Shortly after buying the car in 1982 from the original owner, who had purchased it from a dealer here in Los Angeles, I removed all the trim and glass and had it repainted (it was originally green). Before putting it back together, I installed an OEM dash cover and all new rubber. Over the years I’ve attended to the brakes, shocks, water pump, etc., but other than the addition of a Weber carburetor and an alternator in lieu of the generator, and the conversion to a cabriolet in 2001, it’s largely original; even the radio still works.  Now with 154,000 miles on it, the engine (never rebuilt) has excellent compression and uses virtually no oil. With structural reinforcements (most of them invisible), the car remains reasonably solid, and putting the top (fully lined) up or down takes all of 15 or 20 seconds.  Even people with little interest in such things (my wife, for example) think it’s one of the prettiest cars they’ve ever seen. //Phil

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