1982 Fiat Spider 2000

Body Work

The body of the car was in fair shape when I purchased it. It hadn't been sitting outside too long, and although the paint was hideous it looked OK from a distance. When the Jeep struck me, its front bumper caused some blunt force trauma to the driver's side fender but almost completely missed the door.

07/08/06

Justin and I stripped the car almost completely in preparation for the body shop. I had removed most of the interior earlier and today we removed the top, dash, most of the remaining lights and body trim, and the gas tank.

The only appreciable rust I found was in the passenger side floorpan, where several spots had rusted through:

This was worse than I thought but not too bad. The seat rails may even be salvageable.

12/02/06

The body work is coming along, although I am beginning to think that, like sausage and legislation, one is better off not seeing how it's done. I've been a nervous wreck but aside from a few minor things everything seems to be going OK. Just the fact that the dent is gone now counts for a lot. There is a lot of overspray that I am going to have to deal with, and putting this all back together seems like kind of a daunting task.

12/16/06

The car is home and it's a miracle! It still needs a final buff (which I'll do after reassembly and touching up related dings) but this is already the best it's looked since I bought it. I took this picture with my cell phone but it shows enough. The driver's door is from the old 80 Spider I wrecked and the fender is from Shaun Folkerts.