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  July 23, 2010 10:30 a.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  If you look under the Project Car section of the site under the Cars menu you will see that we have added the Fiat as a project car.

  We were initially going to just drive the Fiat and fix it up a bit as we went. We instead decided to sell the car this year at Monterey and document the process.

  We just put a new dash in the car and it is now at the Paint shop for a full exterior repaint. We will do an update on the painting of the car this weekend and show the final results of the paint next week.

  How much do you think we will get for it at the Russo and Steele Monterey auction?

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  July 23, 2010 12:17 p.m. BoxheadTim Dork

  Ladida I can't hear you . What date is the auction so I make sure I'm somewhere else?

  Good luck with the sale, it does look like a really nice 124.

  Sanity is vastly overrated.

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  July 23, 2010 12:41 p.m. VClassics Reader

  If the Country of Origin is England like the project car page says, that's a pretty rare Fiat. Might bring a lot at auction

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  July 23, 2010 12:51 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  I think that might have been incorrectly categorized. :)

  The dash was a royal pain to do, almost 9 hours of debugging old electrics. It looks terrific and is the soft type dash. It was pretty steep at $500.

  Adding the electronic ignition was a huge upgrade to the drivability of the car

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  July 24, 2010 6:02 a.m. ddavidv SuperDork

  Those dash pads are always cracked. I think it's engineered in as a 'feature'.

  Rare car, especially in the butterscotch color. I'll be interested to see what it brings. The casual buyer won't understand the unique aspects of a car that early in the production run. I question the originality of the steering wheel, looks like it may be from an 850 coupe? The Spider ones always had the holes drilled in the spokes.

  "Having fun is my revenge on mortality"--Dustin Hoffman

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  July 25, 2010 8:17 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  The wheel is a very weird early 124 wheel. It was not standard but this car shipped with it,

  Donald Osborne from Sports car market thinks it looks like one of the 1600 Spider wheels. I don't know much about the details of the 1600 as I have only ever had a 1500 in the pre-124 spiders.

  Still considering adding the wood Nardi I have for the car but also know how difficult it can be to remove that wheel

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  July 26, 2010 5:57 a.m. ddavidv SuperDork

  I'm pretty certain the 1600 wheel was a 3 spoke. I had a 1500 OSCA and that's how it came, plus I don't know that the wheels would be interchangeable. Vastly different steering arrangements.

  The wheel on a 124 is not hard to remove. I've never need a puller to get any of mine off.

  "Having fun is my revenge on mortality"--Dustin Hoffman

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  July 26, 2010 11:13 a.m. rconlon HalfDork

  A good price for a 124 Spider at a big money-auction is still new territory for Fiats. I would love to see $10,000 offered for one. A few have sold for this money in the last 4-5 years but they had much more in them than $10k as new/fresh restorations. Will you get more for an early model? No, it hasn't happened yet. Will you get more for originality? No, hasn't happened yet. Will you get CMS pricing factor? Maybe. What do I think you will get? $5000. I wish for double that and feel that is their worth as a driveable classic with a coachbuilt body. 1966 was the first year for Spiders. Cheers Ron

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  July 26, 2010 1:39 p.m. WilD HalfDork

  I love the alloys on that Fiat. Are those original as well? They look the same as those that came on the Dinos if I'm not mistaken.

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  July 26, 2010 2:17 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  The wheels were an option for the car and were bought from the dealer by the original owner in 1970.

  We have seen Fiat 124 Spiders sell for more than 10k before. There has never been one for sale at the Monterey auctions. It is an early car, likely the earliest nice U.S. spec car around. I would call this a sympathetic restoration being everything that is in great shape original including the seats and carpets which are so nice. I think the car will sell for more than $9,000 but less than $20,000.

  Just to be specific, to date the costs for the car are as follows:

  Price for car: $6200

  New H2O Pump, new Timing belt valve adjustment, plugs and electronic Ignition: $1200

  New Dash and new dash install: $1100

  New door panels: $400

  New OEM rocker panels: $550

  Fender arch repair panel: $125

  Paint and bodywork: $7800

  New 68-69 red U.S. spec indicator lenses: $220

  New seals for B pillars, headlights, taillights, marker lights and fiat emblems: $245

  Nardi Wheel and hub $400

  Add it up and you have quite an outlay of cash spent on a Fiat spider. Nothing was done 1/2 way and only the best stuff was used for replacement parts. This is one of my cars and I never scrimp on anything. Normal people don't do this as they have better functioning brains than I do.

  By the was a very reputable classic car dealer in San Francisco has a 1971 for sale at $18,900. http://www.carsauto.com/inventory.php?type=ALL&make=FIAT&model=ALL&sto...

  Maybe it will sell for over $20,000 in Monterey.

  Wish me luck!

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  July 26, 2010 3:55 p.m. rconlon HalfDork

  Andy: All the best with this but I think you may take a beating here without a high reserve. Our Fiat community has always suffered at the hands of low valuations in the USA. This is changing but you are breaking new ground if you go much over 10k. Past BJ snd RS auctions have not been kind to Fiat Spiders. I will watch this play out with interest. So far $20k would get you a real 124 Abarth Spider in Europe. Cheers Ron

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  July 26, 2010 5:42 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  Thanks Ron, i think the problem with Fiats at BJ and RS is that they have always been at their Arizona sales. having the car at Monterey will be a help. I have offers already pre auction of $9,500 for the car so I think it will go fine.

  I will post the paint shop before and after pics this week. It really looks amazing.

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  July 27, 2010 8:23 a.m. rconlon HalfDork

  Hit a home run!!

  Ron

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  July 27, 2010 4:19 p.m. Andy Reid Auction Editor

  Thanks Ron.

  So on the way home from the paint shop a rock hit my windshield and cracked it. Thank god for Hagerty.

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  July 27, 2010 4:31 p.m. rconlon HalfDork

  Dagnabit! That rock was aiming for the new paint but realized too late that you had an early 124 with a flat hood.

  Ron

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  July 28, 2010 10:12 a.m. Tom Heath Webmaster

  Keep up the good work, Andy. Watching you get this car ready has really opened my eyes to new aspects of the classic car world. I can't wait to see what happens with the auction!

  I tried drag racing, but kept blowing the apex for turn 2... Xbox Live gamertag— GRM Tom

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