You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

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spidernut
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Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider Automatic
Location: Lincoln, CA

You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby spidernut » Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:28 am

Next time you feel like complaining about repairing your Fiat, try supervising a large group of people. I'll take a broken car over broken people any day. 53 weeks more and I'm calling it quits for good.
John G.
1979 Spider (Owned since 2000)
1971 124 Sport Spider (Owned since 2017)
1977 Spider (Sold 2017)
1979 Spider (Disposed of in 2017)
1979 Spider (Sold 2015)
1980 Spider (Sold in 2013)
1981 Spider (Sold in 1985)
2017 Spider (Owned since 2019)

narfire
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby narfire » Thu Jun 16, 2016 1:31 am

Sounds great. Now you can supervise a large group of Fiats.....
Keep your health so you can enjoy the time after 53 weeks eh....
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box

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RRoller123
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby RRoller123 » Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:52 am

"I feel your pain"..... :mrgreen: My largest factory had 125. All shapes sizes, races, creeds, colors, temperaments and sediments. There were times when I wondered why I did it, but there were times when it was a great joy too. :D

Image
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
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scusi
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby scusi » Thu Jun 16, 2016 11:32 am

One year into retirement and I highly recommend it. 8) My Fiat was my retirement gift to myself and I have used and enjoyed it on about every nice day since. Can't say that my job was a pain in the rear. But, after 40 years of fire/ems service. I don't miss the stress.

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Ramzi
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby Ramzi » Thu Jun 16, 2016 9:21 pm

Ya'll retirees move to Texas. We can probably find a 124 related activity for you.

Although as I recall the last time I said something like that was about 20 years ago when a very young Mr Vandor was graduating from college. Now hes my partner... thats what I get for shooting my mouth off.

R
Ramzi
1939 Fiat 508cm Coloniale (military)
1939 Fiat 508c Coloniale (civilian)
1966 124 Sedan RHD (oldest 124 in America)
1972 124 Spider GCRE (modified 2.0L)
2017 124 Spider Abarth (highly modified)

garion
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby garion » Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:24 am

Try wrangling the entire internet in to shape. I work on something called DNS, which is how "www.fiatspider.com" gets converted into IP addresses... If you think of it as a phonebook, translating names into numbers, you wouldn't be far off..

The fun comes in when there's a mistake made... Many years ago, I made such a mistake, and my code started deleting all of the names for a small island nation, that also happens to have nuclear weapons. :shock: Yeah. I nearly, singlehandedly took the UK off the internet. Nothing like a bit of unintentional cyber-terrorism against a nuclear power to liven your morning. Talk about a brown pants moment.

Now I work for a different place doing DNS, where I just deal with content distribution for Microsoft, Sony, and a slew of large porn sites. Much easier.
--John
1978 Fiat 124 Spider (for sale soon)
1979 Fiat 124 Spider
2007 Audi A4
Blog: http://www.technobabelfish.com

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DUCeditor
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby DUCeditor » Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:11 pm

I find this thread somewhat funny.

My Spider has always been sort'a a pain. But worth it. Simple as that: Worth it.

I, too, am now retired. This after a 40+ year career creating special imaging processes for use in science and medicine. Things that I always seemed to understand intuitively, while to me Fiats were like people. Nothing "intuitive" about working with them at all. Illogical. But none-the-less wonderful. Charming. Thrilling. Full of surprises. Glorious.

Some people love wrenching. I don't. I like to turn the key, put her in reverse, and simply exit the garage in search of sun and curvy roads.

Then why don't I just buy a Miata? Ah... there's that Fiat charm. Just gotta have that charm! :)

-Don
Italian motorcycles. An Italian car. An Italian wife. What more could a man desire?

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johndemar
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby johndemar » Sat Jun 18, 2016 10:37 am

I feel for ya John. Although I only supervise and work closely with 6 employees, it's amazing the amount of pettiness I have to deal with. Most days are good, but when they're bad I tell myself just another year or two.
76 Fiat 124 Spider
One owner since July 20, 1976
Amadio Motor, Jeannette, PA

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phaetn
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby phaetn » Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:03 am

Hang in there, John!

I'm a high school teacher at what is essentially a gifted school, teaching epistemology (a branch of philosophy dealing with knowledge systems) and English Lit.

I have to corale, cajole, encourage, discipline, and evaluate 180 sixteen and seventeen year olds every year. They are already easily working at a second year university level, but, like any group of people, vary wildly: Super-keeners to weepers, grossly confident to anxiety-ridden, charming to devious.

They're a great group and I wouldn't change my job for the world (though that's a big price!). I'm well compensated with excellent benefits; during the year is hectic and exhausting (days getting up at 5am to mark mountains of papers, then sometimes coaching after school) but summers off with my kids are a blessing. Others I know say they could never do it. I love it!

