I'm in Ohio -not many Spiders still on the road here at all, let alone rust-free. My car spent it's life in northern Ohio and was never a daily driver, so accumulated few miles. It's very original, no rust, the roof was replaced the first year under warranty but literally looks brand new. Original interior including carpet and padding, seats are perfect, no dash cracks. Came with a binder full of receipts documenting an actual 23,000 miles since new. PO drove it a bit in summers and otherwise stored it away...never seen salt, etc. He was very good at getting maintenance done and clearly loved the car. Truth be told, it was a much better car than I had expected to find. It was priced accordingly, but I think we settled on a fair deal for both of us. Still more than I had planned to spend originally, but as they say, when it comes to old cars, buy the best you can afford to get the cheapest overall cost of ownership.
As a potential investment (okay, not investment, but at least not a pure expense) it has good and bad aspects. Low miles, one owner and very well maintained but not a very good year. 79 performance is the worst (at least it's a 49 state car), and was a high-production year. It seems that 71's-74's are the sweet spot if you're market conscious. In the end I decided on this car because it has such potential. I won't do anything that is not reversible by a future owner, but intakes and carbs apparently make a huge difference - more on this later.
Here it is in it's new home
And that beautiful interior...
, Sumitomo no longer offers them. But it seems apparently that the molds were sold to General. GREAT Tires! They hold like rubber glue to the pavement, and give a pretty good ride at about 29 or 30 psi.
