My New Ride...

After selling Myrtle I had given some careful consideration as to what my next purchase might be. I have always liked the look of the Abarth 124 Spider, having actually only ever seen one on the road, when travelling into work in Newcastle.

So I began researching the car, the usual stuff , insurance group, mpg, any recalls and what to look out for fault wise on the Abarth Forums.

The cars have a few small issues the first is that the drivers seat bolster wears quickly and that the soft top can catch the back of the roll bars causing wear. Other than that the usual things you get with most cars, oh and because the cars come with a valved Record Monza exhaust, the valves are prone to seizing.

I scoured the interwebs for a couple of weeks looking for my perfect potential car. At first I wasn't keen on the Blue, also known as Azzuro Isola d'Elba 1974 Metallic. However finding a car with the extras I wanted was proving difficult. I really wanted the Visibility pack, and the Bose speaker system. I wasn't too fussed about the Heritage kit, it's just a matt black bonnet and tailgate, I mean who can polish them right lol.

Abarth 124 Spider Isola d'Elba 1974 

I noticed Motorpoint down in Derby had a 2019 model in, and it had what I would like, but it was blue.

Anyhoo after going to view a red one, which was absolutely filthy and way over priced. I decided to take a punt on the blue one at Motorpoint. I went to the Birtley Branch and paid the £149 to have the car transported up.

To cut a long story short on Friday I traded my 2019 Abarth 595 Competizione for the Blue Abarth 124 and I love the car, and actually really like it's colour.

I was a bit gutted to discover the car didn't have Sat Nav installed, easily remedied with a 2023 map pack on SD card from Amazon at £55.

  

Abarth 124 Spider Think ~I'll cell her LoLA

The drivers seat is a little worn in the usual place, but I can live with it, and the soft top has a scuff as it has rubbed on the roll bar cover. I'll sort that. Oh and yes the valve is stuck on the exhaust, so a job for Ern and me.

The car sounds awesome and drives sweet as a nut. It's a bit cramped, especially with me having my stoopid prosthetic leg, and when driving it, it feels huge to me, there is this like huge long bonnet in front, something I'm not used to.

Iv'e even thought of a name for her...

LoLA = Loud,Obnoxious,Little, Abarth

Abarth 124

Now as anyone who knows me I can't just leave a car un-modded. In fact I have already started gathering bits, so far I've bought: 

Eurocompulsion V4 

Bonalume pop of spacer

 

Go Faster Bits Diverter

Rotiform LAS-R wheels 18x8.5 4x100 ET 35

Decided to return the Rotiform LAS-R's the black wheels just didn't suit my car. The car has  graphite colured wing mirrors and the windscreen pillars are the same colour.

Opted to go for 18x7 OZ Hyper GT HLT'S in a graphite colour with Michelin Pilot 4S tyres 215/35/18.

OZ Hyper GT HLT

OZ Hyper GT HLT

I have also bought some Autoglym products to clean the car including her roof.

Oh and I saw these on Facebook Market Place and the lady very kindly accepted my offer and I received them today. Can't believe how expensive they are new, saying which when they arrived they are a lot sturdier than they look in the images and have a little bit of weight to them. They are original Fiat cup holders, not sure if the Abarths came with them as standard, but they are a nice addition and somewhere to pout a cup or two now.

Cup Holders

Future mods when I get some wonga saved.

A crossover pipe, and you know I mentioned that the valve on the Record Monza is stuck, well Ern and I had the backbox off and it is well and truly stuck, so a future purchase I would really like is one of these, however at almost £2k it's a canny outlay.

Ragazzon valved Backbox with 4x102mm tips

Then there are

Alpha Romeo 4C coils

Get her remapped oh and big money as I fancy her on Air Ride .

Mid Life CrIsis

 This is a bit of a sad post, as I let Myrtle go this week. Both my dad and myself had put so much work into that old 65 Bug and I guess part of us feels like it's lost. Even my dad I think was a bit sentimental about Myrtle, he actually drove the car more than I did in the time we had her.

  

Bye Bye Myrtle

I can't believe how much money I had invested in the old girl, so when her bodywork was the next stage I had a tough decision to make, and decided to allow someone else to care for her.

Within days of Myrtle going, and with me being off work, I took some annual leave, because I've had this goddamn cold for going on 5 weeks, well I found myself looking at other cars  " No Glenn you don't need 3 cars", so I kind of agreed with my inner voice and we came to a mutual agreement that maybe two is enough.

That saidI think I'm going through some sort of mid life crisis, as I began looking at convertibles, Yes even bright RED ones. Things got so bad I even checked out a few Porches, second hand with a few miles on them.

I then got my mince pies on an Abarth 124 Spider, they have stopped making them, Ooh! a future classic. Trawling through the interwebs, there was only about 45 for sale, and of them about 18 or so automatics.

I quite liked the look of either a red one or a grey one, thing is none of them for the money had the visibility pack, or the higher spec'd Bose sound system.  The only car that was pretty much fully loaded, apart from the Heritage pack, which is the Matt black bonnet and boot lid, a throw back to the rally cars of the 70's was at Motorpoint in Derby, and it was metallic Blue, called Isola D'Elda Blue 1974.

Abarth 124 Spider Isola D'Elda Blue 1974

Mmmmm!  Not sure, checked more images on line, 

Mmmmm! Still not sure.

  

Growing on me

My dad and I then went to check out a red Abarth 124 Spider at Birtley and Ronald Clark. I had a sit in the car....I fit..... It actually felt massive. The bonnet feels very long. That particular car wasn't for me.

Record Monza Exhaust Sounds Great

More looking a blue 124's on my return, oh and of course potential mods, what can I say but Petrol Head. So far even without the car I've spec'd up around £10k of stuff I'd like to do.

One of the things on my wish list is air suspension. I just loved the look of Myrtle slammed.

More looking I think I'm coming around to Blue. So a trip down to my local Motorpoint, a valuation on my wee Abarth 595, which if I could also afford to keep I would.

 

I now have a deposit down to get the car up from the Motorpoint in Derby, so maybe by next week I'll be driving an Abarth 124 Spider.