Michael's Museum
A digitized visit to the vast and half-vast collections of Michael N. Marcus

"The only difference between men and boys is the price of our toys."
"Whoever dies with the most toys, wins."
"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."
    spider1.htm   updated 4 APR 05

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Citius, Altius, Fortius.  "faster, higher, stronger"
 

(Olympic motto & Fiat owner's dream)
 
"Fix It Again, Tony."

(Fiat owner's plea)
Story of purchase is below photo.   engine   exterior  interior  audio  my other Fiats  more pictures

▲Here's "Spiderman," Michael's new toy.
1978 Fiat 124 Sport Spider. 2-L engine. Dual Webers. 65,000 miles on 4/27/04.
It's 26 years old, but I waited 30 years for it.
My 30-year dream came true on 2/27/04. I bought a Spider.

In 1974 I bought a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. I really wanted the Spider then, but needed a back seat. My 80-year-old grandmother, who was often in that back seat, thought I'd never be a success until I owned a Cadillac. But she admitted that the car felt "geared to the road." Even she felt the magic.

I removed most of the emissions controls, gave it an Ansa exhaust, Serra air cleaner, Bilstein shocks, Heathkit electronic igntion, racing steering wheel, super lighting, BWA alloy wheels with fat Michelins, and lots of TLC -- including oil changes before and after driving in all-night rallies. I bought ArmorAll by the gallon, and washed the coupe several times each week.

The engine was clean enough to fry an egg on. My mechanic, Ugo, said "Anybody else come in, I fixa the engine, then I washa my hands. When you come in, I washa my hands before I fixa the engine."

At that time I was an advertising copywriter. My automotive clients included Castrol and Volvo, and I proudly wore my big Fiat belt buckle in meetings with the boring Volvo people.

Whenever it was parked, "Fiata" drew crowds of people. It could go over 130 MPH, as steady as a train on a track, keep up with Ferraris on twisty roads, and could go through snow where FWDs had trouble.

OTOH, the rear window leaked when it rained, the air conditioner couldn't be used on hot days, the oil pump failed during an all-night rally ($1500 repair), and I had to disconnect the battery to keep it from discharging when I parked at the train station.

That car was an absolutely gorgeous, fast-running, great-handling, piece of junk.

Ultimately, the Feds made Fiat buy it back from me because the engine was in danger of falling out. I had already bought a Brava for my wife, and I then replaced the coupe with a Strada for myself. (They were both great-handling pieces of junk.)

Since then, I've had a number of boring cars from Ford and Chrysler; but I always dreamed of getting a Spider. I even saved my stock of Fram PH7 oil filters, Marelli ignition pieces, and NGK spark plugs. I still have my tune-up test equipment, Chilton manuals and my 1976 Bayless catalog. I even have a bright red Fiat driving suit, that I'll never fit into again.

In February of 2004, I spotted an absolutely gorgeous low-mi '78 at a nearby dealer.

It had been a cold, gray winter here in Connecticut; but on 2/27 the weather was glorious -- a perfect top-down Spider day. I went out to lunch while the car was prepped for my test drive.

The restaurant was nearly empty, but three guys were at the table across from ours. They were talking about cars.

One of the guys, sitting a few feet away from me and talking about cars on this perfect top-down Spider day, was Paul Newman.

I took this to be a good omen.

 
Spiderman spent the winter of 2004-05 with other tomato-colored cars at AutoSerra in Valhalla NY, getting new engine mounts and carb tweaks.

Bunkmates included three Ferraris and a tiny Fiat 500 -- not much bigger than a grocery cart at Costco.
JOURNAL ENTRY 3/1/04:  I took delivery late on Friday. Saturday was gloomy -- not a Spider day, but adequate for demonstrating to the doubtful wife that my new toy actually works. I spent most of the day surveying, staring and fondling, and making to-do and to-buy lists.

I also replaced a battery cable, transplanted the shift knob from my long-gone 74 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, tightened some screws, removed a dead alarm speaker, discovered that there was a CD slot with a Creedence Clearwater disk behind the flip-down radio panel, and cleaned some engine grime.

Sunday, as its name promises but too-seldom delivers, was sunny -- the long awaited top-down Spider day. I thought it was a perfect day to go for a long solo ride. After a few shifts and some fast curves, I realized that I was thinking with the wrong vocabulary.

This was much more than "going for a ride." It's certainly way beyond "transportation" and "traveling" and "going somewhere." I was enjoying the thrill of DRIVING, a thrill that most people don't know exists, and even fewer get to experience. Spider owners are very lucky people.
▲On 5/15/04, I showed Spiderman at a car show for the first time, and took home a First Place award for best of all cars made in the 1970s. There was a wide range of vehicles -- but very few sports cars -- and the Fiat drew lots of attention. On 6/6 it won an "Award for Excellence" trophy at another show; on 7/18 it won a second-place trophy in the sports car class at a show, and on 9/26 it won a first prize over all!

 

◄Here's my first award plaque. WOW!

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▲I can't drive the Spider all the time, but I'm always thinking about it
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