what to expect…

[Anbele]

So I recently acquired a carbureted ‘79. I did an extensive interior restoration—which is what the car really needed. The body and engine were in very good condition…so I’ve driving it quite often, to the point that now I’d like to know what to expect from the driving point of view. I checked the front suspension bushings and these look like they’re shot, perhaps the shocks as well. But the issue I have is that. Like I said, I’ve been driving it, sometimes hard—like 55-60mph, hard cornering and such, and the car handles very well—I think. Because again, I don’t know really what to expect. Any insides?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

When these cars originally came out, the handling was good but not great. Better than many cars at that time, but handling was a compromise between performance, ride, and sales price. Modern tires, wheels, springs, shocks, bushings etc. can go a long way towards improving the performance, but of course that's $$$ and sometimes a harsher ride.

If your front suspension bushings are shot, that certainly would be a starting point for improvements. Probably the best gauge of how your car handles is to drive other spiders. Or have someone drive yours who's familiar with how they typically feel. It's hard to offer much insight over the Internet, other than my observation that almost any modern car will outhandle a 40+ year old car.

-Bryan