131mirafiori forum

In the UK and RHD In orange. Complete except for front seats. Very rusty looks like a big resto.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FIAT-131-MIRAFIORI-SPORT-1979-ORANGE_W0QQitemZ140324667835QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAutomobiles_UK?hash=item20ac0081bb&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

Hi Dave. Looks like a good summer challange for  someone in the UK.We have rust  down here  but nothing like that. Cheers Gary

I know that everything can be saved if enough time and money is thrown at it but blimey, the rust in this car must be terminal. Engine's probably shot too as there is no oil filler cap on the cam cover, so the sump could be full of water and dead spiders :o

I'm interested to find out who and from which club said that this car is "the earliest surviving 131 mirafiori Sport in the UK". There are a great many T reg Sports still surviving, so what makes this the earliest ???

Theo, as the car is in Enfield (and so are you - sometimes ;)) might be worth a quick look.

Is this car being sold by Mitch of the Strada130 site?

That car is too far gone to be restored,  its probably got some good parts interior trim except seats, in the current climate only someone from the UK close by may bid.

It would be nice and airy in this current spell of good weather ??? ;D :D

The text claims the car is in Enfield but ebay claim the car is in Stanmore. I suspect this is Dave Baker's Sport which is sold as "spares only" and advertised by me on Dave's behalf on our forum here http://131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?topic=2297.0

The car on ebay doesn't look like its ever been restored tho, which I thought DB's had, and anyway, isn't his car in Guildford, Surrey ???

Hey Guys

Not to disappoint this guy in the UK but EVW15T is 1979 also? UK!!! And date of registration is? 16-03-1979 on the vehicle registration document V5 which makes EVW the earliest then !! Hahaha?? :D :D 8) so don?t know where he has found that information from!!? I am glad it?s not my project as I wouldn?t even attempt it, I think looking at the excessive rust in the photo?s this project must be for spares only!! Id like to see what the under chassis looks like as the floors look like they have disappeared !!? maybe someone with a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of panels to might attemp it. Id Like to see what it fetches as there is a bid on it already !!

MARK ( KES131 )

DB's car was going to be restored but someone stole the front seats from it so it sat outside for 15 years and was offered "for spares only". The fact that this car is missing its front seats makes me think it's the same car. Maybe someone bought it from DB and it's trying to turn a quick profit.

is Stanmore not in Middlesex ?  ???

The contact number on the advert is Mitch's from strada130 site. I also recieved a call from a guy wanting parts last night, saying he brought an orange sport for ?400.

Both Stanmore and Enfield are in Middlesex.

look like a good project to me  8) i will be bidding as have all panels for repair and spare car to cut up then . have T V W AND X reg 131 in colection  ;D am seing cat tomoro and will try to tempt seller cash sale very rare t reg never sen for sale  ;)  my bodyshop has restored worser cars than this believe me been in classic car trade trade 35 years. i will save this car  ;D
best
martin

do you really think it's worth the effort and money?

  just back from seeing this car 4 hour trip  sooooo much trafic m25 bad  ;) and it is deffinatly savable. might be lot of work for some people but it depends on your skill. I have been in  motortrade 35 years and run my own insurance approved bodyshop for 15 years so restoring this sport to   high standard is no problems at all  ;D  have 5 very   skilled  panel beaters and 2 sprayers... 2 ovens and full   fabrecation facilites 131 will be restored  like my other 3 Sports and other   cars in colection slowly and properly  ;D mich is a lovley guy. enthusiast and very helpful had a tour of his colection of cars. so many  parts 131 sports  130tc and has agreed to sell me    new sport panels lights trim.. still in fiat   packs   :o and lend me proper fiat main dealer body structre book on131 sport for panels and chassis exploded diagrams measurements etc etc, never seenbook anywhere  .but i got my 3   sports to refer t0o  :D  8) watch this space i will win the bidding   8) ;D

martin

Good man Martin... Full steam ahead! Like your style! 8) 8)

My god thats some bull that came out there, as far as i saw on cars coming out of the uk especially 131s toyota celicas mantas etc those that were prone to rusting all were patched over rust holes isoponed & shutzed,
i have to go now because i cant stop laughing at that one, better stop now before i say more!

