131mirafiori forum

Today I also finally had a look under my 18,000 mile Supermirafiori 1600T/C automatic. Bad news is it's totally rotten. Floorpan, chassis legs, inner sills. All showing a lot of evidence of the orange stuff and that was only with my finger!

So my dilemma. Although in an ideal world I would love to re-build it, I am aware that I probably will not have the time, facilities or money to do it anytime soon. Therefore I had a plan. Mechanically the car is excellent and the blue velour interior is mint. My plan is to break it and fit the engine, gearbox and interior to the estate car that I also own.

The only other option I can see is to sell it to someone who has the time, money and facilities to do a full re-buld. Basically due to current issues I have had a realisation that I am not able to continue buying and storing 131s or Mercs. The time it takes to do restoration work, it is just not possible to complete so many projects and hold down a demanding full time job.

Opinions or advice gladly received.

i know what you mean dave, got 2 marea weekends a punto 127 sport and my 131 sport resto on the go and got chance of that series 3 and a very cheap siecento sporting, a must have 130hlx marea weekend ,but its got to stop somewhere but you just don t want to part with em!! be a shame to break it as theres not many left, if you can t do it yourself maybe the best thing is to let someone else resto it and have the pleasure of it :)

Here are my thoughts Dave.

I have the utmost of respect for people who turn rusting hulks into show winners but when you think about the sacrificies that they have had to make I wonder if it was worthwhile. Personally I dont have the mechanical skills to do a job like this but even if I did I dont think that I would undertake it. In excess of 1.5 million 131s were made by Fiat and one thing that the internet (& Ebay ;)) has taught us is that there are heck of a lot left still. Add on the availablilty of Tofas & Seat versions which were very similar body wise and you have to ask WHY undertake such an extensive job? ???

Now your proposal to turn the estate into a TC - That I like - Maybe even do a Sport version ;D - Something no-one has done so far to my knowledge!! Out of 2 "off the road" cars you get something really special.? ;)

Taking the pragmatist view (would anyone ever restore it when good LHD bodies are available from between ?1000 & ?2000), bite the bullet and scrap the car if it is too far gone, and salvage the good bits.

Thanks for the reply Kev. I had a strong urge to break it and what you say makes me feel less guilty about doing it!

I can understand your dilemma fully as it is a very low mileage car. But a full restoration on this type of car is only possible if you have a lot of time, money and can do a lot with your own hands. I did my orange Racing as it was also an absolute hulk when I bought it and it took several years and much too much money. At the moment I started I expected it to be impossible to buy another Racing. That was 18 years ago! Thanks to internet the world came much nearer and I found some cars more. Kevin is fully right when he says that there are other cars around from the 1.5mln examples built! Look at Autoscout and find out 1 on offer for 1200E! For that money you even cannot have a decent respray if you do all the other work yourself. Or if you wanna keep it, go on looking for a decent shell. 131's are pretty straightforward to build up another one. I wouldn't suggest this on a big MB! When you break it, secure every single nut and bolt please! And if you decide to think about selling a mint blue interior I have a nice donorcar for that!

get rid of that escort and you will have more time and cash to lavish on yer 131's dave ! go on get in on fleabay with  ,retro,drift not ae86 in the title and watch the price go daft!

mind i did tell you that 131 was rough,but glad it went to you ,so at least it would live on in some way and not be bangered!

happy new year chaps!