The in-class stuff is easy -- my students are a captive audience and eager to learn. It's the non-usual events that are tricky. Assemblies and stuff where the whole school (pop. 1200) is full of hormonal teenagers that all need to be in the same place at the same time and what they're really concerned about is socializing. :)

Within ten days is graduation. Sorting 180 graduands in about half and hour into alphabetical order while they're all dressed up and with gowns on, excited about their big day, and overheating in non-air conditioned hallways will be a treat. Actually, in Fiat talk, that's not unlike what happened to me yesterday: My horn stopped working during parade laps in a big Italian Festival on the hottest day of the year so far, and I knew that that meant my fan also wouldn't cycle on. Egads! Everything had been working fine earlier! I had to figure out the right fuse in the row, jostled the holder, was rewarded by a bit of a shock and the sound of the fan coming on. Thankfully I didn't have to pull over worrying as the temp needle climbed to oblivion. Crisis averted and nobody in the audience was any wiser -- it's totally like teaching!! :)

Fiats are really straight-forward compared to people. The former are just mechanical and take some trouble-shooting. Human beings are way more complex. To quote the profane Billy Connolly:

We want this! And that! We demand a share in that, and most of that, some of this, and f**king all of that! Less of that, and more of this, and f**king plenty of this! And another thing, we want it now! I want it yesterday, I want f**king more tomorrow, and the demands will all be changed then so f**king stay awake!’

:twisted:

Cheers,
phaetn

Fiatlanta
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby Fiatlanta » Sun Aug 21, 2016 9:39 am

The older I get, the more I like my dog and my car and the less I like people.

Jimb
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby Jimb » Sun Aug 21, 2016 12:22 pm

Is there anyone else out there who doesn't think their Fiat is a pain?

I've had mine now for close to 9 years, and other than removing the tranny and have it professionally rebuilt, and while I was at it I did a few preventative maintenance items such as water pump, seals etc, but otherwise it just keeps running beautifully day in and day out. Although granted it is just a summer weather toy.

Very few issues.

Jim

brackie1
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Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby brackie1 » Sun Aug 21, 2016 1:38 pm

Fiatlanta wrote:The older I get, the more I like my dog and my car and the less I like people.


I'm with you.
Gene
North Carolina

Jimb
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby Jimb » Tue Aug 23, 2016 8:51 pm

[quote="Jimb"]Is there anyone else out there who doesn't think their Fiat is a pain?

I've had mine now for close to 9 years, and other than removing the tranny and have it professionally rebuilt, and while I was at it I did a few preventative maintenance items such as water pump, seals etc, but otherwise it just keeps running beautifully day in and day out. Although granted it is just a summer weather toy.

Very few issues.


I guess not...

Jim

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joelittel
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby joelittel » Tue Aug 23, 2016 10:17 pm

Jimb wrote:Is there anyone else out there who doesn't think their Fiat is a pain?

Jim



I have only had one moment where I considered the car a pain. Most of my headaches have come from the restro-mods I've done, which in return has kept me from complaining too much. Meaning that if I've caused the problem I've always felt obligated to fix the problem, or see the mod through.

But there was one weekend a few years back when I couldn't figure out what was going on with it, we couldn't trust it to be driven and it started to feel more like a very large pile of receipts than a car. I can honestly say I considered it a pain that day, and even considered selling it.

Sometimes, for me, spending a weekend doing anything other than working on the car presents the solution I'm looking for. During that time, if I just can't seem to shake the urge to get back out there and try to "fix" the problem I turn to the group of strangers who make up this forum with a new post in the form of a question.

Luckily for me this technique has never failed. It often takes time, and requires additional research, but the forum as always gotten my car back on the road.

I have a fairly modified '80 that I would not call a pain at all. In fact, my wife and I playfully argue over who gets the car when our weekend plans don't match.

However, I should qualify my statements by saying that I enjoy the routine maintenance that comes with owning and driving a modified vintage car and I do not consider checking the car every Saturday morning a pain.

maxdog
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Re: You think your Fiat is a pain in the behind?

Postby maxdog » Fri Sep 02, 2016 11:50 pm

Not me !
Until recently I spent my spare time with old British cars , from Morris Minors through MGB 's A fleet of Rovers ,1948 P3 to P6B v8 , XKE jaguar [ What a Heart Breaker } lastly a Jensen Interceptor - pure automotive porn . All of them at some time REAL,expensive, pains in the arse .
I sold the Jensen , the man kept throwing money at me and I was a one man contributor to Global warming .The fuel consumption was astronomical , as was the sheer fun of it
.I bought a 1979 Spyder for my toy box, what a revelation : Sensible engineering , well thought out electrics[ goodbye Joe Prince of Darkness Lucas ] decent quality construction , great spares availability , and an excellent forum for newbies .
So far no real problems .
Hubris awaits ? What's that??Time to Carpe Diem !!
Maxdog


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