SoCal Odd Couple: 1978 Chevy Nova vs 1971 Fiat 850 Spider

Welcome back to Shitbox Showdown! We’ve got another odd couple today, two cars that I just thought were interesting but don’t have any common theme connecting them. Before we get to those, let’s see which of yesterday’s choices is the better beater:

The Honda wins. Of course it does. But I’ll point out that, if you were in Idaho, even if both cars were there, the Sable is probably the better choice, because – and yes, it still makes a difference in a lot of parts of the country – it isn’t a “foreign car.”

Southern California is not one of those places. The Golden State embraced imports early on, and while there’s no shortage of American iron on the streets, imports you never see anywhere else also pop up regularly. And they’re nothing special; they’re so common that they’re just cars. And since it never rains in southern California, they don’t rust. So let’s take a look at an American sedan and an Italian roadster, both available in the Los Angeles area.

1978 Chevrolet Nova – $3,500

Engine/drivetrain: 305 cubic inch overhead valve V8, three-speed automatic, RWD

Location: Tarzana, CA

Odometer reading: 86,000 miles

Runs/drives? Runs great, the ad says

I have a huge soft spot for the second-generation Chevy Nova. I know it’s squarely in the height of the malaise era, I know the flabby small-block V8 is a shadow of its former self, and I know the build quality is on par with a three-year-old putting together a car out of Duplo blocks. I don’t care. I owned a ’78 Nova, during my run of crappy beaters back in Minnesota: a blue two-door Concours with a peeling landau vinyl top, but a rock-solid 305/Turbo 350 combo under the hood. But this one is way cooler, despite having two more doors. What’s so cool about a white Nova sedan, you ask?

Behold the glory of what I believe is likely a “Tijuana interior.” It was common, once upon a time, to take your car across the border to Tijuana, where numerous upholstery shops would redo your seats and headliner for a fraction of what it would cost you here in the States. This plain white fleet-spec sedan started out with a blue-gray interior, judging by the door panels, but has been treated to this wonderful dramatic red and black vinyl, along with a bright scarlet headliner.

Someone even painted the dash to match. It’s too bad they didn’t do the door panels as well, but maybe that wasn’t in the budget. The seller raves about how well this car runs, adding that it just passed a smog test and has fresh registration, and that the air conditioner works. Good thing, otherwise you’d stick to those vinyl seats.

Outside, it’s straight and clean, and those ’80s three-spoke aftermarket wheels are just the icing on the cake. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough, and if it runs as well as they say, it would make a fun cruiser. Or, hell, daily driver. I mean, why not?

1971 Fiat 850 Spider – $2,350

Engine/drivetrain: 903 cc overhead valve inline 4, four-speed manual, RWD

Location: Monrovia, CA

Odometer reading: unknown

Runs/drives? Nope, but it’s not far off

One of the fun things about this gig is the opportunity to research. Often I just have to quickly check some facts about a car, to make sure I have displacements and transmissions and whatnot right, but sometimes I get sucked down a rabbit hole and come out with some cool new knowledge. In this case, I’m familiar enough with the car; I’ve been a fan of the Fiat 850 in Coupe and Spider form since I was a kid, but I never knew why it was called a Spider. As it turns out, it’s yet another automotive term borrowed from horse-drawn carriages: a “spider phaeton” was a small lightweight carriage meant for having fun and showing off. When the carriages became horseless, the “spider” term stuck around, especially among Italian automakers. And a Fiat 850 Spider isn’t good for much except having fun and showing off.

The 850 features a teeny-tiny four cylinder, longitudinally mounted behind the rear axle. It’s water-cooled; the radiator sits off to the side and louvers in the rear deck give it airflow. This one does not run, I believe; the car is from an estate sale, and it sounds like the owner was mid-restoration when they passed away. The shiny red paint is new, as are the tires. Everything is present and accounted for in the engine compartment, and it’s a simple engine; it probably wouldn’t take much to get it going again.

Inside, unfortunately, things aren’t so rosy. The interior is a disassembled dusty mess, the instrument panel is out of the car, and these seats could definitely use a trip to Tijuana. But the good news is that it’s rust-free, almost unheard-of for an 850 these days, and it comes with a removable hardtop. Yeah, it’s a project, but it looks like a good start.

Unfortunately, it sounds like they didn’t find the title among the deceased owner’s papers. It happens. The seller has a bill of sale, and I imagine some paperwork from a probate court saying they’re allowed to sell the car, and that should be enough to satisfy the DMV and get a new title. After that, you can start to give this little Spider a second life.

I had a theme planned for today, but it has been a hectic evening around here, and I didn’t have much time to shop. So we’ll save the theme for tomorrow. In the meantime, will it be a Chevy with a snazzy interior, or a Fiat that needs one?

(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)