Sold the Pig of Plastic

[81pumagtc]

Hey everybody:

I decided to sell the Pig of Plastic.

It was not an easy decision. I was rear-ended in Dorothy's Honda Fit, and it shook me up a bit. Especially, since I would have been driving the Puma and there is no question that if I had, I would have been seriously injured.

There is no steel in the back of the car other than the engine...hard to have a lot steel back there when the car only weighs a little over 1500 pounds.

The car was sold to a collector in New York, and when the car was picked up, it was loaded on a truck marked Lamborghini that contained THREE new Lamborghinis!

Probably worth more than the entire town of Perry...

Anyway, once the car was gone, it was time to find a new car that was a little more substantial.

I decided on a (oh my God...it's not a VW) FIAT.

I picked up a very, very low mileage 1972 Fiat 124 coupe,

For those of you who have never even heard of one of these (and you are not alone, they are quite rare) these are the closed coupe of the Fiat 124 Spyder. Very unusual.

Set your Way-Back meters to 1972,

The Fiat 124 Sport Coupe has a dual-overhead cam 1600cc engine.

Four-wheel disc brakes.

A five-speed transmission.

50-50 weight balance, and it will hold four people.

Pretty unusual way back then...not many cars like that, mostly found on a few Alfa's and Lancia's, and of course on Ferrari's etc. All cars WAY out of my price range.

The car is rust-free, but the paint, while very shiny, could be better from a bad repaint.

I talked with a local restorer about what has to be done to get it ready to paint next year, and he mentioned that he had some time right now and could take on another car...and of course (being the idiot I am...) said, do mine.

I am going to have a bare-metal respray done in the original tan. He has stripped the most of the body chemically. It seems to be a very honest car. It has had the front fender and passenger door replaced some time in the last 42 year. Since these cars have the fenders welded to the body, that involved cutting and welding the corner, and a dent in the door was pulled out. He will clean these up, and lead in the repair. To help keep the cost down, I am doing a lot of minor work on the car in his shop.

Here are a few pictures of the car as it was derived to his shop.



The car with the bumpers removed.



The car as delivered. The body was designed by the guy who designed the Ferrari 250 GT...which is pretty good company! Very clean...a good era for Italian design.



The back of the car.



The interior of the car.



The back seat.



1600cc dual-overhead cam engine. This engine was designed by ex-Ferrari engineer Aurelio Lampredi, and a 2000cc version was used to win back-to-back World Rally championships!

It will be fun working on it. I have had a lot of cars through the years, but I have never had one done. Fortunately, the Puma went for a good price, so I should be able to have this all done for what it sold for.

Unlike the Puma, it's possible to get almost everything for the car, and I am going to lower the car a bit, and switch the rubber hoses over to braided stainless. I may even add 50 horsepower by fitting a header, adding dual carbs, and bumping the compression a bit..that would bring it up to 170HP which should make a 2200 pound car fly!

These cars are far more rare than the Fiat 124 Spyders, and were only 300,000 made from 1967 to 1975. 

I really enjoy the GoodVolks, and hopefully you won't throw me out because I don't have a VW or VW based car...




Dave Riedle

[thedirtydutchman]

Neat car!

[dubfreak1]

WHAT! NO PUMA? Say it is not true..................

The Fiat does look to be a nice example of an unusual car. It should make a very comfortable car to cruise in.

No Puma? Hard to grasp the idea. Time marches on, but it will be missed.

[MadMike]

So sorry for ur loss ,,,,Gain .
I'll probably feel the same when the 917 is gone

[vw1s]

Ok, ok, I guess it's gonna be me....
F ix
I t
A gain
T ony ;D

Seriously though, I liked that little kitty cat! (Especially the wheels!)
The Fiat is cool, a nice example, and definitely different! Congrats!!

[dansam]

Im surprised to hear this news! Also I am actually familiar with that model of vehicle as we had a white one down the block from where I grew up in N.J.
It was a neat little car but had many mechanical maladies which ended with a one way tow. Im sure it will be a fun little car as long as you keep up on the mechanical. I think you can actually buy a turbo kit for It :)Hope we still run into you at a show or two as you are a very pleasant person to be around.

Dan

[81pumagtc]

Dan:

Doubt you will be able to get rid of me that easily. Unless everyone votes to kick my fat a$$ out of the GoodVolks, I plan to stay a member...I like everybody here better than any other group I have been a member of!

The MotoGuzzi people were great too. (See, I got in Moto Guzzi Bren...)

You can indeed add a turbo, and you can build the same engine as the World Championship rally engine with off-the-shelf parts, which would make it a REALLY exciting car.

There are kits out there to do 300HP engines, but I think that would be a bit much in a 2100 pound car.

I think I would look to make the brakes even better first.

The repaint is coming along nicely...the Coupe is beginning to look like a Delorian now that all of paint is off the body. Starting to get an impressive collection of NOS parts like european tail lights for the body. :-)


Dave Riedle

[vw1302]

Let's schedule that Vote, I say, your out a here.

J/K, wouldn't be the same without ya Dave :-)

[81pumagtc]

Dave:

Maybe you should just schedule a vote to see if everybody just want to have me killed...




Dave

[dubfreak1]

Mar 8, 2015 15:12:23 GMT -5 81pumagtc said:

Dan:


The MotoGuzzi people were great too. (See, I got in Moto Guzzi Bren...)

Dave Riedle

Sure, you've already forgotten all about us Ducati people.........................

[81pumagtc]

Had Ducatis, too. Used to go to Grattan every year to run them.

Old time Duck owners = FUN

New Duck owners (after they became THE bike to have) = A$$holes

I don't have them any more...

You, however, would obviously be the first category!


Dave