UPDATE – I asked Don to get us more photos of the underside and the trunk of the car. He was able to get the car up on a lift and took a number of photos. While under the car, he discovered a rust hole in the driver’s side rear footwell. It’s a small hole, but you will want to address it sooner, rather than later. As a result, we have lowered his asking price and he is open to hearing offers. Be sure to take another look and make him an offer if this looks like the kind of classic for you!
Long-time reader, Don Lacer asked us to help him clear out a few more vehicles from his collection. We just recently featured his Alfa Romeo Spider, which I’m excited to say has sold and is head off to a great new home! If you missed out on that Italian roadster, Don has one more Italian that needs to go. This one is a 1978 Fiat 124 Spider which is also a nice driver that is ready for a new home. If you don’t already know, I myself am a long-time 124 Spider owner, so I can attest to how much fun these cars are to drive. Admittedly, they have long been underappreciated classics, but with the reintroduction of the 124 Spider name and massive improvements in parts support, these cars are finally starting to receive the respect they deserve. If you’d love to have this Spider, you can find it in Junction City, Kansas and you can make Don an offer via the form below!
By 1978, Fiat had revised the 124 Spider a few times, both cosmetically and mechanically. The biggest changes were the introduction of a larger twin-cam engine and impact bumpers. The bumpers are large and less than elegant, but they can easily be deleted or you can backdate to thinner bumpers from an earlier car. My Spider’s bumpers had the bumper guards removed for an older look and I’ve had more than a few passersby ask me if it was Ferrari, obviously, any serious car nut will know that this isn’t a Ferrari, but with backdated bumpers, the beautiful Pininifarinia design really stands out. The biggest challenge with swapping bumpers or going the Abarth Rallye delete route is wiring the turn signals, but an afternoon of basic wiring can fix that!
The Lampredi designed engine is one of the highlights of the 124, with a fantastic exhaust note and a strong desire to rev. With the right modifications, these engines can be absolute screamers. You will want to keep up on maintenance though, especially the timing belt as these are interference engines. Overall, it’s a hardy engine that will bring tons of smiles if given just the most basic of care. The 2.0 liter found in this example is the largest iteration of the 124’s engine and is packed with performance potential for those looking to modify a Spider, but still offers plenty of power in stock form to be enjoyable. CORRECTION: This engine is a 1.8 liter, which was offered with either 86 or 116 horsepower depending on destination. It’s most likely the 86 horsepower engine, but that’s still more powerful than the 2.0 liter that came immediately after it and is plenty for something this light! This one appears to be original and complete, minus the warm air duct (it’s a readily available part that will cost you about $20 to replace). The engine is said to run well, all 5 gears function correctly, and the 4-wheel disc brakes stop the car as they should. Video of the engine can be provided upon request.
For the money, the 124 was jamb packed with features typically only found on more expensive sports cars. Besides getting a twin-cam engine, 5-speed transmission, and disc brakes all around, you also got one of the best convertible tops around. Unlike many of the British roadsters that they competed with on price, the task of raising and lower the Fiat’s top is an easy one-handed task. Simply undo the windshield clamps and lower the top right from the driver’s seat. There’s no getting out of the car or time-consuming assembly. While the interior isn’t as unique as an Alfa Romeo Spider, it’s comfortable and nicely styled. This one looks to be in great shape, without any cracks in the dash (this is a huge plus) or tears in the upholstery. Replacement parts are available to fully restore the interior, but this one doesn’t appear to need anything significant, it just needs to be driven!
After reviewing the photos closely, I don’t see any of the usual signs of rust on the outside of the car. Rust is without a doubt the biggest issue for these cars, which makes finding rust underneath a bummer. On the upside, it looks to be contained to just a few small areas that could be easily addressed. The fender lips all look clean, the rocker panels are straight, and the shock towers aren’t showing any external signs of rust (a closer inspection would be recommended though). Don notes that he has found a few small bubbles in the paint, but they are small spots that could be addressed without a ton of work. Don has done a basic service to the car recently and it runs great. Everything works as it should and it’s a joy to drive. If I didn’t already have a 124 Spider, I’d be tempted by this one. We are helping Don with fielding questions and negotiations, so be sure to send us a message via the form below with any questions or your best offer!
