How Many?? And what to do??

[bellamacchina]

 Simon,

In this case I agree with you for the full 100 percent. Of course it can be great to convert a car into something different but basically that is not my thing. I think the basic point here is that there are only a very limited number of restorable and good 131s on the road still and our wish is to keep them this way. For me it is almost horror when people use a very good car and turn it with the best intentions into a replica. When you do that with a full restorationproject or with a broken restoration, go on and make the best you can BUT I hope really that the few original CL,s and Sports around stay this way or will be restored to the original specification! A replica will never be an original!!

Of course this is my personal idea, everybody should do his own thing of course!!

[Andy c]

Of course were not going to fall out over this we are all proud owners and i understand when you
say about getting asked if your abarth real or not as im always getting asked the same question and i always tell the truth.
if i had the money i would have genuine.

So just for discusion sake can you over modify a 131

[bellamacchina]

You ever saw that 4 door  in a strange kind of gold colour with the doors opening like a Lambo?

[simon131]

Hi Andy,

For the sake of discussion, yes, I believe that all cars can be over modified, but I'm not against certain modifications - especially if it enhances road safety. Why not make the most of the latest technologies (eg tyres and brake compounds) to make your car safer?

For arguements sake, lets take Theo's beautiful, and much coveted Sport. There are many people who would believe his car to be standard, but in actual fact it has many performance and handling enhancing mods. He has a wonderful Guy Croft twin carb engine up front, but has sensibly uprated brakes with larger than standard front discs and pads and rear disc brakes too. I believe the car also has uprated suspension. Whilst these are 'modifications', they are subtle and help the car to be safer, especially useful as Theo has been known to use his Sport as his daily driver.

The other end of the spectrum is certain of the 'Hounslowed cars' I used to regular see around West London in my youth (late 1980's). Car's sprayed pearlescent pink or green, with chopped springs (literally ) and riding about an inch off the road. Cars with super wide wheels that rubbed on the arches when the steering was turned or that audibly hit the road when they had a driver and passenger in.

The other thing to consider as well is parts availability. Classic example - my Abarth has never had a good interior (sun affected cloth) so I fitted one from a Sport. This has now decided to throw in the towel and the ratchet has stripped on the drivers seat, so now I'm considering the purchase of 'rally style' seats. The truth is that if I could find a good, reasonably priced genuine Stradale interior, I'd buy it in a flash, but there aren't any, so I'll have to make do with what I can find.

IMHO certain mods are essential (tyres), certain are desirable (a GC engine) and certain are most definitely over the top (Lambo style doors and oversized chrome wheels ).