The above is not entirely accurate. The CS2 became the CSO when the new 17 digit VIN codes came into effect. For the purposes of identifying a time period, though, I will refer to all cars that are "Fiat Spider 2000s" as CS2s.
1979 saw real changes in the spider, which was no longer referred to as a '124' model but as the Spider 2000. The obvious change was the 1995cc engine, which generated more torque to suit American driving tastes. The large hood bulges debuted, along with larger taillamps, new seat design, available leather seats and metallic paint, flush Alfa-Romeo type door handles and a different style differential (which was sadly not an improvement).
Alloy wheels were also available as an option once again. There were numerous other details that were changed, everything from the trunk lock location to the crankshaft pulley. Some were improvements (catalytic converter replacing smog pump, non-interference engine at last) while others were not (new seats had weak frames, crank pulley difficult to remove for timing belt replacement). Fiat Motors North America changed their marketing strategy and became more aggressive, and the rest of the Fiat line (X1/9, 131/Brava) was upgraded as well. In addition, the type 138 Strada made it's debut (called the Ritmo in other markets) in a very volatile import market. The Spider was soldiering on, now less as a sports car and more as a mid-life crisis antidote in marketing perception. The car was still capable, though the 1979-1980 models suffer from a terrible carbeurator/intake manifold design. For the first time ever, an automatic transmission was offered (actually made by GM).
Partway through 1980, Fiat finally gave up on carbs and began building all the USA market cars with Bosch fuel injection. Performance and drivability went up tremendously. Outwardly, the cars changed only in the "fuel injection" added to the rear badge.
The sample car pictured above is actually an 'LE' model, or 'Limited Edition'. Pininfarina built 1000 of these to celebrate 50 years of business. These unique cars were painted a sort of champagne color, had cream leather upholstery, power windows, serial numbered badges on the sides and glovebox lid as well as 14" 'iron cross' wheels unique to that model. They were not exclusive to the USA and can be found throughout the world. (Roger Hoffman image)
Turbo Spider
In 1981, FMNA jumped on the turbo bandwagon and commissioned the Turbo Spider. This was a time in American car history when turbos were the answer to every performance problem; they could even be found on Chrysler's new invention, the minivan! Unlike the factory Chryslers or even the 'skunk works' Mustang SVO, the Fiat Turbo Spider was pieced together by an independent company called Legend Industries. Conveniently located in New Jersey (home of FMNA and port of entry for most Fiats), Legend took stock Spiders and added the turbo system to them. Legend had spent a whole 18 months developing the car, which basically meant they figured out a way to put a turbo on it and not blow it up. Peak boost of 6psi came at only 3000 rpm, so the car was no performance demon for the sake of reliability, but did manage to gain 20 hp in the process. A good deal of the system was crudely hand-built, and replacement parts were expensive, including the turbo which cost around $1000 as a replacement part. As was typical of the period, most people who bought them didn't know how to properly care for them, and as turbos failed, the cars were de-turbo'd back to stock in all too many instances.
Aside from the obvious turbo installation, all Turbos had the 14" alloy wheels as pictured along with the stripe kit and logo decals on the fenders. There was a boost gauge in the center of the dash with no numbered markings, only color coded 'zones'. The VIN number will not divulge if the car was originally a turbo, since the cars were pulled at random from the port of entry inventory. Despite the meager power gains, the cars are rather desirable today, and properly cared for deliver reliable service. Indeed, the engines rarely suffered, only the oil cooled turbo unit itself was prone to premature failure. Approximately 700 Turbo Spiders were built.