Location: Junction City, Kansas
Asking Price: $5,500
Mileage: 71,773
Title: Clean
Very fair asking price IMO. Good luck.
I’ve had a 78… I don’t remember mine having a 2.0 engine. Red is a no-go for me, so I’d have a problem with that. Look at the picture of the left front quarter. I’m looking at what appears to be misalignment of the top of the door, with the body trim to the rear of the door. Is the door just not shut properly? Or, does this one have the common Fiat door hinge problem with the resultant sagging door? The right side door looks to be ok. It would be nice if the seller would do the door-wiggle-up-and-down-test, and report back. Given no further info, I’d speculate this one has the Fiat door problem. Nice looking car, and I’m sure someone will cherish it, if it is really what it appears to be. I really miss the one that I had.
Don gave it the good old door wiggle test and reported back that there was no play! He can snap additional photos of it with the doors closed if necessary. He also sent over photos of the trunk, which I will add after the holiday!
i remember sometime about 1980 or so, i wanted a new car, went to the Fiat dealer 60 miles from my town, looked over the cars and was told i could have a X1/9 or the Spider, same price…i chose the X1/9 and after i got it home, my dad commented i should’ve bought the spider. Later i would come to say he was right all along
In 1980 ( holy cripes) I had a ’78 while in law school. White with a red interior. I think it was the 1.8 engine. What I remember was how tight the steering was and how cheesy though good looking the interior bits were. As was my wont I had a ‘bra’ on the front. One day I lent my car to my girlfriend to literally go around the block to do whatever. Somehow she came back without the bra! Someone stole it off the front while she was parked. I couldnt believe it! I was young and none too happy. I sold the car to her sister and biker soon to be ex husband and in no time flat, they destoyed it. Given the subsequent four decades, it should have been a huge flashing red light to me! There are non so blind as those that cant see :)
Back in the early 70s, a buddy of mine (still to this day) and I bought our first new cars. I bought a 72 Toyota Corolla with the 2TC 1600cc engine for $2000. He bought a 73 Fiat 124 Spyder for $3300. I laugh at myself today for that lapse in judgement. Sure, I put 160K on that Corolla 2 door, but he got a sweet convertible sports car. I bought mine in NYC and then moved south a few years later. He bought his in NC. After about 3 years in the south, he had rust in the rockers. The Corolla was almost rust-free after 160K. I also had to collect him on I-40 heading to Raleigh when his interference engine got interfered with (the dreaded timing belt failure). A local foreign car mechanic made a hash of the repairs as well. So, I spent about $1000 in maintenance over the years and he spent triple that for his car. Still, I think I’d do things differently if afforded a 2nd chance. Beauty has its costs.
luved these enuff in the day to do it again 2 or 3 times, all but 1 pre efi
& twin cam. Modern driving car~
(2 us? spyder simply meant vert, ‘sports car’)
Had 78, blown up 1800 so put in later 2000cc….black red interior….sexy lil thing…wasnt fast but feĺt fast…couldnt keep it running…always fuel system issues, gas filter a week…minor easily fixed electrical….was fun for a summer…except the 10 tow trucks…id do another…build it how fiat shoulda…i gotta thing for reliabilty…but never red….
These cars are just plain fun! When they run. After all, we know what FIAT stands for. Mine was a ‘73, orange with a black interior that I had a girl jump into one day when I was sitting at a red light! (Don’t ask).
Mine was a ‘73 and a fun car, for sure! I even had a beautiful girl jump in one day while I was sitting at a red light at the courthouse. (Don’t ask). Of course, it was a typical FIAT (Fix It Again Tony).
That’s a a lot of doughnuts for 124 red spiders.
