FIAT 124 Sport Spider On Wheeler Dealers Tues, 10/8/19

Dan Sarandrea (Phila)

Waitin' On Parts...
Motor Trend will be airing the FIAT 124 Sport Spider episode of Wheeler Dealers this coming Tuesday, October 8, 2019.

As they say on TV, "Check Your Local Listings."

(Mods: Feel free to move or delete this post after Tuesday.)
 
I was wondering when someone would mention this. I'll likely watch this episode just to see the car. But in general I've lost interest in the "WD" show and stopped viewing it. Back when Edd China was on they offered some good "technical" content, showing how processes were done and explaining things. The 'build' was the focus of the show. Now they seem to skip most of the 'build' and focus more on flipping the cars. I've never cared for the loud mouth fat guy on the show, but tolerated him to see Edd's content (I always recorded the shows on my DVR so I could fast forward through the scenes with the 'mouth'). And while I appreciate Anthony's work (he had a good series with another co-host in England), the balance of the show has shifted enough that I can no longer put up with the annoying guy (by the time I fast forward his content, there is nothing left to watch). Plus ever since they moved it to America their selection of vehicles has become completely uninspiring. Not only the type of car, but the condition (its gone from restoring European classics to polishing late model American ones). Sad, as there aren't many decent car programs without all the drama and hype, and even fewer that are about European cars; the original WD was one exception. Hope they do better with a classic Fiat, at least it is European and old. But I'm not counting on it being a good show unfortunately. It will be interesting to see who they used as their Fiat specialist supplier for the parts (if there are any).
 
I don't think Mike's airtime is disproportionate to his jobs on the show. He functions as the host, the buyer, the seller, and the parts obtainer often with additional content depicting the actions or services of a local parts seller or tradesman/craftsman providing a service needed for that episode's car (upholstery, body work, wood dash restoration, metal refinishing, component rebuilding, etc). So it stands to reason that he will have more time than whomever the mechanic is.

You also have to remember that in today's TV world, an hour ain't as long as it used to be. For example, when I took the Motor Trend trial to see the 124 show ahead of time, I downloaded the episode. According to my playback software, the actual playing time of the episode is 43:38.

As far as the car mix is concerned, since what Wikipedia calls Series 13 (starting with episode 120) where all shows were from the SoCal workshop and all but one car was purchased in the USA, they have done 15 American cars and 29 foreign cars (I counted the VW Rabbit and the "Mercury" Capri as foreign.)
 
I watched the episode today. I own two Fiat Spiders and I love them both. One is a 1978 Fiat 124 Spider that has only 35,000 original miles. Mike would have loved to get his hands on this all original survivor. It would have cost him more than $4,800 however. The second one is a 1981 Fiat Spider 2000 Golden Anniversary model that has 104,000 miles and is in pretty good condition and has no rust at all anywhere.

The episode was OK but I didn't like Mike's use of the term "Fix It Again Tony". Every time I hear someone say those words the hair on my back stands up straight and I want to punch them right in the nose. He said it as a joke and throughout the show they mostly had good things to say about the car but do Americans really need to hear those words? Most yanks are totally out to lunch in their knowledge on Fiats and are spoon fed too much negative stories about the brand and they have no first hand experience in most cases either to know that most of these stories are just not true.

I still watch Wheeler Dealers regularly and I feel that it is one of the best car shows on tv at the moment. I also like to watch the show "Restoration Garage" that is filmed in Ontario, Canada. Great show with lots of interesting things going on in their shop.
 
I wonder what that spider, in the same condition as Mike bought it, would have sold for on BAT? A lot more than he paid for it, I'm sure.
 
I've lost interest in the "WD" show and stopped viewing it. Back when Edd China was on they offered some good "technical" content, showing how processes were done and explaining things. The 'build' was the focus of the show. Now they seem to skip most of the 'build' and focus more on flipping the cars. I've never cared for the loud mouth fat guy on the show, but tolerated him to see Edd's content

Nailed it, Dr. Jeff!

Edd on the original WD showed me not to be intimidate by vintage cars, and that it was easier than it looks---most times.

Edd WAS the show...the cars just added flavor to an already interesting formula.
 
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