Should I buy this Fiat 124?

Nice. I made the mistake of looking on craigslist this morning for what else is around. Way easier for sure to find a miata at a better price.

My wife reminded me that one of the reasons I wanted this second car was because I missed the community I had when I owned my focus. Get togethers, track days, autocross etc people to share the fun with. Searching around there is a FLU chapter in San Diego but the stuff I have seen seems heavily sponsored by and focused on the new fiat 500's

I love the looks of the spider, I love the idea of something truly classic, but miata..

Jaynen wrote: My wife reminded me that one of the reasons I wanted this second car was because I missed the community I had when I owned my focus.

This is actually a pretty great reason to choose any car. In general Fiat folks are awesome people. There are some staid traditionalists and of course the "stock is always better" types but I have never met a vintage Fiat owner I didn't want to hang out with and chat about cars for hours on end.

I have seen much nicer ones with original paint for that price. I wouldnt pay almost $4k for a repainted one.

I just haven't found much of that local. Some stuff in LA but in San Diego the only stuff I can find has not been updated in over 2 yrs

I'm not suggesting that you either buy or pass on it, but it is good to see that the seller doesn't seem to be hiding any of the cars flaws. The fact that he zoomed in on a lot of blemishes that you might not see in a typical eBay photo is encouraging. That said, it would have been nice if he had stuck the camera under the car for a shot or two.

Totally. If I don't go look at it it's more because it's not going to be the car for me right now than I think the guy is sheister

I'd pass, hold out, really nice original cars can be hand around $5k. If either the mechanicals or cosmetics of these cars needs attention, I personally wouldn't pay more than $2500 since you'll spend that amount again to fix either the mechanicals or cosmetics if you can do the work yourself. If both need attention, price reduces from there. I think the cosmetics and condition of the body are worth 2x what the mechanicals on these cars are as all the mechanical parts are available and can be replaced or rebuilt very easily, but some of the rust spots or accident damage on the body is tricky to repair, and deformed metal equals tons of time repairing panels or sourcing new ones, which is harder by the day...

I'm speaking from my 2 year effort to refresh, rebuild, update, fix, undo all the POs 'upgrades', rewire, and try to restore a 124 close to the brink, but the nice body was what made the job worthwhile...

Might not have flipped forwards. Even on the big bumpered cars (75+) the hood hangs over the bumper. Without any bumpers, the hood is the first (and last) thing a bug sees.

Any bump to the front will probably dent the hood.. especially in the land of suvs

I've PM'd with the OP. One of the things that makes this a tougher call is it being Calif. If that car were where I live on the east, it would probably be a bargain. I don't know the market out there at all. Small bumper cars are rare everywhere so if that's what you want, you may just have to pay the price. If it were a tube bumper car, then no, you could probably do better because many more exist and they aren't as lusted after.

The Abarth bumper conversion is a wonderful idea but I'd price the parts before you commit; they used to be terribly expensive and I'm not sure they're a bolt-on for that goofy 73-74 bumper setup.

you can get glassfibre replicas of the rubber "bumpettes" the Abarth cars had. I think Bruce over at Bruce's Parts Bin has them. I finally got a look at the pictures.. those rims look like they are off of an E21 BMW. Not a bad choice, I can considered it myself.. but now having seen them on a spider... no