Always loved them, known to be problematic, lotsa issues, Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tony, and my friend Tony said no buy this Junka, in broken English
I had a ’76’ that I bought used not running, Painted it myself a light silver blue Porsche color; and had a new convertible top put on it.
( I was doing body work to earn college money, I had spent years working with my uncle in his body shop ) and had the timing belt repaired at a dealer in Toledo after I tried and could not do it.
That car was always fun, easy to put the top down with one hand, and revved forever. Nice ride.
I had a ’78. Loved that car
In about 1990, I installed a Toyota 2tc engine & the accompanying Toyota T-50 five speed transmission (from a low mileage wrecked 1978 Toyota Corolla SR5 liftback) into the 1980 Fiat Spider 2000 piece of trash that I purchased brand new in 1980. Yeah, I new it was garbage, but back then you had only the MGB, the TR7, the Spitfire, and the VW Rabbit Convertible. The Rabbit Convertible was a great dependable, durable car but it wasn’t sporty. The Datsun 280ZX was the car to own but they never made a convertible, only the limited amount of T roof cars. There was the aftermarket constructed by ASC corp, I think, Toyota Celica Sunchaser which was really cool but expensive like the 280zx T-top. The Sunchaser was done by American Sun Roof corp by sawing the roof off of a new Celica, and building a non-factory, home-made sort of convertible. Thats all that existed in 1980 in the USA market other than the Mercedes 450 SL which was a lot of dough. The MGB was a hunk of junk too, but probably the most durable out of Fiat Spider/Alfa Romeo Spider/Tr7/Tr8/Triumph Spitfire. The Fiat Spider was a better car than those with the following exceptions: Engine, Transmission, and Rear End. The 1978 & later Fiat Spider rear ends are awful (they are the ones WITHOUT the removeable third member, third member is the ‘pumpkin’). So you can say the 1977 & earlier Fiat Spiders only have their Fiat Engine & Fiat 5 speed transmission as their major problem areas, as their rear ends are decent enough to handle any basic four cylinder.
Yes, the 1600 cc Toyota 2TC with its Toyota t-50 five speed was superior in transplant than the FIAT twin cam 2000cc fuel injected engine of the 1980 that self destructed before 75,000 miles. Fiat was known by the fix it again tony jokes, and their cars engines were so poorly built then that they had to abandon the US marketplace in 1982, despite the fact that they always built attractive cars, and had certain attributes that were nice, sort of like GM’s Corvair & VEGA, nice looking, nice enough road manners, good braking but terrible engine durabilty. My professional opinion is that FIAT’s major flaw besides the poor workmanship on the engines was that their cooling system was substantially undersized (radiator was way too small for the Southeastern United States where the outside daily high temperature is above 90F from May 10th thru Sept 25th, and where in between June 15th and August 15th it can reach 100F as the daily high). My new 1980 Spider was fuel injected and had A/C. The airconditioning was done by Fiat USA at the port of entry, with a molded under-dash unit. The A/C worked well as did the Bosch EFI, much better than the weber carb earlier Spiders but FIAT never addressed the cooling system weaknesses. Everybody knew that FIAT engines they were VEGA like in quality but the Fiat Spider was beautiful, and had a lovely top that you could see out of without obstruction, and the beige tan seats were comfortable and beautiful, and the handling and the braking was superior to the MGB, Alfa and Triumphs. The Fiat Spider looked better than all but the Spitfire in my opinion but the Spitfire had the worlds worst engine and possibly the worlds worst (least durable) rear end. So I bought the Fiat Spider new. It was a decent (good) car for three years and then it became a problem child mechanically. So you want to know how easy the TOYOTA 2TC & TOYOTA T-50 five speed went into the FIAT SPIDER? Very easy! I used everything stock from the TOYOTA. I bought a new Toyota radiator, and then used the A/C compressor from the ’78 Corolla SR5, the alternator from the ’78 Corolla, the starter from the ’78 Corolla…..everything including the stock carburetor and stock aircleaner from the ’78 Corolla, even used the gearshift lever, shift knob and boot from the ’78 Corolla. THE SHIFT LEVER came up approximately 1 7/8″ (one and seven eighths of an inch) Forward of where the FIAT lever did.
