I'm Joe Weisenfelder
I'm a senior editor and new car reviewer for cars dot com
concurrently I'm a keeper on this 1979 Fiat
2000 spider which I bought from my dear dear friend Tommy
from NPR's Car Talk and I drove from Cambridge to Chicago
shocking myself and the car talk listeners
by making it the whole way without breaking down now tommy's Fiat is
available on the used car section two cars dot com
in connection with car talks vehicle donation program it is available to the
highest bidder
all the proceeds will go to my NPR affiliate wbez
Chicago Public Radio not gonna give you some a high points and low points
the high points high points of in
here's one I got one the rear window in the car the soul can be frosty fall you
know
it's actually quite clear not bad for car this old
another one the top seals pretty well
on that keeps water out what else could explain thirty years worth of grunge
now the car has 91,000 plus
original miles on it I have no reason to believe the odometer was ever tampered
with
for what it's worth 1979 the car was kinda advance
four-wheel disc brakes up a brake proportioning valve
and the engines a 2-liter four-cylinder actually has double
overhead cams you know GM just discovered over the cams like a year ago
some other selling points
new tires a nothing is falling off in at least a week
speeding tickets impossible it actually has a very low carbon footprint because
it spends most of its time
in the shop there's an old joke that Fiat stands for
fix it again Tony I used to think that was really funny now there are other
downsides to the car
for one there a lot a little doubles and things around the body
%uh actually pretty well masked by the cream paint color are also some
rust bubbles other blemishes actually the worst
is probably right here now Tommy call me when I bought the car that this was
similar to the Hopi Indians
weaving imperfections and other blankets because they know when
they are rich protection they will die up this is Russ
I know that now Abu a look at it is
the more the car rust the later it gets in the easier it is to push
I'll tell me see artisan roughly the same condition he kept it in which is to
say appalling
I made a couple love upgrades though he warned me before I came to Cambridge
that %uh the radio didn't work so I brought along this
deluxe am/fm Delco stereo from a seventy six oldsmobile
it's held in place by one of my best munchies now here's a feature usually
only see in new cars you can connect your iPod to it
up for example this ought to be interesting
than
expect that up here we go
coming out here and
I hear some more extras
you get two wheel covers and a spare
pick your three favorite wheels dress them up now
%uh this is a small fire extinguisher I've never needed it but
probably not a bad idea up
this sign Inc you might need that now this bottle
on any freeze was gifted to me by Ray before I left Cambridge it has been good
luck
never been opened %uh other bottles yes just not this one
and then there's this this Fiat spider service manual
you are going to need this and finally
if you get the car you get
some other crap it has fallen off previously this housing
never seem to need it up on
some other things here %uh fun visor it's a convertible
pointless up this seems to be an extra
I think these used to hold something on doesn't seem to be very important and
knees
I have no idea up
look if you like our talk you clearly have a screw loose
this car has lotsa screws loose were made for each other
so why not consider even if you don't live in Chicago becoming a member
Chicago Public Radio
making a donation or even making an offer on tommys Fiat for small
it's a good cause second you could get this wonderful
you could get this car we got
alright that's a wrap call
you man with this thing alright on three
one to 3 think we have time for lunch
we have a meeting but this was no meeting yeah that's not going to happen
we're going to lunch alright little bit more or block the driveway