a customer of mine has a 74 fiat spyder in his barn, covered up. my mom took a look at it today and told me it was beautiful and i should buy it. i was too busy working and got done too late, but i'm going back tomorrow and after we finish the job i'm going to look at it, and was given the go-ahead to deduct the asking price of the car from the balance he owes and take the car as partial payment for the job. what do you think of them? problems to check?
That is the "cherry" year to have, IMO. Last year of the little chrome bumpers, before they had to go to the "sidewalk" sized bumpers.Even though I haven't owned one in many years, I still visit FiatSpider.com from time to time; there are a lot of informative sites for them, and if nothing less, it would look really good sitting in your yard..
Rust, check carefully and thoroughly for rust. The Fiat 124 is on par with the old Vega when it comes to rust.
Beware of rust at the front sill. This tends to be effectively a death knell for the car. It's difficult to repair at this location, and seriously compromises the structure of the car. Research this to understand it.
1974 = 1800cc engine in lighter early body. Also has probably the best stock Weber they ever used. Make sure the smog pump is either disconnected (belt) or removed; they sieze and will cause the belt to jump (interference engine).
While the intersection of the front sill/rocker and the multiple panels there is important, I'd say the perforation of the upper shock tower around the control arm is probably more catastrophic and harder to fix if it's really bad.
1974 bumpers are one-year-only, so if it needs replacements you will have fun finding any.
I wrote a web feature about these cars you can read at my site: Introduction to Fiat 124s And it's Spider, not Spyder. Using the y makes you look like a geek to the Fiat crowd. 
in that case...
i did a google search and came up with both spellings and guessed.
i looked it over today. nice little car with some TLC needing done. he painted it in 1995 and it needs wetsanded/buffed to be anything nicer than a 10 footer, there are a few sags/runs. plates expired in 1996, he said up till 3 years ago he was running it every week outside then backing it back into the garage. the A pillar bottoms look clean and unmolested. i couldnt check the front shock towers, th hood cable handle is broken off. the windshield is broken , door panel tops need reupholstered, and the top isnt in the best shape but it is passable. it has brand new goodyears on it.
the battery was no good, i'm taking one back tomorrow to see if it'll fire up. he said there are 0 miles on the plugs/wires/cap/rotor/points, and it has brand new brake lines, calipers, rotors, pads. the front seats are redone as well.
provided it runs and drives and stops and if it checks out as clean as the rest of it looks, good deal at $1500? NADA says 3300 low retail, what could i get out of it if i fixed the issues, buffed the paint, and made sure it was a good sound car?
the more i think about it, as i was looking at it, it'd be a great car for someone but i don't think it is for me. thursday i'd have been all over it because i'm bad about impulse buying cars.
You view the shock towers from the wheel well, not under the hood. They rot right above the upper control arm. A big blister is almost normal. A rust fracture running around front to back like a big smiley face is bad.
I think I'd buy it and flip it, though once you drive it you may want to keep it. The windshield with frame is 4 bolts to replace if you can find another one (Spider 2000 frames are different). Tops aren't expensive and can be DIY but they are fiddly to get on straight. Door panels are available repro.
I dont think id try to start it after sitting that long without changing the timing belt.
74 is the only "1800" model I have never been able to find. I have every model year from 75 to 78m but never the coveted 74.
From what I understand, the "one year only" bumpers only covered cars from MD and California, those had heavy rubber "points" that added some impact resistance to the car (think 74 914) but the rest of the cars got the regular chrome bumpers that came on previous model cars.
As always rust and timing belts. The latter is easier to replace thanit is to fix the previous.
Check the sills (remove the covers) the shock mount/ suspension turrets in the front. The rear floor around the suspension points, and the rear fender arches. The sills towards the rear are also very bad as the tubes that channel water from the convertable top did NOT exit the car, but simply dumped all the water into the inside of the sill (Where the car was only primered, not painted).
Bolt on/bolt off body parts are limited to the sill covers, the small covers behind the rear wheels, trunk, hood, doors, and the cowl. EVERYTHING else is welded on.. this includes the complicated front fenders (made up of three seperate parts and welded together) and front and rear valences.
Timing belts are another issue. Fiat only ever recomended 25,000 miles for it. I used to do mine (when I was driving the car) every spring as part of the get ready for summer preperations. It was just cheap and safe insurance and I got to the point where it only took me about half an hour or so to do the job.
Alternators and regulartors can cause pronblems as as can other typical italian car electrical malidies.. When in doubt, remove the grounds, clean them up, and make sure you tighten them properly when reinstalling them. 99% of all fiat electrical problems are directly attributed to bad grounds due to the aluminum ends crimped onto the wire and then bolted to the steel body. Electrolysis in action!
The guy above me said:From what I understand, the "one year only" bumpers only covered cars from MD and California, those had heavy rubber "points" that added some impact resistance to the car (think 74 914) but the rest of the cars got the regular chrome bumpers that came on previous model cars.
Back to school for you.
You're half right. The big rubber blocks were as you described. However, in 1974 (only) the rest of the country got the old style chrome bumpers, but with a totally useless low speed absorbtion mounting system.Rubber blocks on the rear and I think hydraulic pistons on the front. While the bumpers look the same externally, the mountings are totally different and the bumpers do not interchange.
Was 72 the last year for the split rear bumper, or am I imagining it?
ddv, the link did not work for me.
Try this linky again Maybe I forgot the http stuff. Last year for split rear bumper was 1974. Useless bumper trivia follows. 68-73 front bumpers (USA) are the same. 68-69, 70-73 rear bumpers are how they interchange. 74 front and rear are unique. 75-85 all use the tubular bumpers and they swap around.
and those tubular bumpers are HEAVY! I think around 70+ pounds a piece (been a while since I picked one up) with it's attached hydraulic ram system.
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