yo sid - i think your being unfair -for 400 quid (not that i expect it to stop there) the radio could be worth that as an original fiat feature  ;D
I think the car can be saved -there are not many rhd sports out there in any shape or condition  :)
So in my opinion -as a genuine RHD sport -if it can be re built to a high standard with a full catalogue of its re build -then it will be worth serious money in the future  :)
If i only had the space and money -that would be me  ;D ;D
Still if it stays at 400 quid -I would love to park it in my garage and if it had front seats  ::) -On a very stressfull day i would sit inside it drink a beer and chill out and remember the good old days  ;D ;D
Some of us arent as lucky as others  :-[ :-[

I suppose anything can be restored you just have to replace more metal ;D

There comes a point though when there is very little original metal left and you basically have a new shell which has the original cars identity and oily bits. (A lot of MGB's are now like this as you can buy new shells for them).

I have not seen this car in the flesh so I can only guess, but, I would suspect if it is restored and put back on the road then this may be the case with it.

With regard to Sid's comments, yes many cars are just bodged up. In the UK there are good restorers just like there are in Ireland, but, to restore a car that way costs a lot of money. Few people are willing or able to spend thousands on a car that will possibly never be worth the money invested in it. Therefore they are tidied up to keep them on the road and to make them look respectable.

I am sure there were also many bodged up cars in Ireland too, but, these have now been scrapped and therefore people import cars from the UK.

you must scan that book and make it available to all 131 entusiasts

I totally agree-there are many so say 'professional bodgers' out there ?;D
beleive me when i say there were many more about in the 80s and 90s than there are now ( I think having been out of the trade 15 years )
You did strike a chord in me though -can yagmur supply new 2 door body shells if there was enough demand ?;D ;D
Still one mans dreams ?;D ;D

Heritage (who make the MGB shells) were able to buy the original BL tooling and therefore were able to remake shells to original standards. I suppose it depends if the Fiat tooling (or Tofas for that matter) still exists. If it does then new panels could be made and of course then alligned and spotwelded together to make new shells. However I fear the cost would prevent anybody who is not very rich being able to buy one! Of course it is supply and demand and there is much more demand for MGB bits than Fiat 131 bits no matter how passionate about the 131 the members of this site are.

With regard to the Fiat body manual I have one too. They do come up on ebay from time to time, mine came as part of a full service manual. Incidentally mine is in German, but the book in question is multi-lingual so no problem. It is worth asking ebay sellers to look in the manual to see if this book is there. That's what I did and got a bargain. ;D

With regard to scanning it in that could be done, but, it has quite a few pages and would take a while. If we as a forum are able to do this (copyright?) then it would be good if we could get all Fiat 131 publications scanned in and posted on a section on this site as PDF files. This could upset a few book dealers though ::)

Well done Martin!!!  I hope you are the winner and manage to restore the car in the way you described and maybe even post ongoing pics of the restoration. Especially for Sid!! I agree that any 131 is restorable if the funds are there. I dont have the funds to do something like that but if I did, the car would be done properly. I know for a fact killie kennys super was done properly, along with a few other classics i knew of that were restored some years ago before i moved to N.Z.  So Sid, despite your ongoing opinion...... 
...........a lot of cars in the UK do get restored properly just the same as in any other country!!!!

i don't think it would upset anyone enough to do something about it. most user/repair manuals are available on the net these days and such sections are common on many forums such as http://lada-klub.com/viewtopic.php?t=34 or http://www.zsiguli.hu/index.php?action=cikk&id=121 or http://www.fiat-lancia.org.rs/forum/index.php?showtopic=37216&hl=manual or http://rapidshare.com/files/224343486/Manuale_Officina_Lancia_Y.pdf.html or http://www.cbc.rs/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4532&start=225

and sorry about my stupid question. i wasn't aware that you had such repair capacity. than it will be no problem for you and i'm truly happy that yet another classic car will be saved from oblivion

I wonder is the real debate here more about the likelihood of the car being restored rather than the possibility ?

