Late last year the 15-year old TDS MINI Cooper Mobile Tactical Unit, with north of 378,000 miles on the odometer, was diagnosed with a loss of compression in one of its four cylinders. You would have first read about this sad development here. While the MINI continues to willing charge down the open highway ("up the open highway" as in uphill is another matter altogether) with a determined purpose it has been removed from active duty service. It currently fulfills primarily a promotional purpose. A decision regarding the ultimate disposition of the MINI Cooper remains TBD.
Later that same week, Lou's 1979 model year Fiat Spider 2000 was diagnosed with a loss of compression in two of its four cylinders.
That was a bad week for Scuderia B Team.
When the Spider rolled out of the Fiat workshop in Turin, Italy way back in 1979 it originally packed 80 horsepower under its Pininfarina-designed sculpted hood. With 40 years of wear, and now the loss of compression in half its cylinders, one might speculate that more or less than half of those horse have escaped from the stable.
The local shop which creditably services Lou's fleet of modern vehicles expressed to him some degree of their improbability to solve the Fiat's engine issue, to say nothing about the myriad electrical gremlins that require attention. This set Lou on a quest to discover a garage which specializes in vintage Fiats.
In the meantime, on Christmas Day we took the Fiat out for a vigorous drive in sunny, brisk conditions.
When the Fiat underwent its resurrection in 2009, through the magic of the interwebz Lou found a garage that specializes in vintage Fiats..... in Canada. Lou contacted the shop owner and over the course of a few conversations just about committed himself to the madcap idea of transporting the Fiat to the Great White North. The potential for this plan to be realized was such that I was dispatched to obtain for myself a passport for international travel. The obvious hitch, from Lou's geographic perspective, is that the garage is located in Ontario, Canada. Shortly thereafter Lou found a vintage car restoration skunkworks hidden deep within a nondescript industrial park locally, in a Cincinnati suburb, that took on the Fiat resurrection.
Sometime thereafter again Lou obtained a new set of wheels for the Fiat, replacing the Spider's original wheels, from a vintage Fiat garage located conveniently enough (relative to Canada) in the state capitol.
For the Fiat's 2018 engine work, Lou contacted those same good folks at Midwest Bayless in Columbus and they were all-too happy to oblige.... but not immediately. Their garage was jammed up with old Fiats of every variety and would need a few weeks to clear the backlog before they could accept Lou's Spider.
On the 9th of January we set out for Columbus, Lou in the cockpit of the Spider with me commanding the Jeep Main Battle Tank as chase car. Both of us carried fire extinguishers. You know, just in case, for a car burning oil like a bombed-out Iraqi refinery and with a history of leaking fuel.
Eastbound on I-275.....
Descending on the ramp to I-71 North aka heading into the Carousel at the Nurburgring, looking every part the Green Barchetta at the Green Hell.....
Northbound on 71.....
Overtaking big rigs.....
I may or may not have clearance to announce that the Spider touched 80 mph (cranking at 4,000 RPM), pending approval from the legal department. Thanks largely to superior Italian build quality and microscopic body weight, even at +/- 50% thrust the Fiat can hustle.
It was at about this point (above) that the front end of the Jeep was sprayed with a thin mist of an oily substance which the windshield wipers and sprayers were unable to clean. I was certain that the Fiat was on the verge of a catastrophic loss of oil pressure but the little green convertible soldiered onward into downtown Columbus.....
And finally to our destination at Midwest Bayless, yet another skunkworks in a nondescript building at the terminus of a dead end urban street.....
.....adorned with a cool vintage sign from a Fiat dealership.
The Spider created its own superfund site upon arrival, disgorging twin steams of fuel and oil onto the icy parking lot.
Outside the garage is a graveyard of Fiats:
We spent nearly 30 minutes speaking with the chief mechanic. We were greatly encouraged to learn that he too owns as his personal car a 1979 Fiat Spider 2000. We came to the right place! He lifted the hood on the Spider and gave us a highly detailed, thorough rundown of what Lou has and what options he's looking at for engine work. Good news for us, Lou has a 49-state engine, one which did not have to adhere to the then- (and now-) ridiculous California state smog control standards of the era.
Inside we were given a brief tour of the facility, including some of the other Fiats currently undergoing repairs. The garage is more or less a speed shop for both the customers and mechanics working there. Based upon our observations, it would appear that they are specializing in hot rodding Bertone-designed Fiat X1/9s with Acura RSX engines and transmissions. 200+ horse power engines in flyweight 40-year old Fiats must make for hellaciously quick cars!
I wasn't so bold as to take any photographs from inside Midwest Bayless before Lou officially became a customer. I'll try to sneak a few spy photos upon our return trip to pick up the Fiat sometime this spring.
Roll the credits!