That was simple and the Toyota lever was within perfect reach.
THE ONLY MAJOR HEADSCRATCHING was due to the fact that the FIAT clutch was of CABLE OPERATION and the TOYOTA T-50 transmission was of the HYDRAULIC CLUTCH OPERATION. Seemed initially simple that we would try to use a CABLE with the TOYOTA T-50. It isn’t possible! I mean you can we tried several times, the best of those attempts was with a MUSTANG clutch cable but though the cable did not snap, the leg effort needed to work the clutch was unacceptable. You will need to resort to a juice clutch (hydraulic set-up) which isn’t too hard but it will be an expense if you cannot fabricate the engineering needed within the confines of the Fiat chassis, basically what you want to do (and must do) is closely replicate the Toyota Corolla’s set up of the hydraulic set up. Remember that. If you go the cable route, it will be horrible because you’ll wear out your left knee as it will require herculean leg strength to shift.
Oh yeah, one other thing that I did was that I installed an earlier FIAT 124 Spider Rear End (swapped the whole axle from rotor to rotor from a 4.3 to 1 , 1975 model Fiat spider that was in a wrecking yard about an hour away)
The 3.9 to 1 rear axle of the 1980 was noisy and leaking. Having friends in SCCA racing, I knew the post 1978 FIAT rear ends are time bombs and hunks of junk. Yes, I did install a custom driveshaft from the Toyota T-50 to the 1975 Spider 4.3 to 1 rear end. We kept a Toyota rear axle and the 1980 Spider rear axle assembly just in case I needed to install a Toyota, Datsun,Volvo or Pinto rear end, so that we could transfer the spring perches and panhard rod mounts. I seem to remember that the PINTO rear end was significantly wider in track. I think even the Volvo 240 rear axle was narrower than the PINTO was. Well, the unknown 1975 Spider rear axle held up well, and did not leak any gear oil, as the 1980 did. The 4.3 to 1 rear gearing of the 1975 Spider was actually perfect with the 1600cc overhead valve little hemi from Toyota (’78 Corolla’s 2TC & T-50 five speed). Everything was stock from the ’78 Corolla SR5. The ’78 Toyota electronic ignition, alternator, intake manifold, carb, aircleaner, exhaust manifold, radiator(did buy a new one because a new toyota radiator was only $100 at that time), toyota starter, toyota ac compressor, toyota alternator. Any decent backyard mechanic with reasonable skills could do everything in two weekends. I could could do it all in one day, as I’ve done this previously. Now, perhaps you might be wondering why I transplanted a 1600cc carb’d four cylinder into where there was a 2000cc fuel injected four cylinder. I had the skills to do it. I wanted to do it because the Spider was still nice on the exterior and the interior was still near perfect and the top was nice also. I chose the 2TC & T-50 five speed from the late seventies(’78 Corolla SR-5) because I believed this was the smallest sized—easiest to transplant that was of the highest quality at that point in time for donor engine. Yes, the 3TC (after 1979 is the 1800cc enlarged replacement of the 2TC…..essentially the same great engine with greater displacement). As I mentioned, the ’78 Corolla donor was from a low mileage wreck that I purchased complete for a few hundred dollars. I sold off the original FIAT engine & trans for nearly the same amount, as the buyer really wanted the Bosch efi and alternator, and ignition, given the engine was toast with a blown head gasket…..he got a working transmission too.
