everything came together just right that day. For a few weeks, I had been slowly bringing the Spider back from her winter sleep. More frequent hookups with the trickle charger; cleaning and prepping hard-to-see surface rust on fender lips; cleaning and re-lubing battery posts and coil terminals; ordering new hoses, spark plugs, and ignition wires; checking tires and wheels; tightening airbox-to-manifold clamps; removing tapes that masked exhaust and intake inlets to prevent intrusion by furry invaders; removing fabric softener strips from the closed interior spaces (much safer to use than moth crystals); cleaning glass.

I’d even spent part of a Saturday installing (make that ‘attempting to install’) a Bosch "Blue Flame" coil fresh out of the IAP catalog and into my car, until I finally remembered (after removing the windshield washer bottle and the bracket that held the old coil) that this wasn’t any mere mortal coil. What was powering my sparkplugs for the last ten years was in fact part of a Magneti Marelli ignition system, so it had a few extra wires (including two running from a special plug on the bracket right into the bottom of the distributor, also a Magneti Marelli), and the simple two-wire, one-ground setup of the Bosch just wasn’t going to do it. I can still hear Chuck Ellis on the phone back in August of ’97, jubilant that he had found the Magneti Marelli unit in his "parts" attic, and that it would go into my car as part of our plan for a hotter-than-stock street setup. Okay, return one Bosch coil to IAP, use it as a down payment on the Magnecor ignition wires. I know they’ll fit. We’ll stick with the Magneti Marelli ignition setup for now.

This day, however, would be different. When I arrived home extra-early, the sun was still high in the sky and the temp was pushing 60. Not the time to work in a semi-dark garage. Time for the top to go down and go for a nice ride—not sure how far—let’s see how the car feels after its long nap.

She started on the second try, quickly warming to operating temp, and we were out on the road. Slowly, for the first six or seven miles, never over 3500 revs until the oil warmed up, easy on the gearbox. Then I could tell she was ready, and the next run in 3rd went to 4500 before shifting up into 4th, where the torque was deep and smooth, and pulled strongly past the speeds that other more mundane vehicles did not wish to go on such a tight, twisty back road. The road opened up some, and the traffic dwindled as we kept heading northwest, revs climbing. But, as I came up on another car and passed him on the inside when he slowed for a left, I kept it there in 4th, since the road was uphill and I was in the fun part of the torque range.

As I was coming upon the traffic light where I would turn right for an S-curved ramp that led to the highway back, the car in front waiting for the light was a jet-black Maserati coupe, and my Spider’s headlights flashed ‘hello’ to a countryman. Just then, the light turned green and the Maserati took off, as if it knew it had another of like blood ready to run and give it all on an early Spring afternoon. Through the esses, I had the coupe, but when we spilled out onto the straightaway the Maserati’s double horsepower advantage made itself known and I played catch-up the rest of the way. It was great exercise for the Spider, which showed its thanks by gobbling huge volumes of cold, dense Spring air and converting it into more power than I could remember this car ever having, and with the exhaust note reaching a growl and moan that sounded like more like a 3.8 liter six than a two liter four. If only I could get that kind of air into the intakes all summer!

She’s back in the garage now, taking a deserved break. She really needs fresh oil. More work to do also, as maintenance never takes a vacation. The rear seal needs replacing.