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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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| 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:
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| Eurocompulsion V4 |
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| Bonalume pop of spacer |
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| Go Faster Bits Diverter |
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| 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.
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| OZ Hyper GT HLT |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 .