Volumex
While not really chronologically correct, now is a good time to mention the Europe-only Volumex. This car was actually made by Pininfarina, sort of as a last hurrah before kissing the model goodbye. It featured a supercharger induction system borrowed from Lancia, which used essentially the same engine in the Beta range. Strangely, the Roots type blower forced the induction through a sealed carbeurator instead of using an injection system. Running a maximum of 5.7 lbs of boost, the power output reached 135 hp at 5500 rpm, over ten hp more than the turbo. A highly sought after collectible in Europe, only 500 were built. (www.fiatspider.de image)
Pininfarina Spider 1983-1985
At the end of 1981, FMNA was beginning to admit defeat. The Strada had been a colossal failure. In spite of an import-hungry car market, the 'Americanized' (meaning, incredibly uglier) Strada had failed to steal enough sales from the likes of VW, Toyota and others. Ford had just brought the Escort to market, Chrysler was selling K-car based products and turning a profit, yet sales of the Brava and Strada languished. It was yet another example of the Italian incapability to understand the American market. The products themselves were not terrible; FMNA and Fiat Italy just couldn't figure out how to get people into the showroom.
For 1982, FMNA sold only the Spider and X1/9, marketing themselves as a sports car company but likely already been given word by the home office that the end was coming. In Italy, Fiat advised Bertone and Pininfarina that no more orders for bodies would be coming. This was a huge problem for both coachbuilders, as neither had another suitable contract ready to go to keep production lines busy. While Pininfarina may have survived building bodies for Ferrari, Bertone in particular had nothing of any quantity to keep them alive. Enter Malcolm Bricklin.
Here was a guy that had actually worked for FMNA, who had built and sold his own car (the Bricklin) before bankruptcy, who had first imported Subarus when no one wanted them, and who would later give us the Yugo, a Yugoslavian built Fiat 128. Bricklin convinced Bertone and Pininfarina to keep producing the Fiat Spider and X1/9, and sell them as their own models. Bricklin would set up a dealer network in the USA to market the cars. Thus was the arrangement in 1983, as Fiat left the US market for good.
Several dealers were signed on, though few were Fiat dealers. The reason for this was the price of the cars, for the Spider around $15000 at the time. This was significantly more than what Fiat had been selling the same car for the previous year, and sales were poor at the Fiat price. In spite of ads comparing the Spider to the Mercedes SL, nobody was fooled. Desperate dealers dropped prices on in-stock cars, and orders for new ones dwindled. At the end of the 1985 model year, Pininfarina (with GM's order for Cadillac Allante bodies firmly in hand) announced that production of the Spider would cease, blaming a lack of rwd components in a fwd world.
1983-1984 Pininfarinas differed somewhat in detail from the earlier cars. Obviously, all external badging was changed to Pininfarina's stylizied 'f' or an emblem of a sailing ship in reference to Italy's success in a sailboat race. 14" turbo style wheels were standard, but the center caps were plain silver. The dashboard design was changed, but the easiest wasy to spot a Pininfarina is the rearview mirrors which are attached to the vent window glass instead of to the door. Also, the joke of a rear seat was finally turned into a parcel shelf.
In 1985, Pininfarina built the final cars, and they were unbelivably much improved. It must be assumed that the improvements had been planned for some time, and that the intent was to keep building the car for several more years. It is truly puzzling. The Spider finally got rack and pinion steering, ventilated front disc brakes, new wheels (see image below), storage compartments under the rear parcel shelf and a host of other detail changes that certainly cost quite a bit of money to perform for such limited numbers. These are often incorrectly referred to as '85.5' models. The final car was actually built at 3pm on July 30, 1985 and is rumoured to have been sent immediately to the Fiat Centro Storico Museum.
(Shaun Folkerts image)
In the USA, one more little piece of history would unfold. After the Pininfarina dealer network was closed up, there were several unsold USA spec cars still in Europe. An enterprising enthusiast named Michael Blumberg purchased and privately imported these last cars, selling them to friends and enthusiasts. At last report, Blumberg had the last car sold still in his family.
This should by no means be considered a comprehensive history. I only hoped to give the basics on the car's evolution and history to the uneducated enthusiast. As always, if you have any questions of a historical or accuracy nature, please feel free to contact me.
