HealeyRick wrote:
> Anyone that bad mouths the '70s FIATs never drove one. I owned two 124
> Spiders, a 1.4 and a 1.6 that made the MGB of the day look sick. Only problem
> I had was plug fouling, that was cured with a CD ignition. Otherwise, that
> motor would run up to 7k rpm all day long. Also had an X 1/9 that would out
> handle just about everything (ok, don't lift the throttle in mid-corner). The
> euro models were even better and if you had the bucks, crazy Al Consentino of
> FAZA in Brewster, NY could hook you up with the Abarth parts to get your car
> running like it was meant to.My first 124 got totalled out by a drunk in a
> Pontiac Bonneville, but the others served me well for over 100k mi. Rust,
> eventually killed 'em, but they were great cars, nonetheless,
>
My first ever bought-new car was a 131 Mirafiore. It ran just great
until the front suspension bushings wore out and the cam belt stripped
at 145K The cam belt was my fault. I left it on for almost twice the
recommended service interval. We gave it to my brother in law who fixed
the engine and dropped it into a 124. Prior to that point, we didn't
have to do anything other than regular maintenance.
Fiat's had the same problem as the British cars of the time. The fscking
dealers were incompetent. I took mine back to the dealer for its 1000
mile check. Took it to a different dealer for a tune-up and they found
the #3 spark plug cross-threaded. Neither dealer would fix it under
warranty. After that, I did my own work as the warranty wasn't worth
anything anyway.
Fiat makes a nice car. I just hope they put more emphasis on their
dealer network this time.
Cheers,
Dave Ambrose
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