131mirafiori forum

Normally my annual holiday involves driving long distances on routes that are new to me. This year we decided that a more relaxing holiday would be a nice alternative so we have found ourselves in Sliema in Malta. Thirty plus degrees since we got here and no rain. It's no co-incidence that Malta is the home of many classic cars, many of which are Fiats...and this influenced the choice of location. An added bonus is that they are RHD and with all the "urban myths" about what is actually out here I decided it was necessary to see for myself.

Having been here a week I've given up snapping the every day classics that live on every corner. Cortinas, Hunters, Austin 1100s, mark 1 Escorts, etc are everywhere and in daily use. Mixed in are a sprinkling of Cayennes and v8 Mercs which on a 17 mile by 22 mile island with a blanket speed limit of 80km/h seems overkill!  :)

The roads aren't great either which makes this car mad country quite a paradox. Everybody I have met so far is just nuts about cars, especially the older ones. Everyone has a car collection quite often located in several underground garages and lock ups. I've been privileged to see quite a few collections but there must be untold stuff stored away. I've renamed Malta "Treasure Island"! ;D

I've been very lucky to meet Mr Fiat in Malta. I'll introduce him properly once I have his permission to do so. He knows everybody in the Fiat world here and so far I've seen 9 131s....5 of which are Racings. They look at you quizzically if you say Sport! ;D

The best so far is a one owner 27000 mile grey car which must be the best one I've ever seen outside of a showroom. A great story goes with it but I'll save that for now. Unfortunately there was no price tag. But it gets better. Apparently there are two even cleaner ones to see yet - both silver and one with 12000 miles and the Fiat plastic still on the doors and seats. I can't wait to see that one!!!

James (Mr Fiat) is also a skilled mechanic and I've seen and heard two of his Engine creations...one in a Racing and the other in a Ritmo Abarth. The only word to describe them is that they "snarled"!!! Reving cleanly, quickly and without a cough.

I also had a tour of his workshop and some of his lockups. Pics to follow but he showed me some treasures from a glass cabinet. A single piece camshaft made by Ferrari for the Fiat TC engine, lightened con rod, lightened single piece valves, pistons with valve pockets, Tarox 6 piston brake calipers, etc etc. He is currently converting a Diesel Brava to a 20V 5 cylinder engine with 4wd!!! He also is building a 131 Abarth replica (group 4 arches) and the bodywork is done in steel...even the quarter panels and wings - all one piece. He and his friend made the parts from models and measurements from the real thing and the results look very good. Again pics to follow. Moulds have been made if anyone wants copies.

James also has a treasured series 3 Supermirafiori 1600 TC. He used it to tour Europe on his honeymoon. The engine is currently out as it was recently resprayed but the motor has been Dyno tested to 185bhp. He is very keen to attend 3MA13 in Bavaria and even keener to organise 3MA15 in Sicily with a day trip to Malta for some hill climbing.

James also competes in motor sport, often at the Autodromo Pergusa in Sicily. It's a 4.9km circuit that borders a lake. He drives an Alfa Romeo 155 Q4 and had a shelf of trophies. Anyway, despite not having a driven a car for over a week now the holiday so far has been more car orientated than ever. I have no means to upload photos at the moment but will do so when I get home.. :)

What othe Fiats have I seen.....?

Well the first thing to say is that with a single exception, every Fiat I've seen has non standard wheels and many an uprated exhaust. It just seems the done thing here.

One of the nicest non 131s seen was a 29000 mile very late Argenta 110. Factory sunroof, twin carbs, wolf race alloys and a rear spoiler! ;D It started and ran cleanly but I couldn't drive it as it was at a the back of a dark lockup. One owner from new too.

I also got to see the actual Fiat 125 (series 1) from the Stephen Spielberg film, Munich. It was an original Maltese Fiat but had Israeli stickers for authenticity. The current owner has these still. A beautiful original car with plastic door covers still on. The owner also has another 125 and 128 Nova for sale - both RHD.

A series 3 Fiat 132 was spotted casually parked in Valetta on our second day. A pair of Regatas passed by in the opposite direction and series 1 UNos are everywhere.

