June 1997:  Blue

This Fiat was originally purchased in Louisiana where, during the middle and latter part of 1997, I was finishing my degree and getting married.  What better time to start the restoration of a car? 

When I purchased the car it had the following known problems:  brakes,  clutch, 2nd gear syncronizer, tires, shocks, exhaust, seats (one was broken, the other bent), minor floor pan rust, everything on the  suspension needed to be replaced, soft springs, poor compression.

Now I knew all of this when I bought the car...so why buy it?  The body was straight, rust-free (except for minor spots on the floor), and needed a paint job.  This met my basic goals of wanting a car to  strip down, repaint, and rebuild with better, higher performance parts.  A good body is the key to all of this stuff because everything else is obtainable.