131mirafiori forum

Hi again, have rummaged thru some old pix of BKR 840T and come up with some more archive pics for you all to enjoy.
regards,
Chris.
(http://i37.tinypic.com/b51xe8.jpg)
this pic was taken in Belgium 1987 (about 100yds from the 'Atonium'.)
(http://i34.tinypic.com/9fmicy.jpg)
this pic was taken in 1986 (note tape holding bottom of door skin together...and other not so desirable cars in the background!)
(http://i38.tinypic.com/55km7p.jpg)
this pic taken at german campsite in Boppard.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/n3lpc8.jpg)

hope you like these, will keep searching for more....my wife is very afraid that I am trying to relive my youth...she really doesn't want me to sell our house to fund another Sport!!!!!!!!!!! ::) :'(

the door looks a bit worse for wear but the rest of it is pretty good
anyway it would be easy look good in company of vauxhalls and a marina,
 ;) :D

real nice piccies :o were the white ones only for italy as we never saw white ones i like it ;D looks good in white never seen;one in that color! looks original too but were thay made in white from the factory ;) :D ;D :) ??? 8)

 :) hi all, have been reading the forum avidly for a few years since my introduction, still love these cars!!
hope you like these pics i have just found of my old car (they were on an old computer)...don't think i uploaded these before, but here they are for you're enjoyment..keep up the brilliant work!
Chris, (Exeter)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/3326ip4.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/2qd3o5v.jpg)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2s953f7.jpg)
(http://i46.tinypic.com/b7jp95.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/10ndx81.jpg)
(http://i47.tinypic.com/2a4sk6f.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/2pydugj.jpg)
(http://i48.tinypic.com/351s5rs.jpg)
(http://i45.tinypic.com/11spkll.jpg)
(http://i50.tinypic.com/v2v53s.jpg)
i still absolutely love this car....shame its gone :'(

Nice photos. I wish I had some of my Father's old Supermirafiori. From memory there was only one but I can't find it anywhere  :(

Absolutely great pics - Love to see these. Particularly nice one in black & white!  :)

Like the black & white shot .. it's like a shot that could have come out of a fiat promotional catalogue ;D
Kevin don't EVER be tempted to go for that retro look & put tape on your door .. (HA HA)

wow Chris,

on the pictures we can see that the 131 Sport was a very rusty car,
especially the doors.
The black white pic looks very impressive!
please more of them old pic's i like it.

Enzo  ;)

yeah, it was pretty bad underneath! a mate of mine was handy with the welder which kept it in my ownership for 4 years of traumatic mot's.
Strangely the bonnet, wings, and bootlid were really good and never blistered which i found most unusual, but a stray rust scab appeared right in the centre of the roof...must've been that Russian steel ::)
The doors i got used from a breakers yard (from a car which had the front end burnt out), it was a Y reg and i was blown away to find a pair of good doors back then.
Initially they quoted me ?35 each, but that went up to ?95 each when they realised how costly they were in primer from the Fiat dealers.
I remembered going to the paint shop to collect it just after i had them both painted in (arancio racing) orange to match the rest of the car......bloody marvellous it was, looking in the vitaloni mirrors
and seeing beautiful shiny orange paint all the way down its sides!
I got a complete red interior and the gear lever out of that car too, i nearly killed myself taking out the gearlever as it came off and punched me in the throat winding me ;D
Glad the B&W pic is appreciated, i took it in Haldon forest nr Exeter in 1986 with the intention of a 'brochure type' pic...it came out rather well.
As for the 'box-tape' well thats another story hahahaa ;)
Shame i missed you all at the Kingsteignton 3MA, i had every intention of going but my passion for my v8 Landrover distracted me to Wales.
If my long sufferring wife (and my bank manager) could be a bit more understanding i would have a 131 again.....if i could find one....but for now i have a nice brochure collection, diecast, and Abarth book collection to keep my interest bubbling away!! (and of course this brilliant community of enthusiast's stories and pics to see too)
My favourite pic is of the Abarth 031 development car which is in a Bertone book that my mate got for my birthday in 1986!! it took me many years to finally find (an affordable 1/43 diecast of that beast!
Happy days  :) :) :)

oops, tell a lie, i changed the bonnet and had that painted too ::)

Chris

Its great to see such cars within their heyday and being used as the main vehicle. Around 1987 you could pick up such 131's for around ?1,200 - ?1,500. I remember looking at them in Autotrader around this time and in October 1990 having just turned 18 buying my first and only 131 Sport. Great memories.

