This is the story of my acquisition and upgrade of a 1979 Fiat Convertible. All the names are fake because I don't want to talk about individuals and companies without their permission. In late May 2014, I was driving down Alberta St. (fake) and I saw a small white convertible for sale. I passed it a couple more times, getting more information. It had new paint (original color), new top, new interior and new tires. I talked to my wife about it; she was used to my interest in European cares and the money would not come out of her budget so no problem there.
I made an offer to Allen but it subject to a mechanical inspection. I owned a Fiat Spyder when I lived in Pittsburgh and it had rust problems. Allen told me their was a women who was also interested in the car. She had one when she was in school and loved the car. I was concerned that Allen might drop me and go for for the lady as I had no money down.
However he stuck to our deal. I know many American mechanics don't like to work on Fiats. So I went looking for a local mechanic to do the inspection. I found Mark's Garage in Kenner who would do the inspection on the Fiat at our convenience. I parked my 2005 Mercedes at Allen's house and Allen drove me over to Mark's with the top down. I noticed the heater was on but paid no attention. Mark, true to his word, immediately put the car on the rack. There was no rust and the compression was good. Mark charged $75 and offered to adjust the clutch for free after I bought it.
The next day, June 5, Allen took me to the bank. I went in and withdrew a stack of hundred's; when I came out Allen counted the stack and was satisfied. We went next store to do the title, tax and insurance. The only surprise was that I needed my insurance company to issue proof of coverage; that was done without a hitch. The cost was about 10% of the car price.
Allen took me to his house to transfer the car. I was happy. Allen gave me a car cover as well as a box of parts including visors and seat belts.
I parked the car in the garage and left it for a few days. I was thinking about priorities to bring the car to my standards. I needed seat belts and an inspection sticker. There was a rear view mirror in the box which needed to be mounted on the windshield.
On the week-end my son came over and wanted to take it for a ride. He is a good driver that appreciates a neat car. We went for a spin around the neighborhood. Has he pulled into the garage the was a large release of fluid and steam. We tried to open the hood but the release mechanism failed. The hood had been opened without a problem in the past so this was a surprise. The fluid released was water, not oil. Hopefully the engine did not freeze. I considered various alternatives over the weekend.
On Monday June 23, MG wreckers brought the car to Mark's garage in Kenner with a request to fix the hood release, fix the overheating and get an inspection sticker. Mark's mechanic found a problem with the master cylinder. I searched the internet for 1979 Fiat Spyder parts and Venture parts shipped me a hood cable and a new master cylinder on July 7.
On July 10 the car was ready to go. When I got there I found the bill was a lot more than I expected. I was told the overheating was controlled by the fan switch on the dash board. This car used an electric fan to increase heat removal from the radiator; originally it was operated by a thermal switch but now it was a manual switch..
In addition to the large bill, I found a dent in the right rear fender. Mark argued that the dent was already there but it was not. Finally he agreed to have it fixed by a nearby body shop.
To add to my frustration, as I dove home, I found the car still overheated; the fan had little effect. It was a long ride home.
I took a few days to figure out how to move forward to bring the car to my standards.
I diagnosed the heating problem as a stuck thermostat. The thermostat reduces flow through the radiator in cold weather so it can heat up sooner. When I was a kid we fixed overheating by throwing away the thermostat. We don't need it in New Orleans weather.
I made an offer to Allen but it subject to a mechanical inspection. I owned a Fiat Spyder when I lived in Pittsburgh and it had rust problems. Allen told me their was a women who was also interested in the car. She had one when she was in school and loved the car. I was concerned that Allen might drop me and go for for the lady as I had no money down.
However he stuck to our deal. I know many American mechanics don't like to work on Fiats. So I went looking for a local mechanic to do the inspection. I found Mark's Garage in Kenner who would do the inspection on the Fiat at our convenience. I parked my 2005 Mercedes at Allen's house and Allen drove me over to Mark's with the top down. I noticed the heater was on but paid no attention. Mark, true to his word, immediately put the car on the rack. There was no rust and the compression was good. Mark charged $75 and offered to adjust the clutch for free after I bought it.
The next day, June 5, Allen took me to the bank. I went in and withdrew a stack of hundred's; when I came out Allen counted the stack and was satisfied. We went next store to do the title, tax and insurance. The only surprise was that I needed my insurance company to issue proof of coverage; that was done without a hitch. The cost was about 10% of the car price.
Allen took me to his house to transfer the car. I was happy. Allen gave me a car cover as well as a box of parts including visors and seat belts.
I parked the car in the garage and left it for a few days. I was thinking about priorities to bring the car to my standards. I needed seat belts and an inspection sticker. There was a rear view mirror in the box which needed to be mounted on the windshield.
On the week-end my son came over and wanted to take it for a ride. He is a good driver that appreciates a neat car. We went for a spin around the neighborhood. Has he pulled into the garage the was a large release of fluid and steam. We tried to open the hood but the release mechanism failed. The hood had been opened without a problem in the past so this was a surprise. The fluid released was water, not oil. Hopefully the engine did not freeze. I considered various alternatives over the weekend.
On Monday June 23, MG wreckers brought the car to Mark's garage in Kenner with a request to fix the hood release, fix the overheating and get an inspection sticker. Mark's mechanic found a problem with the master cylinder. I searched the internet for 1979 Fiat Spyder parts and Venture parts shipped me a hood cable and a new master cylinder on July 7.
On July 10 the car was ready to go. When I got there I found the bill was a lot more than I expected. I was told the overheating was controlled by the fan switch on the dash board. This car used an electric fan to increase heat removal from the radiator; originally it was operated by a thermal switch but now it was a manual switch..
In addition to the large bill, I found a dent in the right rear fender. Mark argued that the dent was already there but it was not. Finally he agreed to have it fixed by a nearby body shop.
To add to my frustration, as I dove home, I found the car still overheated; the fan had little effect. It was a long ride home.
I took a few days to figure out how to move forward to bring the car to my standards.
I diagnosed the heating problem as a stuck thermostat. The thermostat reduces flow through the radiator in cold weather so it can heat up sooner. When I was a kid we fixed overheating by throwing away the thermostat. We don't need it in New Orleans weather.