Back to 131s, two more are for sale. Both are series 3 1400 overhead cam 4 door models. Both are 4 speed gearboxes too which is unusual as I had thought Fiat made 5 speed standard across the range in S3! Both also have vinyl seats so quite basic specs but lovely honest cars. One is a one owner car with 54000 miles, Nov 1982 and the other is 3 owners, 40000 miles and 1981. No prices but I can put you in touch with the garage who can also arrange transport by road to the UK quite easily. Again, pics to follow. :)

There is a roaring trade in second hand uk sourced cars here. The garage I was speaking to know of a delivery of c10 cars arriving every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. These trucks often return empty or close to.

That's a great account of a what sounds like a wonderful Fiat packed holiday. ;D I bet your missus is having the time of her life! ::) :D ;D :D ;D ;)

I hope to go to Malta as my darling wife's father was born on the island and she want's to visit his birthplace. Looking forward to it even more now. 8)

Malta is never a place I have considered for a holiday ;D.

Now I'm sold on the 'Old Italian Car Package Holiday to Malta'  ;D ;D

I recently spent 2 weeks in Tuscany and the oldest Italian car of interest that I saw was an Alfa 155. I also saw the odd Mk 1 Fiat Uno. That was it.

Wow Kevin,

sounds like you are having a great time in "Fiat-Heaven"  ;D

Enjoy your holiday and take a lot of 131-pics  ;)

Hi Kev,
It is nice to hear about Malta but photos please...

A large family i see most months at a fiat motor club meet , allways go on about the old fiats there  ;)
 2 older sisters , husband,  son, daughter and cousin all driving fiats  ;D

Great story so far, of course all pictures and more stories are great and keep me here ;D

Wow fantastic Kev....you must be on a constant buzz! ;D ;D i think Malta is on everyones list now! ;)

I was told a few years ago that old cars were everywhere there.

What's the overall condition of an everyday run of the mill motor?

Can't wait for these pictures.

Jacquie is being very tolerant Si!! ;D She has a good book to read.

The general condition of the old cars in every day use seems quite high Bobby. Malta's equivalent of a road worthiness test came in about 10 years Ago (called the VRT) and it was responsible for a lot of cars being scrapped. They also have an ongoing scrappage scheme but despite this, old cars are everywhere. Avengers, Victors, Morris Minors, some Japeneese stuff, 504s, R 16s, etc etc. I'm told the reason why so many are still on the roads are cash strapped owners but only those who can source parts from friends, etc are able to keep them running. The VRT costs about ?26 with no retest fee within two weeks.

We've had a hire car for the last 2 days which has allowed us to explore further afield. Two scrap yards have been searched but to no avail where old Fiats are concerned. The owners have been quite tolerant of strangers wandering around unsupervised - everyone seems so open and trusting here - It's refreshing. :)

There is a well known car museum in the north of the island in Qwara. Gerry Kennedy (RIP) visited there a few years ago and reported back about quite a nice orange Racing that they had on display. A purchase enquiry from me several years earlier had been politely declined. I had been anticipating seeing the car but was surprised to learn that it had been sold about 3 years ago - for in the region of ?7\8000. I had coffee with the museum owner who admitted to now regretting the sale and had tried to buy it back without success. A surprising piece of information was that this orange car with black trim originally had green bumpers, etc. from the factory and that an earlier owner had painted them black. I've not seen any pictures and I've never heard of this colour combination before but I've had it separately confirmed that it existed .....by another local source since! I find info like this intriguing... :)

The museum itself is a joy even if it is quite small compared with others I've seen. A lot of thought and care has gone into the displays and the cars are of the highest standard. No shortage of Fiats either with 5 classic cinquecentos, an immaculate 124 Spider, 1200 cabrio, 850 berlina and what must be the best 125 in the world. It's a restored S model and is available to buy at ?15000...although some haggling would see that drop to ?14000.

As my Fiat enthusiasm was evident I was introduced to a dealer who had a 35000 mile series 1 Fiat 124 in a lock up..for sale at ?5500. I was whisked off to see it and of course it was in another underground treasure cave. The car still had it's factory plastic on the doors although the seat plastic had just been removed for the first time a few weeks earlier. Around the corner was my first Moretti. These are Italian coach built specials based on standard Fiat mechanics. I'm not sure what this was based on (probably a 124) but it had an overhead valve 1500 engine. A bit of a sheep in wolf's clothing! :) Beautiful nonetheless.