Overall, the 2TC Toyota Spider was as fast as the 2000cc efi ’80 Fiat Spider was. The approx 82 horsepower or so that the 2TC produced was equal or better than the approx 100 horsepower of the efi 2000cc fiat twin cam. You can hot rod the Toyota 2TC easily to well over 130 hp, although I did nothing, and kept everything stock. Gas mileage was better by 2 to 3 mpg with the carburetted Toyota 1600cc little hemi 2TC. The Toyota 2TC is also one of the lightest four cylinder engines of the seventies, so there is no weight problem to bother the nice handling of the Spider. A buddy of mine in that had a longtime automobile repair shop and machine shop did do at least a half dozen or so transplants in the Seventies & early eighties of european FORD 2.0(from the ’71-’73 pinto & ’72-’74 capri) & usa FORD 2.3 (1974 on pinto, mustang) INTO FIAT SPIDERS. I didn’t want FORD or GM if I could avoid that, although the FORD pinto engines & the GM pontiac 2.5 liter Iron Duke would still be way better than the FIAT twin cam hunk of junk. I initially looked at choosing the Toyota 20R or 22RE from the Celicas but the tiny sized 2TC / 3TC little hemi’s from the 1971 to 1983 Corollas are as good as the 20R in durability. The 2tc & 3tc like to REV where the 20R is more like a tractor with grunt torque. So I set my sights to finding a inexpensive suitable low mileage candidate. The 1978 Corolla SR5 was the first that fit all the prerequisites.
Now, mind you, before I did any of this, I had measured every single possible donor engine that I mentioned above, and recorded every possible measurement. It helps when you have direct family members that own new and used car dealerships, and have close pals that own independent auto repair shops. I do, and so I was able to measure everything while cars were on the lift, as opposed to just opening the hood and measuring. I also had connections in the auto wrecking business and so I had access to measuring anything in a salvage yard.
Now what I did with transplanting an old TOYOTA engine & five speed into an old FIAT SPIDER does not make sense today unless you are supremely skilled like me and can do everything without paying anyone else. Now if you are supremely skilled, you would not want to do it like I did all those decades ago.
You cannot beat a 1992 – 1997 MAZDA MX5 MIATA, so you’d be much better off just forgetting about any old Fiat Spider/mgb, triumph or whatever, and just buy the nicest 1992-1997 MIATA you can find. No matter what, there is no way to improve an old Italian or British car to the point that it even comes close to the quality of a 1992-1997 Miata. Go get a MIATA and forget about the hunks of junk of long ago, prior to the Spring 1989 introduction of the Miata. Post 1997 Miatas are great too.
Hey, I know, yep, there are still a lot of hardheads that are do-it-yourselfers that like challenges and constantly working on broken down cars and that pretty much explains why there are still more than a few folks with Corvair convertibles, old Triumphs, old MGBs, old Fiat Spiders, old Alfa Romeo Spiders. These all rank among the least reliable, least durable cars of all-time. They do rank among the prettiest, most stylish looking cars, even if time has showed that they were among the worst cars of their time. So yes, if you’re one of those hardcore hardcases that believes he/she has the skills necessary to overcome the many factory flaws and mechanical deficiencies of these trash beauties, then perhaps give it a go, but don’t forget that I told you so when you spend more on said trashmobile, when could could have spent a lot less on reliable Miata or even an ancient Mustang that is among the most reliable vehicle from ancient times, even if it wouldn’t compare to even the worst GM or Ford product of today.
They don’t make cars like they used to………….
Thankfully, because cars from long ago were generally really crummy, until the Japanese cars of the seventies showed just how much better they were in quality and workmanship than everybody else’s at that time.
Steve Miller said it best: Time Keeps On Slippin’ Into The Future.
Neil Young also pointed out that Rust Never Sleeps.
Keep that in mind.
You don’t want to waste your money.
Certainly, have fun with your automobile hobby, and in everything you do in life, but consider carefully as money doesn’t grow on trees. Old cars can be money pits and you’re still left with something that isn’t nearly the quality of anything produced and sold new today. Fuel economy on something vintage will be bad to terrible by todays standards and with gasoline near the $5 per gallon, you get the double whammy of poor fuel economy and poor reliability.
Oh yaay yaay, can you get Tony, or Mitch, or Bubba to fix it again, after you pay Jason the tow truck driver two hundred bucks for towing it after it strands you on the road.