1981 Fiat Other

Convertible

Gasoline

Manual

ZFAAS00B9B8179277

Clear

Extremely rare Pininfarina 50th (Gold) anniversary, rust free California blue plate car. Clear California title and current registration paid till 11/10/2014. Fiat Spider needs no introduction to Fiat collectors, but for others it’s worth noting that the engine was designed by ex-Ferrari chief engineer Aurelio Lampredi , body was designed by Tom Tjaarda of Pininfarina who also designed a similar looking (but now costing a million or so more) Ferrari 275 GTS. Interestingly to commemorate the Anniversary , Pininfarina has chosen Fiat Spider and not any of many Ferraris it designed. See Fiat Spider in Wikipedia - this Edition is mentioned as most eagerly sought after by collectors. This 50th Anniversary edition has the sequence number 677 (of 1000 ever produced), visible on a dash commemorative plaque and on both sides of the body. The cars were all painted "Champagne gold" and featured tan interior with a brown dashboard and upper door panels, versus black on other non-Anniversary model cars, upscale leather/vinyl finish not present on standard models, with stitching on lower dash, center console, doors. Special steering wheel and rare 14” alloy wheels (both present on this car), power windows. 37,014 on the odometer, which perhaps someone could claim as car’s mileage :-) but I assume it is 137,014 The car is mostly original except for some restoration (mechanical rebuilt, reupholstered seats, paint job, tires, convertible top etc). All the steel (body, floors, rocker panels etc) has never been rusted and has never needed restoration, the car has been taken a good care of by a series of California enthusiasts. Originally sold by Los Gatos Motors, Los Gatos CA on 11/25/81 to a San Jose resident (as per the original warranty and service book). Original user manual also included. Around $9,000 in mechanical and cosmetic restoration receipts from renewed Fiat expert Joe’s Fiat Service in Redwood City CA within the last 10,000 miles/few years. Starts easily, drives well including smooth cruising at highway speeds, rebuilt front end provides enjoyable handling. Appears lowered closer to the European specs – better looks and better handing. Original spare wheel, jack, original toolkit. Luggage rack installed. Recent cloth roof (not cheap vinyl) looks almost new. Recent sun visors which otherwise always sag in older cars. New battery Aug 2013. Brand new original Magneti Marelli alternator (was being sold by dealers for $550). Nice paint job in the original gold color. Two scratches on the left front fender as circled on one of the photo (possibly could be buffed out). Magnet sticks to the body all around, obviously no rust repairs ever, but some small dents were smoothed out with bondo as observed with paint thickness gauge/magnet. Like with an original California car of this vintage, there are some dash cracks around vents and shrinkage near windshield, but a dash cover is included to cover the cracks if the buyer decides to enjoy it as-is. Front license plate on straps to avoid drilling of the bumper. Two sets of keys. A nice collectible investment you can also drive and enjoy daily without breaking the bank through purchase or maintenance costs. Reliable Bosch fuel injection takes away the hassle of earlier (pre 1980 cars) carburetors. While the car has been well kept and lived in dry California (so the original floors, rocker panels etc look excellent under the car), it’s a 33 year old vehicle which has been seldom driven recently and it is recommended that it has a thorough inspection by a professional mechanic to take care of any potential minor issues. You may be able to:1. Find another 50th Anniversary Spider (even though it will not be easy as most of the Spiders of that age have rusted out and got destroyed, how many could be left from the 1000 made and how many are for sale?)2. Find another well preserved, unmolested rust free California Spider3. Find another Spider with thousands of $ spent on mechanical and cosmetic restorationBut you will have a very hard time finding all those 3 qualities in a single car.I will sell worldwide and will help with worldwide shipment after receiving a full exact payment through a wire transfer. On May-13-14 at 09:17:08 PDT, seller added the following information: Please note that upon further checking I've found out that the Magneti Marelli alternator is 55A and starting with 1981 Fiat has increased alternator output to 65A to deal with increased number of electrical devices. Thus I have purchased a 65A alternator and the car will be coming with a generic 65A alternator of the same specifications as installed in 1981 models instead of the 55A one.