1982 Fiat Spider 2000
The mechanical condition of the car at the time of the accident on 10/13/1999 was quite good except for a failing magnetic pickup. I managed to keep track of most of the receipts for work done and they show the following:
Work done by Shade Tree, summer 1997:
water pump, timing belt and tensioner, rod bearings, oil pan gasket, clutch friction disc, rear main seal, cam and auxiliary shaft seals, master cylinder, one fuel injector, fuel filter, fuel hose, exhaust manifold gasket, filler neck hose, carrier bearing (?), emergency brake cable, oil cap gasket, heater hose, radiator bushings, shift pad(?), fuel sender, battery, front brake hoses/washers, upper ball joint and A-arm, thermostat, plugs, rear axle bearings and seal, clutch cable, one rear trailing arm, and a set of used Lancia Beta wheels thrown in for free.
That constituted pretty much the entire car, and what wasn't replaced then broke soon afterwards:
9/1/97 - fuel pump
7/8/98 - ANSA exhaust, center muffler, and another manifold gasket
Summer 1998 - transmission rebuild
12/29/98 - driveshaft carrier bracket, bearing, U-joint, and support. This
one was kind of painful as it stranded me at Christmas.
2/19/99 - combination switch and hazard switch
10/6/1999 - driveshaft flex joint - I didn't get to enjoy that long.
After the expensive stuff in late 1997 and 98, I had no trouble with the car
except that a rod knock developed around the time the transmission was done.
A new set of bearings fixed it for a while but it came back, and so I think
the current engine (which had a completely unknown number of miles on it when
I bought the 80 - the PO estimated 80k so I think maybe 100k, plus 20k, plus
a broken oil pump) is about worn out and I intend to perform unholy experiments
upon it.
The odometer in the 82 read 97,734 miles when I picked it up. I replaced it with the 140mph speedometer from the 80 which I believe read around 29500. It says 51,662 at this moment, so for all the spare parts and dented Jeeps, I got about 22,000 miles out of it.
Current condition
The car sat for six months or so until we moved, then I got it started and drove it jerkily over to the new house. In 2001 or so, I bought a fender from Shaun and got it running again after replacing the plugs, cap, rotor, and magnetic pickup. We drove it around the neighborhood minus the dented fender, and since then it's sat. The fuel pump has died, the brakes are seized, and the gas tank (which I pumped out several years ago) needs to be cleaned and sealed. The engine looks good, and the radiator is still very clean inside. The interior is pretty much unchanged from the somewhat ratty state it has always been in. The rear window has gone a funny shade of rust but the top is perfectly intact. I discovered a couple of rust pinholes in the rear passenger's floorpan but nothing big. The driver's door has some blemishes on it that were there when I got the car. The passenger's door has a broken hinge. Recently I ran into it with the 500SEL (well that's not exactly what happened, but close enough) and smashed the rear license plate lamps. Electrically I think everything is OK except the cheap Daewoo CD changer quit working. Boot lid and hood were always hideous. And of course it's missing a fender. I sold the Beta wheels a while back, replacing them with the nice BWA wheels from the blue 76.
