S. Jersey 1980 Fiat

[Eastlight]

New Fiat owner living in the town of Mt. Ephraim, NJ, near Haddonfield.
Recently bought a well-kept 1980 Spider, pre fuel injection and it is far from pure stock, which is okay with me. Love the car.
There are a few small bugs, for example I found the heater will not shut off. There is an air conditioning compressor but doesn't work with the heat on all the time (obviously, and I'd rather have heat on than not working at all).
It has an over-sized Webber carb. (1800cfm I think) w/sport air cleaner but stock intake manifold; over size wheels w/mags; competition headers and exhaust (as far as I can tell).
Been a long time since I worked on a car, since the days I built a '57 Chevy Belair, 2-door hardtop, 350 small block, 300 horse, Muncie 4-speed, etc., etc. I've forgotton a lot about mechanics and I am happy finding this web site with so many avid Fiat owners.

[lanciahf]

Hi Eastlight,

Welcome to the forum. We have a an active club near you, check out http://www.njfiats.org. We have a breakfast comining up on Sunday September 19. Hope yo can make it.

Ralph

[NJFIAT1981]

Hi Easylight,
Another 609 er. Welcome to he forum. We have a local club here in New Jersey and a couple of our members live near you so there is help available if you want it. We cave a breakfast coming up and a couple of events in Oct. Chowder fest at LBI. We breakfast at Mastoris on Rt 130 in Bordentown, NJ. Hope you can make it and look foward to meeting you. George

[azygoustoyou]

Hi Eastlight,
Welcome to the Forum! I'm about 25 min. from you in Franklinville. There is another member in W. Deptford. We do have a breakfast coming up. It would be cool if you could make it. You would be able to meet a lot of our members then. I would like to check your car out. Maybe we could get together. I'm just getting my car off the rotisserie today and onto a painting cart. Look at the post "More Progress" to see my car. Show us some pic's when you get a chance.

[Eastlight]

Thank you all for your kind replies. I look forward to meeting the members in my area and I will try to make it to the Sept. 19th breakfast. BTW I am 856 not 609 but it's close enough.

Went to the njfiats.org web site, did not find any criteria for joining. Did not see a time listed for the breakfast.
My house was built in 1940 and the garage was a small Harley Davidson repair shop back then. I have a grease pit built into one bay of my garage. I would be glad to make it available in the future.

Visited a fiat parts warehouse in Sewell, off Delsea Drive. Nice owner who runs a web-based parts business. I am sure you all have heard of it before.

I would post some photos but don't know how to add them to the forum message.

Rod

[lanciahf]

Breakfast is at 8:30 am, website has been updated.

The club so far is free to join, this is our first year and we are still ironing out the formalities.

If you want to email me the pictures I'll post them to the forum. Send pics to members@njfiats.org

[lanciahf]

Below is a picture of Rod's Car

[azygoustoyou]

Nice looking car!

[2ndwind]

Nice ride Rod. You Jersey boys (and girls) are fortunate to have a growing club.

[Eastlight]

Thanks for the compliments on the car. I feel lucky to have found it. Mostly all I've done is replace the interior mirror (the original day/night feature didn't work and it vibrated, making it look like there were several cars behind me), tighened various bolts and bought a car cover.
Remembered what washing and waxing a car was like since haven't done that for 10 years.

I am looking forward to meeting and communicating with people who are as enthusiastic about Fiats as I am.

[NJFIAT1981]

Hey Eastlight,
You started a trend. 850 owner from Brick just joined the site. Sounds like we have a membership drive for NJFIATS.ORG. We have very stringent requirements. You must have a sense of humor, you have to own a Fiat or want to own a Fiat.
If you are coming to breakfast let me know and you can go over with us. We will meet at a central location. Maybe the WAWA on 537 by Great Adventure off of 195. You will get to check out everyone's cars and probably get lots of usefull info. Hope you can make it. George

PS What's your first name?

[Eastlight]

Hi George and all who posted messages,

I am generally called "Rod", short for Rodman but mostly, only my immediate family uses my full first name but whatever you choose is okay with me (limiting any additional swear words).
Great! glad more folks are joining. Had to look up the 850 and I do not ever recall seeing one on the street in the U.S. It looks like a cool car, especially with a rear mounted engine.

Great Adventure (Jackson, NJ) is 50 miles from me and Bordentown (Mastoris Diner) is 30 miles. It would be easier for me to meet you all at the diner.
I think you will find my sense of humor a bit obscure and the more serious the situation, the more my humor seems to manifest itself. I heard it once said, "We put the 'fun' in funeral" and that seems to fit.

When I first bought my car I found a "Bayless, Inc." parts catalog in the glove box and discovered Bayless has long since merged with another company. It contains a 1995 "no charge" invoice for shipping the catalog and is addressed to a woman at a mortgage company in Lake Oswego, Oregon. It begs the question, "How did it get in the car?" I am wondering if the car originated in Oregon. No matter, it is a NJ car now.

Rod

[NJFIAT1981]

Hey Rod,
How's things going with the Spider? Are you coming to the bridge tour next week? If you are I'll bring your grill trim. George

[Eastlight]

Hi George,

Unless something unexpected occurs, I am planning on attending the bridge tour. Thank you for remembering the trim.

My logo disc popped off my shifter knob yesterday. I guess a little epoxy will fix that. Otherwise, the Spider is preforming beautifully.

Checked the price of Classic Car insurance the other day, certainly cheap enough for full coverage, placing the Spider replacement value at $8,000. Because of the driving restrictions, I will have to think about changing to CC insurance.

Personally, I think Fiat owners should start keeping what they paid for their cars more confidential (except to other Fiat owners) and assess the public market value of our antiques at, at least, double what we actually paid for them. In other words, non-owners do not need to know how much we actually paid for our Fiats. Just my thoughts.

I have no problem receiving emails at my personal address.

Rod

[NJFIAT1981]

I'll put the trim in the car right now. See you Sunday. Instead of stopping for lunch Scott Wilson is hosting a picnic at his house. You are invited. Call Ralph for directions or you can get a map at NJFIATS.ORG . See you there., George