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Above, the dashboard. I
added the padded steering wheel cover and "classic"
chrome rings around the gauges in the original left-side
section; and replaced the black-rimmed oil pressure
gauge and ammeter that a previous owner put in the
home-made center panel, with a new oil pressure gauge
and voltmeter by Auto Meter, from International Auto
Parts. I prefer voltmeters to ammeters. The clock had a
cloudy glass, and was replaced with a new one bought on
eBay.
The speedometer goes up
to 140 MPH, which scores intimidation points, but may
not indicate reality. I'm not sure what the actual top
speed is, but the car does go fast, and seems fast even
when it's going slow. My '74 Fiat would do an indicated
130 MPH, and it was heavier, had a smaller engine, and
just a single Weber carb. |
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▲Here's
a beautiful new door panel and seat upholstery,
purchased from Bayless, and installed at Carl Massafra's
Auto Body in Milford CT. The photo also shows one of the
Boston Acoustics Micro 80X II "home" speakers below the
dash. I also installed a pair of Pioneer
TS-TRX40
self-contained speakers in the back seat to fill in the
sound field and give me more volume to overcome road
noise. |
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| ▲I
modified the front ashtray to hold a cell phone, and
replaced the rear ashtray with a collapsible cup holder,
made in Germany by Fischer
Automotive Systems. It holds a bright red aluminum water
bottle from Eddie Bauer. Most people think it's a fire
extinguisher. The rear seat is too small for adult human
beings with legs, but Fiat apparently thinks that it's
OK for children and amputees to smoke in the car. I
don't. Spiderman came with simple lap seatbelts. I
replaced them with 3-point belts from Bayless. |
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▲Here's
the Delphi SKYFI XM satellite receiver, and the front ashtray
converted to hold a cellphone. The red phone is a fake,
for display in car shows. |
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| ▲Here's
one of the Sun gages installed by a previous owner in
the home-made center panel.There were also two broken toggle switches in the
"unofficial" panel, with no obvious functions. I replaced
them with nice rocker switches with built-in LEDs -- but
so far they're just hole fillers. I'll have to think of
something for them to do. I may set up an indicator to
show when the engine fan is running, with a manual
switch to use if the thermostat doesn't do its job. |
 ◄The
previous owner had installed a pair of excellent
Infinity speakers in the doors. Unfortunately, the left
speaker cone had cracked and it periodically cut out,
and the window winders scraped on the speaker grills. |
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| ▲The
car has black carpeting, which shows lots of dirt. so I
put in tan - brown - black tweed coco mats from
International Auto Parts -- very classy! |
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