when it rains...

pdxgeo

True Classic
so a couple of weekends back I took a road trip to the Bay Area with my friend to buy Chris Saul's 124 wagon. We had a great, relaxing if short visit to SF and got to see Chris for a bit which is always nice. Fro Lada power I ordered a mess of parts including the sheetmetal needed to get a very straight, highly rust free body which I plan to drop a 2 liter plus an auto trans I've sourced from John Erskine.

The car came with a rebuilt Lada 5 speed which I originally planned to use but with my tendonitis I think having one Fiat that was an auto trans would be nice and Id rather drive an auto wagon than an auto spider...

I am pretty excited about restoring this (hoping 1.5 years) and have gotten off to a slow, if Zen like start. then


...it pours

so last Tuesday a friend of mine tells me his company has been tasked with clearing out a storage unit and there is a vintage fiat wagon in there...at first i thought, nah, must be a volvo or a datsun (still would have been cool) so i reach out to the owner.

I feel like I'm dreaming. This 1967 1100R wagon, under about 1/8" of dust, looks new. NEW. Well, as new as a 50 year old car that has been in a storage locker since 2008 can look. The stock wheels/hub caps are as perfect as the rest but the tires had rotted off so we put my friends spares on there to roll her out. My wife is sooooooo happy. This is her car and she has named her Rose.

124 wagon 2.jpg
124 wagon 1.jpg
millicento.jpg
millicento 2.jpg
 
Discovered that getting parts for the 1100 is much harder than an X, a 124 spider or a 128 wagon...but got it on the road last weekend. Oil pan gasket was leaking like mad so I ordered a gasket set and swapped it out yesterday, didn't have time to finish today but will do so tomorrow morning. She is fun to drive, getting used to the non synchro first gear but shifting is smooth and while there's not much torque she gets up and rolling to 50 pretty easily. Haven't had the chance to try anything higher but so far this is a great car! I will be teaching my wife to drive (continuing her lessons) this weekend on HER OWN Fiat!
 
That's awesome! Congrats on getting it back on the road! I'm sure it's that much more rewarding given the parts sourcing challenges.
 
Thanks Court, it's funny but this is the first one that makes it feel like Im driving in Italy all the time! Know what I mean? 500 or 600 owners maybe? 850 owners?
 
Wow! Congrats to you on both cars! I really envy your 124 wagon, such a cool car... Sounds like you still have your Spider as well, it's one of the nicest Spiders I've driven. I don't get up to Portland often, but I'd love to visit & check out your cars sometime. That's four Fiats? I'm slowly making progress with my Lancia Scorpion, I look forward to putting you behind the wheel.

Best wishes to you, yours, and your cars!

- Chad C.
 
Wow, I love that wagon you pulled out of the storage unit. I've always had a thing for wagons, as well as odd-ball cars in general...this one hits it all for me. Please post more photos of it.
 
For the 124 wagon, do plan on installing a 3.9 or 3.6 rear axle. My 124 sedan came to me with an auto and converted 2L motor. Ran great but it was geared way too low and driving on the highway was a real pain with the high revs. I converted it to a spider 5-speed to mainly drop the revs and then realized years later that all I had to do was install a later style spider rear axle to solve that problem.
 
My sister had a '67 1100R sedan and I had a '61 1200 Cabriolet. I think I can still go through one of these engines blindfolded... and the transmission, too. Fond memories, thanks for sharing the pictures.
Steve
 
I sold the 124 wagon to http://sovietcar.com

A very nice man and I look forward to driving up to see his museum this coming year. He plans to restore the wagon and place it side by side with it's twin Lada for comparison's sake. So it will end up a museum car perhaps not driven but that's pretty cool. I have been driving the 1100 wagon and currently need to get my butt out there to do a carb swap as the float pin fell out causing instant fuel flooding, luckily just around the corner from home...I have a new carb and will fix the original as it is otherwise a very clean unit.
 
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