Before starting in with archive-searching and question-asking I'll say hello and introduce myself, and give a little background. My name is David ("Hi, David"), I live in Chicago and I own an '81 Turbo Spider, of which I am more or less the 2nd owner.
Technically I suppose I am the third but that is just a matter of titling. It was originally bought by a good friend of my dad's, and he gave it to us (free for towing) in early 1990. At the time it ran (barely) but needed a new turbo, general mechanical sorting, and a new top. It had no rust and about 17,000 miles. The original idea was that this would be my car to drive when I got my license (I was 15 at the time) but my mom nixed that idea. My dad and I and a Cuban mechanic he knew got it going again, and this became our family fun car, although my dad actually used it as his daily driver for a couple of years so that my sister and I could drive his car in HS. Eventually (2000 or so) my dad lost interest in spending more money and time on the car, and since it had long been de facto mine anyway, he just pronounced it officially mine and gave me the title.
At this point I was in Detroit and the car was in Atlanta, since I didn't have a garaged spot to keep it in. Unfortunately the car had never had a garaged spot to live in, so it kept on living under its cover at my parents' house. When my mom sold our house I had to move it, though I still didn't have a garage for it, but the wife of a fellow FLUID member offered to tow it up ti Detroit for me (she was going to be there on business) and a coworker let me keep it behind his house. The car continued to sit outside, and I felt criminally neglectful of it. Last year, as I was getting ready to move to Chicago, I bit the bullet and paid someone else (I've done all my own car work since college) to get it running again so that I could drive it to Chicago rather than spend the same money to trailer it and still have to get it running. The car had not been driven at all since 2001 or so, so I was thrilled beyond words to drive the car again for the first time in years last September. It spent a few weeks in a friend's garage before I came back and drove it (on my SE-R's plates, erp!) to Chicago, where it now lives cozily in a garage for the first time.
At this point it is obviously no longer rust-free but it is well above the write-it-off level (though it is through in a few spots) and a somewhat rusty spider is just as much fun to drive as a pristine one. The interior is dirty and rather tired-looking but mechanically it's in very good shape and is a joy to drive (in that old-sports-car way) except for an intermittent (but fairly bad) light-throttle stumble/surge when hot.
I am not a car namer generally, but I am sentimental and eventually a name presented itself to me, so I call it "Pechi" and greet it with "Hola, Pechi!" when I open the garage. It is short for "pechichona," (if you really want to know, ask) which is of course meant affectionately.
I cannot envision a scenario in which I would possibly sell this car, as I have a huge emotional attachment to it, especially since my dad died in 2005. My plan for the car is to first tackle the bodywork and fix all the rust, then get the car repainted. After that, or as time/ budget allow, tidy up the interior. Eventually (years) it would be nice to have it looking as immaculate as that blue one in Ohio that I see on this forum. In the meantime I am going to just drive it as-is and take care of a few minor things and maintenance until then.
I am used to doing all my own work (I'm an automotive engineer, I helped build race cars in college, I like working on stuff) and I am also used to knowing my cars very well (I've had my Sentra SE-R since I got it new in 1993 so I know SR20 Nissans really well) but I do not know this car well mechanically at all. Bosch L-jet tuning? Diagnosing driveability issues? All the handy things to know that make maintaining your Fiat so much easier? Doing the hard stuff? It's all pretty new to me, but I look forward to learning. With luck I will not ask overly redundant questions and can contribute something.
Below is me with a SIG on my face on my first drive in the car last year.
David Pertuz
Chicago, IL
apparently due to a rash of karaoke violence in a nearby town.