Ciao! from CA central coast

[hdhracerx]

Howdy,

Just purchased a somewhat tired '73 that's been languishing the last two years while the owner has been away at school. Seems straight, rust free and complete where it sat, and the price was right, so i bought it. It starts, but won't keep running yet, has a flat tire and the brakes don't work, so we'll get it home sometime in the next week and start in on it. I have my plan and budget lined out and have begun to collect some necessary updates: SS brake lines, a cover, and some other bits are already on order.

I'm eager to turn it into my daily driver and weekend track day car. I recently attended a day at Thunder Hill with some friends and it was a gas.

I'm funding the work partially from the sale of my beloved Ducati 749 and an Alfetta GT I'd been holding onto for years. I'm hoping that my daughter, who is 4 now, will enjoy some top down driving up on the twisties with me too.

When I was a boy, my dad drove a similar vintage fiat 128 for a few years and I remember how fun that was to ride in and how different it sounded than the other cars. With a header and twin tips, they just sound great.

The earlier spiders with the thin bumpers - or none, just look tough to me - especially the abarth cars. Since I'm a bit of a hot rod guy (current dd is a 54 chevy pickup), I was stoked to see a car on here with some proper era flares and daisys that looked great too. Seems like this classic Pininfarina shape offers alot of modification flexibility and still looks good.

I'll post some "before" info soon, and will be looking forward to learning and participating here.

Guido veloce!

[baltobernie]

Hello and Welcome! You're certainly in a great driving location. Another member in SLO will probably chime in here, too.

Like your dad, I too had a 128 sedan when new, but a retired guy has to have a roadster, right?

Looking forward to your pix, and Buon Giorno from another early Spider named Gina. What are you going to name yours?

[SLOSpider]

Welcome! Where on th coast are you? Im in Grover Beach so if you need a hand with anything let me know. I am currently getting my 75 road worthy after owning it for 2 months and drove it 10 miles so far. Got some more packages on the way so maybe next weekend she can try out a trip up HWY 1. Brian

[hdhracerx]

Gina, hmmm, I have had only one named car - "Lily".

perhaps I'll christen it "Polski" or Poskiti if my daughter prefers that! Poland was the only round of the 73 WRC Fiat won. Summer tarmac/gravel rally. yeeha!

hdh

[baltobernie]

That might be appropriate, since many parts for our cars are now available new form Poland, including engines and transmissions. Red and white would be a neat color combination, too. Interestingly, men seem to give their cars feminine names, and women masculine ones.

One caveat: Sometime in the last 37 years, your car may have had some organ transplants. These entry-level roadsters were never intended to be collector cars, so matching serial numbers, etc. are unimportant. Many items were interchangeable over the entire 19-year production run of the car. So when sourcing engine parts, for example, check the serial number of the block before ordering. Detailed photos are a help to vendors and forum members alike.

[hdhracerx]

Title transfer to me and 2010 registration completed today. It's in my name and insured now. Time to bring it home. Hope to have time this weekend, but if not, will be here soon enough.

[hdhracerx]

Hey, this is fun to drive!

I got it running well, cleaned a few electrical connections, checked the lug nuts and took in out on one for a "tune up" run to the car wash.

Power washed out the engine compartment, wheel wells, and underneath the front and back.

Sounds great, seems to run well and it's pretty comfy to drive so far. The family gets back today so we'll see what my daughter things when we cruise around the hood with the top down!?

Now I need to learn how to post photos and WTB ads in the classifieds!

[rlux4]

Hey, congratulations!
Welcome to the forum, good to have you aboard.
Ron

[SLOSpider]

What city are you in?