Your classic: Fiat 124 Spider
Growing up in an Italian household, it’s not surprising that I wanted to own an Italian sports car.
The dream is a Ferrari 250GT SWB or Lusso but, unable to afford a Ferrari, I was drawn to the Fiat 124 Spider, which shares many design cues with its more expensive cousins.
The 124 Sport Spider was manufactured for a healthy span from 1966-’80, followed by other variants such as the Spider 2000.
The front-engined, rear-drive, disc-braked car was designed by the late Tom Tjaarda at Pininfarina.
In short, it was a car that fitted all my criteria and was not going to cost anywhere near the Ferrari range.
After many years of researching and searching for my perfect Fiat, I stumbled across this car in Sydney, Australia.
To my surprise, I found an early chrome-bumper Spider sitting under a cover in a workshop. These models are rare because Fiat never sold them in Australia.
My initial thought upon seeing the car for the first time was ‘man, this is going to need some work’. It was not running at the time, and there was a substantial amount of rust.
Determined to have my piece of Italian beauty, I made a courageous decision and purchased the car.
