I bought my first Fiat spider, VIN BS10032154, when I was 16. I paid $300 for it, and it was a piece of crap. Not really a fault of the car; it had been neglected and driven into the ground by countless prior owners, then bondo'd together and given a shade-tree respray at which point I fell in love with it. I knew nothing about Fiats, working on cars, or getting in over my head. All I knew was that it was a sports car and I could afford it.
I spent about two years driving it and paying to have it fixed before I tore it apart to 'restore' it, having no clue what I was doing. After stripping all the paint and bondo off of it, I determined it was a futile endeavor and parted it out, chopping the body in half and junking it.
During the period I owned this first one and searched for the second, I had numerous parts cars I either bought for next to nothing or were given to me. At the time, rusted examples of these cars that couldn't be fixed were everywhere, so I was able to amass several tons of spare parts for a body I hoped to some day find.
After about a year and a half of looking at garbage, I found BS0026637 for sale in the local paper. There was a raging snowstorm outside when I called about the $450 project car, so I couldn't look at it until the following day. While it was tired with a ruined top, bad clutch, oil leaks everywhere, etc. it was also a never-been-repainted original red car, the same year as my very first Fiat had been. It was also surprisingly solid, though as with all Fiats it did need some body work. I barely drove the crippled car home, and swapped over my engine, windshield, top, interior and numerous other bits onto the 'new' car so that it could be driven. I enjoyed it as a slightly tarnished car for a year or so, then stripped the body trim and shipped it off to be repainted. To my amateur eye it looked beautiful upon completion, and by this time I had enough mechanical aptitude from stripping and repairing all the other cars to put it back together with some new and several used parts to the condition it is in today. It still isn't finished; the seats need re-done and the engine is tired, but it's still very presentable. Not really a show car though, as the paint job has flaws here and there (probably that only I really see, but...).
This car had 4 previous owners, and has always been local to the general area I live in. It was sold new at Cleona Colonial Autos in Cleona, PA by Frank Weder. It was delivered with a set of Appliance brand aluminum slot mags that I foolishly sold. It cost $3600 when new, and owner #1 kept it until December of 1976, which is a pretty long time. I have corresponded with the original owner who told me a lot about the car, and also got me in touch with owner #2 who filled in some more blanks. Owner #3 was a female who lived in Honeybrook, PA and apparently didn't do much but drive it. She paid $1200 in 1978 for it and it had about 66,000 miles showing.
The young lad I bought it from simply bit off more than he could chew. Like me in many ways, he just wanted one and bought the car for $1150 in 1979. He did a great job of preserving the car so that it didn't decay badly, and when I bought it in 1984 it was simply used up mechanically.
I was able to research the history of the car using records from the PA DoT. You can purchase a list of all the paperwork on a car from the state, then when you have that you can purchase copies of the various individual documents. In my case, I simply bought copies of the title each time it changed hands, then tracked down the names via phone books for the areas in which the owners lived. Everyone responded to my requests except the female owner.
Because of my involvement with these two spiders, my coupe, the 850 and the several other Fiats that have passed through my driveway, I helped start the FLU club, the Fiat Freak-Out annual meet, worked for an ex-Fiat dealer for nearly 7 years as a parts manager and have made automobiles my career. Pretty amazing all that came from one $300 car.
Facts about this Fiat:
1438 cc engine
One-year-only two piece side markers
Originally a red car
Fiat-Roosevelt wheels (period correct dealer installed option)
120,000 miles (on car; there is actually 10,000 more on the engine!)
All original body panels except trunk lid and rocker panels
NOS front bumper and headlamp rings, one used rear bumper, one rechromed bumper
All stock except Bayless air cleaner (to be replaced with original unit)
1st Place in class Fiat Freak Out 1986 and 1996 (there were also several 2nds and 3rds; I tried really hard in '96!)
I sold this car 8/27/04. It now resides in South Dakota.
