This is the history (as much as we can find) about our 1982 Fiat Spider 2000.

Is this what ZZ Top had in mind when they penned Sharp Dressed Man?

    We purchased this Fiat in June, 2000.  The last time I drove a Fiat was in 1974, and it was only a year old!  So we have very little basis for comparison.  As Barney Fife would say, "I knew she was special the first time I threw a leg over her saddle."

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    The Spider pictured above and to the right (along with it's stable mate, a 1973 Jensen Healey) is a 1982 Fiat Spider 2000, built in December, 1981.  It is equipped with air conditioning and a luggage rack.  It is light metallic green ("factory" color of Smoke Metallic Grey), with a tan interior and tan top.  She's one of the last sold under the Fiat name as later in 1982 Pininfarina took over sales and distribution as Fiat withdrew from this country.  Our car was sold in June, 1982 to a fellow in Charlotte, NC, and she stayed pretty close to home for the next few years.  For the 8 years after her sale, we have no history on this car, but in 1990 she was purchased by a man named Tony, appropriately enough.  She was his second Spider, having sold his first as his young family out grew it. 

    Tony wanted this Spider to be "special", especially in the horsepower category.  So, after some research and consultation he handed her over to the Baucom's Sport Car Authority (SCA) in Matthews, NC.  There, he told Gary, John & Libby, he just wanted it to go faster.  And they made it happen.  According to SCA, where they've raced Fiat Spiders for 27 years, the car dyno'ed out about 98 horses before they went to work on it.  They changed  to "street performance" cams, shaved the head, flowed the head, ported and polished the valves, installed 9.8:1 compression ration pistons and a set of 4-2-1 headers.  Non-engine related modifications include removal and shaving of rear springs to lower the ride height and Koni shocks at all 4 corners.  Finally a set of 14 inch Panasport wheels were installed and the brake system was beefed up, along with a heavy duty clutch replacement. 

When SCA rolled the little green Spider back across the dyno, she was kicking 145-147 horses! 

   Not only did Tony make sure the Spider had a performance edge, he also made sure she didn't leave him stranded and had the water pump, all hoses and heater valve replaced, rebuilt the alternator, rebuilt the a/c compressor, rebuilt the front end and added an Ansa exhaust system.  To improve the looks and comfort of the car, Tony replaced the interior with a "Mercedes" upholstery kit and installed new carpet and a modern, digitally tuned AM/FM/Cassette stereo with a 100 watt amp under the passenger seat driving 2 four-way speakers in the back seat and 2 dual cone speakers in the map pocket locations.  He also added fog lights "pulled in" the front and rear bumpers.  It's a subtle difference, but SCA removed both bumpers, shortened the mounting shocks for each of them and replaced them, reducing the front and rear overhangs and giving the car back some of the "chrome bumper charm" many seem to think it lost after 1974.

    By this time, Tony and the Spider had worked their way down around the Raleigh/Durham area.  For one reason or another, Tony decided about 1998 that he had had all the fun he could stand in the Fiat and sold it to Jim.  Jim is apparently a purveyor of classy cars (as the only time I met him he was driving a BMW convertible), but did not keep the Fiat long and sold her to his son-in-law, Steve.  Now, the Fiat has moved even further east.  Steve kept her up and well maintained until his cabin on the river flooded as a result of a hurricane.  While he loved the little Spider he wanted more to get his river home back in order, so he parked the Spider in September of 1999 and did not touch (as in move or start) it until March 2000.  He quickly realized what a mistake this was as he had to replace the top (mildewed), tires (dry rotted), battery (completely dead) and some steering components that had developed some hesitation in their operation over the winter.  Shortly after bring her out of mothballs, Steve saw my ad on FiatSpider.com looking for a fuel injected "nice" Spider.  After some long distanced dickering, we finally got together (thanks to Southwest Airlines) and consummated our deal at the Raleigh/Durham airport on June 3, 2000. 

    Since we took possession of the car, we have installed a new console cover, rebuilt the trunk floor, installed a CD changer, installed a roll bar, and had a "custom" boot made from the left over "Mercedes" vinyl.  We've also moved the fog light switch to the driver's side power window switch location on the "upper" console, and replaced all the dash lights with amber colored lamps to co-ordinate with our amber digital radio display.  Because they were so worn out and floppy, we removed the sunvisors and found we really like the extra windshield space.  To help with early morning and late afternoon driving a 4 inch band of heavy tint was applied across the top of the windshield.  Upon installing the roll bar, we discovered it interfered with the interior rear view mirror.   We removed it, intending to reinstall it with an extension to make it hang lower in the car, but we ran across a neat and unusual dash mounted mirror from a Cobra replica supplier and used it instead.  The lack of sunvisors and the dash mounted mirror at a certain splash of "character" to the Fiat's already unique personality.