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Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Thank You, Tim Beeble


Tim Beeble's '74 Spider
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.


I believe I mentioned in a previous post about my trip to The Pocono's in the late 90's, and how after seeing all the Fiat Spiders there, I was inspired to go find my '74, and become a Fiat owner after too long an absence.

That happened because of this guy here - Tim Beeble. I never knew his name until I met him at Fiat Freak Out '07.

Here is what happened...

The summer of '98 I got a job at an Ad Agency as a rookie Mac Support guy. Gary Cecil was the senior Mac Support guy, and he and I ended up becoming friends. When I found out he had a Motto Guzzi motorcycle, I told him I'd owned various Fiat and Alfa Spiders in the past. He suggested I tag along to the Italian Concourse d'Elegance.

Of course, I made a beeline for the Fiats. Yeah, sure there were a few X - 1/9's, and I'm sure an odd 500 or two. But the Spiders are what I remember. One guy had a VERY pretty metallic smoke grey Spider. It had a fantastic clear-coating job done on the aluminum head and cam covers, but the guy I will always remember showed up with just his front bumper.

Seriously.

Most of the Fiat people there seemed to know him, and had a fun time ribbing him, but the thing was – I totally understood. I realized these were my people. They were crazy just like me!

I got to talking to this guy about his car, and he extolled the virtues of the ‘74. He explained that it was The One Spider that was far and above the best model Fiat Spider EVER produced. Not that he was biased or anything...but the crux of the matter made sense. He explained the ‘74 was the last year with the old-style bumpers, yet it was the first year of the bigger engine. In ‘75, Fiat knew they’d be held to different emissions and safety standards, so the new, larger engine was brought out in ‘74 - but it didn’t yet have the whole gamut of emissions equipment holding it back.

It took me a year to find my ‘74. I never remembered the guy’s name, and I was SO proud of finding my own ‘74, I’d always wanted to show it off. I never even made it to any Fiat events. Then, earlier this year, my beloved ‘74 was declared structurally unsafe, and I was heartbroken.

All too quickly I jumped at an ‘83 Spider, and I made it to this year’s Freak Out by the skin of my teeth. I had a fantastic time. At the afternoon car show I was wandering around, and as I like the older models, I spent a good bit of time back in that section remembering my old ‘74 & ‘72 Spiders.

Then I see this nearly immaculate ‘74. The owner looks somewhat vaguely familiar to me, but I can’t place him within my mental Rolodex. Then I hear him telling someone how the ‘74 Fiat Spider was The Best Year Ever...

Lightening bolts went off in my head.

This was the guy!

In a torrent of babbling I told him about meeting him when he brought just his bumper to the Pocono’s, and he leaned back and laughed, and called out to another owner who’d been there, and would remember that.

THAT guy turned out to be John Montgomery, the cool guy who’d followed me on the previous day’s cruise, and was no less than THE PRESIDENT of the damn club!

What a small world.

It only took me 9 years to figure out who he was...but I shook Tim Beeble’s hand, and thanked him for inspiring me to get back into the world of Fiats.

What a great group of people, and I can’t even express how glad I am to be back amongst them.

They’re crazy just like me!

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