Anyway, I really liked the way that car drove, and I've always wanted another one ... and I was thrilled to find a 1978 recently for the low low price of FREE!
It's a California car, owned by a friend of mine. He owns a garage, and got it for a lark about 10-15 years back. Rebuilt the powertrain, got it running very nicely, but before he could get a new top on it and take care of the cosmetics, he lucked into a Barracuda with a 440 6-pack. Needless to say, the Spider suddenly became a lot less interesting. It's been parked for years now, and it's full of dust, but the motor turns freely, and from what I can tell it's entirely complete except for the heated air hose leading from the exhaust manifold to the filter box. (I think, anyway - if y'all see something obvious that I'm missing in the pictures below, please let me know!)
She should be arriving within the next couple weeks, and I'll probably have to spend at least a couple weeks more with a power washer and a shop vac to get rid of all the dust and dirt, and then a few more weeks with rubbing compound, before I ever even get to the point of trying to crank her over.
I'm 38 now, so hopefully I'll have her ready to go in time for my midlife crisis!
Here's the pictures as she sits today:
