1971 Fiat 124 Spider from UK and Ireland - Comments

Engine blew.

Gearbox lost 4th.

Rust.

A unique and somewhat beautiful car. When I am rich I will get a more reliable version of this car.

1971 Spiders do not have 2litre engines as standard. You should really point out that you have upgraded it.

Great looking car, but a' bag of hammers'at 50000 miles...

1 chassis legs cracked engine/frame parted company with body. enormous problem to repair.2.roller bearing on cam belt tensioner collapsed. new engine.3.same thing happened a year later.4 rust forces repair and bare metal respray.6.diff gears start to whine and collapse. new diff.7 front wheel falls off and dissapears on motorway. new identical cromodoro ordered and takes 1 year to arrive. car sold inter alia.8 heater stops working fan goes on fire.

9.window winders (cable) malfunctioned every 4/5 months. replacement of same is a job for experienced conjurer

10.quarter light catcher keep falling off, as they are glued to glass.11 heater control cables break.12 windscreen cracked whilst traversing bumpy road. replacement fell out a few months later.

Apart from that it was a reliable little box

sean browne dublin ireland.

I've been owning a 1971 124 spider (a BS1 / 1608 cc in fact) for more than 10 years now. The first years were spent on an extensive restoration of the car. My experience is that when this is done properly and the car receives regular maintenance (especially on the ignition, the timing belt and valve adjustment), it proves to be an unexpectedly reliable car. The only thing to keep in mind is that spiders don't like rain. Treat your spider with love and care and you'll be rewarded with lots of reliable, topless driving entertainment.

Peter - the Netherlands.

I'm reading these with great nostalgia. I bought a yellow 1971 Spyder in 1977 out in Colorado, and drove it all over the front range and back to New Hampshire, until 1982. Second gear synchro died so a transmission rebuild was needed. Then a valve job, for which I removed and replaced the head myself. But it was finally done in by serious rot, especially on NH salty winter roads. Evidently Fiat were never great at metallurgy. Probably a Miata is the logical successor to this car, but I've gone BMW.

I have owned a 1973 Fiat Spider for 12 years. 2 head gaskets, 2 master cylinders, 1 complete brake job, 1 new top, interior redone 1 time, rear end gears once. Love it more all the time. They were built to love and repair as needed.