hi Rob,
yeah aint that true, back in the day..1986/7 to be precise ( i was 21yrs old then and had gone from a 1000cc mini to my beloved Sport...wow) anyway,...i went to get a new thermostat from sidwell st motors in exeter (me and the parts guy had got to first name terms cos he loved my car as much as me and didnt see them often) then I ended up in the showroom drooling over an unregistered glossy black Strada Abarth that was WAY out of my reach, anyhow, as i stood there an elderly couple drove onto the forecourt outside in an A-reg 2litre supermirafiori, it was in an unattractive beigy brown colour and not as 'sporty looking as mine but my heart skipped a beat just seeing it..and as they came into the showroom to see the salesman i nipped out to look around it, it was absolutely mint looking with just 18,000miles on the odo! i had to have it,.....so, i nonchalantly slinked back inside to earwigging their conversation from the secure spot next to the Strada Abarth!..turned out they'd brought their old car in to part ex it for a newly reg'd Regatta (sad cos i thought that was a bad swop!).....so, after hanging around for what seemed like an eternity they drove off in their shiny new Regatta and the salesman came back inside. I immediately approached him and asked how much the Super was going to be sold for?...his reply was ?1600!!!!!!
Amazingly and ever since that day, depressingly, i couldn't afford it!!! I was truely gutted!!
I've been dying to tell this story on here for ages now, knew you'd all understand my 'madness'
(hope you don't mind my reminiscing ramblings.)
memories eh...brilliant mate.
Chris

Chris I love the photo's and all the story's about your old 131 Sport :) I loved the tape on door  ;D 131 door's do like to rust, all the bottoms of my Panorama door's were sculpted out of isopon :o

The Regata was not half the car the 131 was, and sadly for alot of fiat 131 owners that trade in 131's for Regata's it would be their last fiat thats now bad the Regata was  >:(

Christopher  ;)

I got my first 131 in early 1987 and it was a 1979 1600 t/c  supermirafiori.
I had to wait another three years for a sport.
Regata's were a complete piece of junk and no succesor to any 131 .

Hello this is my first posting on here after a few years of popping in and out having a look, As with most on here had quite a few sports and supers back in the late 80s early 90s and hanker for one still now!!! I live in Bridgwater Somerset and have always been around this area and the pic of the three sports brought back some old memories as the silver one in the middle (later to be one of mine in matt black and green by the time I got hold of it) and the grey one with the alloys (never mine) but many a night racing it around the taunton area in my very rusty then orange sport PPF210W. Will try and find some pics of past ones the last being a half tidy grey sport that i sold in the early 90s to a guy in Ilfracombe with a spare pair of very good green doors.

Chris

Great story. I remember buying my Sport for ?800 JLA71V (there is a picture of it in the 'where are they now section'). For ?1,300 at the time, I could have got a Sport in really good condition. I simply could not afford it.

I only had my Sport for about 8 months before changing it to an Ex Fleet MK2 GLS 1600 Cavalier (?2,000 Grandmother contributed as she liked Vauxhalls) that was a great cruiser and much quiter on the motorway then the Sport  ;D ;D.

However for driving pleasure, performance, looks and handling the Sport was great. Although I think mine had been tweaked in the performance dept.

Great stories guys, this almost could be a new chapter on the forum :)
I also remember the time when Sports were easier and cheaply available on the market also here in Holland. Damn, my wallet was not full at that moment. My first car was a rusty Alfasud Ti 95hp HF 66 BP, 8 years old back in 89 for 400e in todays money. I changed it after a few months for a marvelous 1 owner Alfasud 5m DJ 54 NR with 65 K km which I sold within a month(stupid me)to buy my first Racing, LG 66 LK. Silver, some rust, not too bad with a mint interior. A crash because I had a puncture brought me a lot of parts. Taking the car apart showed much more rot as before expected.......... From the company where I was on saturday I got a Lada 1200 donated. That was not my car so my moneypig was broken and from the last money I bought a little rusty Giulietta 2.0 Lusso HH 96 JL from an elderly lady. Great car which I sold because I got a companycar(Peugeot 305). A few months later I came accross DF 77 YF, the orange Sport I still own. She was horrible then, 3 times resprayed, worn interior, oily engine, broken rearaxle and rust rust rust, but I thought it was my last chance to buy one. Interior, technics and a lot of bodyparts I had. It took years before I started but in the 90s she's restored and I am happy I still own the car. Nice part of the story, I bought the car with the money I got from the Giulietta, my salary came in a few weeks later. I was away with the Racing as I bought it with an extremely noisy exhaust and almost absent brakes. Of course the police kept us and took the car for a proper check. They took it of the road, keeping the papers and I had to register it again officially. The bill I got from the police was 6 guilders less as my entire income that month :D Sweet memories......... :) ;D

Albert

Great story. I am very keen on these past car experiences even if they don't always concern 131. I started one some time back encouraging other forum members to discuss poor car ownership experiences. My one concerned a Rover 827 Vitesse. I will repost the article.

Please contribute, it is interesting, I think ;D ;D