with mainly "new" FIATs 500s/Abarth and the owner threads are always a hit! With that, I'll introduce the 1982 Spider 2000 shown here:
https://flic.kr/p/XwB9uh

There's a backstory to this beautiful Spider and it was a bittersweet moment when it showed up on my doorstep just 2 weeks ago. See, roughly 5 years ago, fresh out of a Masters program, I got hired on to my first full-time job. It was amazing! I was designing the mechanical parts of Blackberry phones (keypads, buttons, housings, displays, etc) at the Fort Lauderdale office. The car of choice? A brand new 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth! Grigio, manual, what a joy!

Well times changed quickly, I moved to Detroit area Michigan to work in the Automotive industry as I always dreamed, and there the opportunity arose to take the Abarth to Fiat Freakout Chicago 2015. Being that it's halfway between Detroit (me) and Minneapolis (parents/hometown), we all met up at the Freakout. It was there that my dad got bitten by the proverbial Spider...

Less than a year later, he took his car in for service and went to check out the FIATs next store. It just so happened that the original owner of this Black-haired beauty was pulling her into the shop. It was time to trade it in. Original owner had put a little over 30,000 miles on it in 33 years. It was time to let it go and that fateful trip to the Lexus dealership turned into much more. My dad inquired, had them tidy up a couple maintenance items, and we were off! Proud family owners of the 82.

Now in the meantime, I too was bitten by the bug. THe opportunity arose for me to get a '79 essentially for free (paid shipping from MN). well I fixed her up, enjoyed that car immensely, but then sold it to trade up for my '84 Pininfarina. Boy do I love that car. The plan was there all along, we were to enjoy our family Spiders for the years to come. The next great trip came in 2016. FIAT Freakout, hosted by my local Detroit chapter, was the perfect opportunity. Dad drove his car from Minneapolis, across the Lake Michigan car ferry, and straight on into Michigan. We had the time of our lives cruising around in not 1, not 2, but 3 total FIATs at the Freakout!! Dad had a blast.

Fast forward to this year, and time has simply flown by. After the Freakout, as the Christmas holidays came, we got the news. Dad, who was the epitome of health for 57 years, had cancer. All the healthy eating, marathon running, and general good health was a mirage. It's still hard to believe it can happen so quickly. Here we stand in 2017, and it was the only battle he didn't conquer in his wonderful 57 years. We always shared an appreciation of cars and I had hoped, in 30-40 years, that I would sell my 1984 and get dad's 82. It's the one to keep, forever.

As she rolled into my driveway, just 2 weeks ago, I'm proud to say I'm the owner of this 1982, low mileage, wonderful Spider. But to me, it will always be Dad's.

[RRoller123]

What a wonderful story, truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing that.

[azruss]

tough to lose a parent, especially at such a young age. Having his spider is a special thing. I went the extra mile in restoring mine knowing one of my grandkids will end up with it.

[aevansgatech]

Thanks guys, to top it off, we're expecting child #1, and would've been his grandchild #1 in the next week or so. It's been an incredibly tough year and being able to cruise around in the Spider makes it just a little bit better.

His grandson will learn to appreciate the classics starting with the '82!

[aevansgatech]

On another topic, I have a great product recommendation!

I had heard about exterior "sealants" before, but never tried one. I picked up a bottle of Griot's One Step Sealant (~$17 at Autozone) to try on the flat black Spider. Needless to say, it's a bit on the high priced end of wax/exterior products but wow I am amazed at the result!

It goes on like a basic wax paste, just swirl on with a pad and let dry to a haze. THen it wipes off with a microfiber as easily as any wax. The panels really look like glass and I'm hoping the harder "sealant" finish will last longer.

[aevansgatech]

So today was the annual Bosch Associate Car Show here at work.. Always lots of fun rides to admire. I brought dad's Spider and got quite a few nice comments on it.

To top it off, the owner of my old '79 also brought his car into work so I got a much needed side-by-side.
https://flic.kr/p/Xr8HAS
https://flic.kr/p/Y3diKa

There were just 5 categories and the winners were:
Best Car (pre-1975): 1956 Chevy Bel Air
Best Car (post-1975): 2016 Ferrari 458
Most Unique Car: 1961 Austin Station Wagon
Most Unique motorized device: 1935 Evinrude 1.5hp Outboard
Best motorcycle: a 70s Harley I didn't catch much info on


Needless to say, our Spiders are stuck in between the age groups. It's not old enough to wow people with sheer age like a 50s or 60s car and it's not a fair comparison to a brand new Ferrari! Either way I had fun and will be back next year.

[aevansgatech]

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.. Mine was spent chasing down one of those proverbial electrical demons


There are many posts regarding what can go wrong with the hazard switch, and it's no wonder when you route nearly the whole car's electrical system through that little guy! My particular situation was that the hazard lights worked, but when I used a turn signal (either one) it would activate the hazards as well. I even got the red light

I took the switch apart to see if it was just a matter of the "sliding pin" being mis-aligned or something else obvious. I spent a couple hours taking it apart, putting it back together, taking it apart, you get the drill. Whenever I wired it up with the plastic shield off, BINGO!, turn signals worked. THen when I would put that plastic cover on, which holds the hazard button in place, there they went. NO MORE TURN SIGNALS FOR YOU!!

I finally narrowed it down to a single contact within the switch which would make contact when I held it together, but would lose contact once it was all compressed together. I tried many times to get the pin bent just right so it would always contact. Hey, it only took 12 times

It's the little things, and for some reason the electrical things, that are the most painful but the most rewarding once they work again.

[aevansgatech]

Brief spring update from Southwest Michigan. We've had our usual rollercoaster Spring weather (i.e. 70F yesterday and expecting an ice storm this weekend...)

I took the opportunity to go for a first Spring drive and validate my winter's work. This winter saw 4 new shocks go in, front brake calipers rebuilt, front pads/rotors replaced, and front wheel bearings replaced. This car runs like a champ and the suspension noise I was hearing last Fall is completely gone! My theory is that the inner and outer sleeves of the front shocks were rubbing together and making the awful, intermittent squeak.

Happy motoring folks, it's just the beginning of the season