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Addendum: In December 2005 I received an email from Mario Lecce, who used to be a Fiat dealer. He added some information that is definately interesting, and it is reprinted here with his permission. Enjoy!
"Cromodora" the mag wheel and parts maker, is a wholely owned subsidiary of Fiat Spa. Cromodora patented alloy casting machinery and technology was sold to GM for their start at alloy engine parts in the mid/late 70's by the way. Aslo the Fiat OHC valve system as in the 124, 128/138
motors was licensed by Fiat to Volkwagon and Volvo!
Until the late '78~79 Fiat spider versions the Fiat spiders were essentially "Euro" wiring systems with additional wires tacked-on for the polution controls. When these new 2000cc models came out Fiat had reduced the wire weight by TEN POUNDS !
I my humble opinion, as a former Fiat dealer and official representative of Abarth & Co. in the US when Abarth became a division of Fiat Auto Spa, one of the big problems if not the biggest problem
was in the formation of Fiat Motors of North America. Fiat of Italy had hired a few (too many) former VP/directors from the ranks of Chrysler and Studebaker. Men well past 50 years of age who's experiences were mainly marketing in the US automobile environment of the 50's and 60's....hardly up to the task of selling Italian sports cars and family econo boxes.
I did everything short of screaming with faxes, telexs and personal trips to Italy telling anyone that would listen that the dealership needed "real" options and accessories other than Amco luggage racks and decal sets. I had told the president of Fiat USA that the new spiders should come with factory hardtops STANDARD as Fiat was paying a TON of money having to replace soft tops on the west coast due to some moron(s) at the pier writing with a special yellow crayon inventory counts on the
rear plastic window. Hundreds of tops had to be replaced due to the yellow pentrating the plastic. Disaster continued when not only was there no written official factory proceedure for the spider 2000 top replacement, but those persons authorized to replace the tops did a terrible job of it! At one point
Fiat of N. A. had a 60 day waiting period for tan 2000 tops.
I begged them for a matching right hand mirror, for 14" mag wheels, for a better exhaust system, to return to the internal thermostat due to the high failure rate of the external units ( I did a check of thermostats in stock one time: of 22 new units 14 failed to open).
All this fell on deaf ears. Only after a couple of drinks with the then president of Fiat N.A. did he confess that I was right; It would have been a very good idea to have brought-in all the spiders with
PinninFarina hardtops...... ha ha ha...too late.
Other little notes:
Another way of detecting 1608cc cars from others was the 9,000rpm
tachometers only on the 1608cc motored cars!
Back in the late 70's 77~80, "Car and Driver" magazine's top ten
rag-tops comparison story, the Fiat was rated number one, best
convertible, easiest to use over all others, Alfa Romeo(2nd place),
all the British cars, even the Rolls Royce! (ed. note: I have a copy of this magazine purchased off the newsstand, and it was probably what convinced me to buy a 124 instead of an MGB!)
I believe from 1977/78 that rear seat looking thing in the back of Fiat 124 spiders officially became an "upholstered rear parcel shelf" as ordered from Fiat of N.A. legal department. Even though it may look like a rear seat, it was OFFICIAL that it was not intended for human occupancy! Now I'm not sure as to when it was discontinued, but in some year models if one takes a look under the rear seat bottom, towards the back one will find threaded bolt holes made for seat belt anchors. I know some people who did in fact install seat belts there so small children and some very flexible adult could get belted down and maybe not get a ticket for having too many persons on board....ha ha ha.
The spider 2000 had a restyled window winder crank handle. It was just stylish enough to give the illusion of a being larger and easier to grasp. The radius was the same as the older handles. The new handles were a bit wider with two parallel arms from the center to the winder knob. Easier to grasp people would get the idea that it was also the door pull. Window crank handles were snapping on every 6,000 service. The warranty covered such items for the first 90 days. I just knew it would get ugly afterwards. So I ordered a healthy supply of the older solid chromed winder cranks. We replaced them two at a time for less than the cost of one new model hand crank.
