[BGcAnAdA]

I think it is safe to say that FIAT has abandoned us as car owners with the FIAT 124 Spider. As I look toward long term ownership, I ask myself what kind of items might be good to get while I can get them. This also raises the question, what items would we as owners, like to see available from vendors? As enthusiasts, we need to support the vendors that support our cars. This post is not really about tunes and other track focused mods, most of us already know where to get those items. This is a post to start a discussion about what items we want available that might not be readily available now.

Full disclosure, I work for Auto Ricambi but this post is meant to be something of a discussion starter and not meant to be a commercial post. Any other vendor is welcome to chime in here if they wish, we can have a nice discussion about what items would serve our community best moving forward.

To prove this is not an AR commercial post, I will share a couple of items I recently got for my Spider from other vendors. I absolutely love the carbon fiber rear spoiler and the tow hook will be something AR is stocking now.
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I bought my carbon fiber rear spoiler from madness last year and still havent installed it haha....im worried that if I attach it and later want to remove it, that it would tear off the black matte stripe paint.
Looks like we both have the same chiaro silver/black matte heritage stripe combo.
How did you attach your spoiler...3M tape ??

 

[BGcAnAdA]

I used the tape that came with the spoiler and it went on super easy. The biggest thing is getting the position exact. I love the look though.

Interesting in that Madness didnt provide any tape with mine. Im assuming yours had 3M tape provided ? Alignment is tricky i agree. Did you apply tape to all the inside edges of the spoiler that touch the trunk lid? Has the spoiler ever loosened from wind?
Sorry in the most canadian way for asking all these questions !

 

[BGcAnAdA]

Is your spoiler one made by Three-Hundred? That is mine.

This is mine..

 

[BGcAnAdA]

Yikes....I just checked the prices of 300 carbon fiber and holy carbon fiber !
As an example I paid a third the cost of what 300 charges for a pair of carbon fiber taillight covers and the products look the same.
And 300 asking $ 304 for a pair of carbon fiber surrounds for the hood and trunk badges ?! Crazy pricing.

 

[BGcAnAdA]

This can be done, with a caveat. You can remove the upper screen/control. Behind the screen is enough room to fit a standard DIN chassis. You can then bypass the weak factory amp.

(Bypassing the amp is something I've already done. I have a trunk full of amps now, see below, but there are small powerful units that can be discreetly tucked away)
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The caveat is there are a few controls that are only accessible via the touch screen. On the upside, these are all 'convenience' settings such as maintenance reminders, DRL settings, etc. How often do you change these? I haven't since I set them once. The other is the steering wheel controls, but I've got some ideas for that as well. This might be my next project as my factory touch-screen has begun to de-laminate and I can buy an entire aftermarket infotainment unit for less that what Fiat wants for the screen.

It really doesn't require any engineering degrees as it bypasses all the factory electronics, where the complexity resides, and installing an aftermarket system. Remeber swapping out the factory radio for Pioneer/Kenwood/Alpine back in high school? That simply takes patience, not technical skill.

Your technical and mechanical knowledge of the 124 never ceases to amaze and im sure your knowledge and knowhow passes over to other vehicles as well.
What you did to customize your headlight assemblies I still find incredible.
Have you ever considered opening up your own customizing shop ?
Keep up the great work and mods !