My Fiat obsession started in high school.  I had been combing the local car lots for something that would catch my eye for around $1000.  I came across a little red fiat spider.  If I remember correctly they wanted about $800.  I was all excited and knowing very little about the car, got my dad to come look at it and test drive it with me.  Although it ran, it didn't look like it would for much longer, everything looked jury-rigged.  Needless to say my dad talked me out of it. 

Heartbroken I left, but at least I now knew what I wanted.  I was on a mission to find a Fiat spider.  I finally found one in the local paper for $1,000.  My dad and I drove out to look at it.  As soon as we pulled up in the guy's driveway I went crazy.  I told my dad I didn't care what was wrong with it, I would fix it!  This was the car for me.  It was Midnight blue with a tan top and interior.  The paint was still shiny, the interior was in good shape aside from the usual cracked up center console and it had an engine from another spider with only 40,000 miles on it.  After a thorough inspection finding a few small things wrong, as could be expected with an 11-year-old car, it was MINE.  It was a 1979 Fiat spider 2000 with an 1800 engine.  I kept it for 2 years and put almost every penny my minimum-wage high school job would allow me.  I had it repainted, restored the interior as good as I could and fiddled with and tweaked everything I could back to great shape.  But when college came around I needed to have something I could trust to make the four hour one way journey from home to school.  So I had to sell the Fiat for a less romantic but more reliable Nissan truck. 

All through college (LSU) I told myself as soon as I graduate I would find a deal on a spider and get another one.  Well, 1-1/2 years after I graduated I now own a beautiful 1981 spider.  I had been looking high and low for a spider for around $2,000.  I scoured the local paper, and internet.  Then one day on fiatspider.com I came across a 1981 spider with only 56,000 miles, no rust, almost new paint, new tires, and all original parts for only $2,300.  I couldn't believe it.  Then I saw at the bottom of the ad, the location... Billings Montana.... My first thought was "damn it I can't ever find a good deal anywhere near where I live", Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  After a few days of beating myself up and getting quotes on shipping charges I decided the only way I could afford it was to go get it myself, and now, before someone else got it. 

Everyone thought I was out of my mind, and justly so.  Who in their right mind would drive from Louisiana to Montana, 2,000 miles each way, to get a $2,000 car... ME.  I could barley scrape the money together for the car.  In fact it was money I had been saving for a new roof for my house.  The heck with the roof, it could last another year or so until I could recoup from this fabulous purchase.  I called around to rental places but it would have cost me about $250 for the dolly and I didn't want to haul the dolly both ways.  Besides that was $250 more plus gas, food and lodging (lodging ended up being about free, as you will see later) I would have to come up with.  The trip was starting to look too expensive for me.  Then I found that one of my friends had a homemade tow-bar, I was scared to see what his homemade tow-bar looked like.  Could I trust this contraption to pull a car through mountains for 2,000 miles?  When I saw it I was relieved.  He had built it for his dad to pull a tractor.  It was super heavy duty.  I called the Fiat owner and got him to measure the distance between the bumper struts so we could make a bracket for the tow-bar to fit the car. 

I got all my plans together and a friend to come along on the trip to help drive.  Then about 2 days before the trip my buddy bailed and said it was crazy to drive in November through Colorado and Wyoming into Montana with a two wheel drive Nissan and then try to return with another car hitched behind.  What if it snowed?  What if the Nissan couldn't pull the load through the mountains?  I got sick of all the what ifs and crap everyone kept feeding to me.  I was committed, that seems like an appropriate word.  I was going no matter what my friends, co-workers, and family said.  I did at least check the weather before I left.  Good weather was predicted and no snow.  I was on the road by myself with my Nissan, tow-bar, tools, credit card for gas, and 2,000 miles, each way, ahead of me, with visions of a Fiat running through my mind.  I had lots of time to ponder.  I was worried that I would get there and the car wouldn’t look as good as the pictures I had seen of it.  Boy, what a disappointment it would be to drive 2,000 miles and decide the car was a piece of junk and the owner didn't know much about it. 

I drove through Louisiana (49N), Texas (20E-35N), Oklahoma (35N), and into Kansas (35E-70W).  I finally was so fatigued I couldn't drive any further.  Being on a tight budget I decided to try to sleep in my truck.  I curled up in the cab and caught a wink.  I woke up about 2 hours later freezing cold.  It was about 30 degrees outside.  I was awake now so I decided to get moving again.  I turned up the radio and sang along to help stay awake.  I then managed to continue on through Colorado (25N), Wyoming (25N), and into Billings, Montana (90N).  I had managed to go from Louisiana to Montana in about 33 hours total with only 2-3 hours of sleep.  I guess maybe I am really crazy.  I called the seller and told him I was there and would be at his house in the morning.  I spotted a hotel off the interstate for $29.95, so I pulled in.  This would be my only night of sleep in a bed for the whole trip.  I dozed off to visions of sugarplums and Fiats dancing in my head. 

I awoke and met the owner at a local breakfast place.  We talked Fiats and he brought more pictures.  I was so excited when I saw the pictures and heard him talk about the car.  He took great care of it, hardly ever drove it, and he was anal about the car... the best quality you can find from a seller of a car.  We went to his house and I saw it under the carport, MY SOON TO BE FIAT.  I could hardly contain myself.  I felt like I did when I got my first Fiat in high school.  We drove it around the block and I looked for rust on the underbody and found none, looked at the suspension and for cracks in the crossmember and found none, l looked at everything I could think of and trouble spots I learned about with my other Fiat. 

It was a winner.  “Sold!” I said. 

We completed the paper work and I hitched her up.  I attached some boat trailer lights I had rigged up on a 2x4 to the back bumper and away I went, Fiat in tow.  I was a nervous wreck for the first few hours.  I didn't know how well the little Nissan would handle and stop with the extra load, or how it would handle in the the mountains.  I had to do a little downshifting running the Nissan up into the 4,000 rpm range to struggle at about 50 mph to get up some of the steeper grades, but for the most part I was going about 70 mph.  I wasn't quite so fresh on the way back.  The trip their had taken its toll on me. I had to stop in Colorado to take a quick nap at a rest stop, again in Kansas, and Texas and finally made it back to Baton Rouge about 40 or so hours after I left Montana.  I got home with my jewel in one piece and was as excited as a kid getting his first bicycle. 

Now the Fiat sits in our one car garage and my Nissan and wife’s new Honda sit in the driveway.  I am slowly bringing everything back as close as I can to original condition, as I can afford it.  An original front air damn here, new upholstery there, the old upholstery wasn't too bad, it just wasn't perfect, new speakers, distributor, carpet, plug wires, etc......you get the picture, one piece at a time.  It is a Fiat so it will need some tinkering from time to time but it is a great little car, especially if you are mechanically inclined.  Well, my fingers are getting tired of typing.  I could put details in for days about the trip but you get the gist. 

Tom Wall