As others have said, if time and resources are made available... anything can be fixed ...but I've lost count of the number of standby and unfinished 131 projects that began with a much sounder beginning than this car. I'm not criticising anyone in that position either as I imagine that the amount of difficult work involved, unexpected additional tasks plus the scarity of parts needed to complete the projects can be de-motivational.? :(

Best of luck to whoever takes it on and I'll be delighted if it results in another saved 131 Sport.? :)

This is my opinion.Anyone who would pay 400Uk sterling for that car is not right in the head.One should be paid for removing it out of the way.When it looks bad in the photos,what must it be like when one sees it for real :o :o.If it was mine,i would be very grateful if someone removed it for free.Eugene

Hi Mclements131 how about sharing some pics of all the 131 sports you have with the 131 community here on the forum?
seeing as you run your own body shop thats insurance approved it should be no problem to you to post pics as you will have to email crashed car pics to the said insurance companies, so how about some nice before & after restoration pics?

Ah Sid that is a minter that car sure probably has an mot but I love the Flintstones brakes on her (dirty big hole in the floor)  :o :o

Floor ? what floor? its just got 12 months ticket today ha ha
seriously Dave would you like to see some pics of all these 131 sports or what?
i cant wait until Martin posts them up on the forum.

Will be interesting to see what it makes. At around ?400 it is still reasonable in my opinion even if only used for parts. Apart from the front seats it looks complete and we all know how some little bits of trim and stuff can be hard to find.

Dave looks as though you have money to throw away.Take a look at the photos again.Eugene

I don't have money to throw away and I will not be bidding on or buying this car. However there are a lot of parts on it that may be useful to someone who has a sport or is restoring one. As interest in the sport has increased and prices of good sports have gone up to much higher levels unfortunately the price of spares and donor cars goes up too.

 I think 400GBP is a fair price IF the car is complete. Look at some of the prices some second hand parts on this forum have been going for. It doesnt take long to add up.   :)

Hi

I got AMC182T in my garage in the UK still... 9 March 1979 on V5..Do I have the oldest??

For it to be the earliest it would have to be a late 1978 registration, as the Sport was launched in the UK in September 1978. There may well have been earlier, demonstrator cars too, so if you have a 1979 car it most certainly is not the earliest, sorry.

hi Simon

I guess mine's not the first 131 sport...but maybe the oldest surviving example in the UK?

I never really thought about it until it got mentioned in the Ebay advert (refering back to original subject) & now I'm curious...

best regards

SOLD FOR 471 STG

Well well looks like Mclements131 has bought as he was the first bidder so we may get to see some pics of the beast after all,
  Martin if you have difficulty in posting pics email them to me & i will do it for you,
if it is that other car the seller seems to have made a tidy profit on it, so good luck to him also.

Hi andy, your sport is not the oldest surving in the Uk. My sport is november 1978.  ;D

Well with the price of steel falling approx 30 euro a ton for scrap I reckon that car was about 500 euro overpriced then but sure it will get an mot handy enough after seeing some cars with current mot's

Whoever bought that car needs there head MOT't.It is much much easier to buy new parts from Yagmur.Eugene

Oh well :D maybe mine's 2nd oldest then??? ;)

Sure Eugene an mot on their head would be a handy pass anyway but I would say even the dash had rust on it and then you look at a 18000 mile 4 door in a vastly superior state being reduced to 4 inch by 4 inch squares......

I doubt my 18,000 mile super had much less rust than the sport. It could have been restored if you bought the chassis legs etc from Yagmur (or used a lot of sheet steel) but as I had other projects I decided against it. If the buyer of this sport decides to do what is necessary then good it will be another one saved. If not then hopefully the parts will keep another 131 on the road as the parts from the 18,000 mile super will be doing.

Hi Mclements131 whats your story you not going to share any pics with us? or did you walk away when you saw the thing?

i hope he wasnt blinded by a haze of rust particles coming from that 131 as for eugene saying people would need their heads mot ed   its like : men of vision: someone who can see further than any rusty doors rotten sills and valenciesthis is what this country needs men of vision they should have gone to specsavers then :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(