While out driving we spotted three more 131s. Two series 3 Supers and a series 2 CL. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures unfortunately.

We did however get a chance to look at a series 1 Argenta. It was parked by the sea shore all on it's own so we stopped to have a look and take a few snaps. It was well beaten up but in obvious daily use. Having been all round it a couple of times I was hailed from the beach by the owner who with a combination of sign language and broken English invited me to open it to have a closer look. He roused himself from his sunbathing to chat some more. He's had it 30 years although not from new. Unusually it had a vinyl interior (like the 131s seen earlier) so maybe this was standard spec in Malta? Even more surprisingly it had a 2000 Toyota diesel engine. At some stage petrol escalated so much in price here that this was a common modification. ???

Apologies for the lack of pictures with these little stories but that will be sorted when I get home. :)

It`s so much fun to read these little stories  :)

jesus this is better than watching the soaps on tv...
keep the stories coming ;)

I am just like a child waiting for Christmas to come ;D I just can't wait to see all these photo's for all the 131's and other Fiat's, especially the one's with all the factory plastic on them ! ;D

Kev could you not wet our appetite with just one photo please ?

If you see any series 2 Argenta wheel trims for sale........ ;)

And S2 131 Velour too  ;D

Glad the postings are appreciated. My eyes about Malta have certainly been opened.

A non Fiat story is about the cousin of James whose Dad runs a vehicle import and sales firm. He has a couple of early Celicas (c 1974) and plans to fit an uprated Jap motor to one of them. He found a rather special Toyota Carina in Japan and bought it. It had a twin cam engine producing 165bhp stock. A good drifting car. We knew the basic versions as the first Carina 2.

The local authorities were only prepared to admit the car in to Malta from outside the EU, if it was cut in half and each half shipped separately! The solution was to ship it to the UK instead, register and MOT it there and then just transport it to Malta as a European registered car. Apparently this is also the solution for the American cars here. :)

I haven't found a good source for parts here yet and I'm running out of time. I'll keep my eyes open for those specific requests though. :)

I might have a pics solution involving a laptop tomorrow but failing that I'll be loading up pics next week some time. :)

Great story so far, Kev,

The 131 is such a great car, with most other type of cars a forum would dry up faster, there is always something new to tell, 2,3,4,5 door, compressor, Abarths with a lot of different specs, rallying, different interiors, green bumpers ;)etc.etc.
I simply love this kind of stories. Keep going on the good work and enjoy us with a lot of pictures!

Albert what do you think of the orange Racing with green bumpers story? It's a new one to me. What do you think...genuine? :)

I think you should show us what it looks like by swapping your car trims around just for fun!!  ;)

Another car collection I was taken to see belonged to a fellow hill climbing competitor of James. He has an unusual collection of competition cars including a red Lotus Sunbeam. Also a seventies open wheel race car - possibly a Dallara.

Anyway, the Fiat connection here was a red Fiat 600 Abarth with a Fiat 1800 twin cam engine....possibly from a 132. I think constant oversteer was the expectation from all that weight in the back. Again, pics to follow.

Today was the last day of our hire car and we popped across to Malta's sister island, Gozo. We saw 1 series 2 Ritmo and 4 Regatas. Nothing more interesting than that except that the island is less commercialised than the main island.

Back to 131s the owner of the 27000 mile grey car unwrapped the original diff (without axle) that he had removed when fitting the LSD. It had only done 10000 miles before being replaced. I made him an offer to buy it but it is staying with the car. He may sell the car one day but he is in no hurry. :)

You're quit some years too late, Kev.
 I was in Malta for about 15 years ago and couldn't believe my eyes. 131's all around. Some 132's as well and some Argenta's. Haven't i told this story before? I can't really recall, but i know i spend two articles in my magazine (when i was frontman of the Dutch 131 Club).
Anyway, i wondered why i never recognised the sound of a 131 passing by when i was having a beer somewhere. I asked a local and he told me why. Almost every "old" car with petrol engine is modified. Modified with a brand new diesel engine. Even the Busses, from 1950 or so, had brand new turbo diesel engines. The reason is indeed that diesel is so much cheaper then petrol in Malta.

