That was sixteen years ago. Fast forward to last weekend.
I was going through a bunch of old papers that I had boxed up in my garage. Among the papers was the VIN# of the Spider. Seeing the VIN brought back a flood of memories about that car. It was a triple black model. The only option it had was power windows, which worked for a few days whenever I would take the switch apart and clean it. There was a switch on the top of the steering column that would trip every time I'd turn the wheel, causing the interior lights and tail lights to turn off until I could reach up and flip the switch back. The 2nd gear synchro seemed to be going, because the car would fall out of 2nd unless I held the shifter in place. In spite of all that, the car was an absolute blast to drive...
...and it had an interesting story behind it that I am hoping one of you can either shoot down or validate as plausible.
I was told that this particular car was imported by a man who was serving in the Navy. The story was that he purchased the Spider while stationed in Italy, drove it while he was there, and then brought it home with him when he returned to the US. A few months into my ownership of the car, the story was backed up when I found an Italian coin buried under the driver's seat; but this is far from conclusive. I'm certain that it was a US spec car, since it did not have the yellow turn signal in the front fenders like the European cars did. Is there any way to tell whether this car was imported to the US first, or if it came over on its own later? If so, how would I find out? Is there a list?
Also, if anyone has a triple black 1985.5 they want to part with, I'm in the market 