1980 looked at yesterday

[Seajunkie]

I looked at a 1980 car yesterday. It had FI. The paint was redone a
long time ago in a dark color over a light yellow. It was a half
hearted job, the paint is in really bad shape. The driver;s outside
door handle is broken, it needs brakes, the driver's side door hinge
is pulling from the door from a little rust, so the door sags. There is a half dollar
size rust bubble on the bottom of the passenger door and some smaller
rust bubbles on other parts of the car. The floor pans, shock towers,
underneath, trunk and engine bay all seem to be rust free. The 2000
runs very strong. It has a new water pump and fuel filter. The car
needs tires. It has original Fiat rims. It has a lot of interior and
lighting electrical problems. The side mirror is pulled out and missing.
The top is old and a little worn, but fully functional,
and the interior is tired but only one long rip in the driver's
seat.

The owner came down to 1300 for the car. I guess my concern is after I fix
all the small problems that by the time I bring it back to life I will
be into it for 3500 or probably 4k if I decided to paint. Then it
again it was pretty fun to drive.

It's funny, one reason I don't want to buy it is because I hate giving up the hunt, because looking for the
ideal car is kind of fun. It's like throwing a good catch back into the water.

Here is a quick look at the car, click the picture for a short video:

[katsi]

Most important part, Did you look underneith? Check shock towers and floor pans? They are all going to have some electrical issues. It looked quite nice for the $ though.

[Seajunkie]

shock towers and floor pans

looked good. They were solid.

[mbouse]

sounds like a plan. even better if you can get it for a grand. then it would be a grand plan

[manoa matt]

$1300 is an Ok price for a "running" car, however there seams to be a lot of little problems, and a few big ones...they quickly add up. What are your intentions with the car? Sunday cruzer, or a daily driver? Do you want to buy a car for cheap and fix it up yourself?

I think the best bet with spiders is a $2500-$3500 car. A spider in that range will be petty good all over, mostly everything works with the exception of one or two electrical items, has been driven regularly, and previous owners have done routine maintenance. Remember routine maintenance is also dealing with rust as it occurs... rust never sleeps.

The bad paint job and sagging driver's door are probably signs that you should look for another spider, those will be expensive to fix.

[mbouse]

sagging doors are also an indicator of torn hinge mounts, not necessarily rust gone wild. in my experience, a good welder can fix the torn hinge mount quickly and easily; and therefore inexpensively.
http://flumichigan.italiancarclub.com/T ... repair.pdf

additionally, i just bought a parts car for $350; and the doors look and hang great. swap those for this car, and sell a bunch of parts and MAKE money in the end. not expensive at all to fix.

a bad paint job can be repaired as quickly and easily as a great but poorly cared for original paint job. just a question of how much you wanna spend for a knock around buggie. grab some sand paper and some rattle cans and have a great time experimenting.

i've come to expect some interior wiring difficulties with just about every Spider i meet that has been recently rescued from the clutches of a n'er-do-well. generally, all those take are a little patience and a volt meter.

the WM-FLU chapter has experienced several guys buying Spiders really cheap around here lately. throw a couple hundred on top of a grand, and have a wonderful knock about for several years.... nuttin' wrong with that. all in the way you look at it. S'long as the engine runs and the brakes work...

like i said before, grab it for a grand and have a grand time putting it back on the road.

[Seajunkie]

Thank you for all the feed back. I liked the door repair pdf, that is exactly what I am going to need to do. I went up and bought it today.

I trailered back home an hour and a half and then took it out tonight for a drive to go to a meeting. It was a great drive. I'm going to need to go over the brakes pretty fast they felt too soft. I'm going to really enjoy this car. Not sure how much improving I'll do at this point. The lines on these cars are addicting to look at, there isn't a bad angle to look at.

My kids love it too!!!