When i returned to Malta 9 years ago there weren't much mirafiori's left in the very same town i spend my hollidays in.  :'( Didn't find much anymore.

Fact is this; cars are in a really terrible shape or perfectly restored in Malta. I love this country... :-*

Hey it's never too late to look at old 131s Mike although I take your point. I should have come here ages ago!  ;) It looks like Ford Escort mk2 and Mini Cooper fans have milked the place....according to the people I've met.

Went to a Sunday "Cars and Coffee" (although they all had beer in their hands) meeting this morning. There were four stunning mark 1 Escorts there all badged either RS2000 or Twin Cam, all with 16 inch wheels and quality paint jobs. A clean red Fiat 127 GT drove by but didn't stop so no pictures of that one.

I found a champagne gold Fiat 131 S3 Super for sale in the evening and had a good look. Originally owned by a Fiat dealer principal it had the optional sliding factory sunroof. The current second owner has had it 25 years and is selling it because he has too many cars. It was originally a 2000 twin cam but you've guessed it - a Toyota diesel engine now resides in the engine bay. According to the seller it's a two hour job to swap the engine back - part of the conversion includes the manufacture of a special gearbox flange to mate the Toyota engine to the Fiat gearbox.

We had a short spin and if you ignore the engine (which is hard to do .....especially the bang upon starting up ...which may indicate some sort of slack being taken up between the engine and transmission) it seemed to drive quite well. 76000 miles and the car looked very straight. It needed a good clean but like all the Maltese 131s I've seen in the last two weeks (11 I think) it was absolutely solid underneath.  :)

The seller was a real gentleman too which is something that struck me about the Maltese people in general.....such a friendly welcoming race. :)

I am not sure the orange with green bumpers is a genuine combi, not as far as I know. Were there green seatbelts in the car? The seatbelts always had the same colour as the bumpers :D

I tried green and orange bumpers on gunmetal, both nice in my opinion. I still have the orange set. Silver also suits gunmetal good. I don't like silver bumpers on orange(standard in Holland, black bumpers not available).

Sorry for the delay with pictures...there are so many.

The Fiat 125 from the file Munich.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170518_zps934ad164.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170524_zps69cb9c4a.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170520_zpsf85d88db.jpg)

The Museum 125S - Restored to a very high standard - ?14000.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170979_zps95e283aa.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170974_zps11912b1d.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180019_zpse17a874e.jpg)

Fiat 124 Berlina 35000 miles for sale at ?5500.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180059_zps54d0c55c.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180053_zps7290b727.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180040_zps2d5f43e5.jpg)

Fiat 131 Abarth replica with Group 4 style arches - all in steel. Specially for Daverwd... :)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170506_zps8d465e80.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170505_zps16ecd8bc.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170504_zps488b94d7.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170503_zpse400a8f9.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170502_zps6a1b6942.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170501_zpsfee8fbbf.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170500_zps3f7b4028.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170499_zps37daa6a4.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170498_zps45b21db5.jpg)

Must have been a lot of work. And it's standing for a long time now considering the dust it gathered.  :-\

WOW .. thanks for the 131 pic's kevin but i don't think fiat ever put arches that wide
on to a tarmac  car... they look huge ..

Great pictures! But I suspect that there are more coming...

This is a car that true Fiat twin cam lovers will already be aware of. It was on Pistonheads a few years ago at ?7000. It is a one owner car with 29000 miles showing although the engine bay looks quite dirty for a car with that sort of mileage.

Anyhow the owners were adamant about the mileage and had a few other cars in their ownership that had similarly low miles. It looked an honest and genuine car despite the wolfrace alloys, twin carbs and boot spoiler.  :) It started and seemed to run without any untoward noises. I didn't get a chance to drive it. :-\

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170677.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170674.jpg)

I found this Argenta particularly charming despite not being a twin cam...or even Fiat powered. It had had it's soul replaced by a product of the rising sun. It was in that least appealing colour of solid beige and with a vinyl interior. The roof lining looked like it had been replaced by discarded curtain material but the interior told me that this was someone's everyday car. As I circled it taking photos from every angle I was hailed from the beach by the owner and offered to open it to get a closer look. It was this incident among many others that illustrated to me what an open, trusting and friendly people the Maltese are. The owner colour matched the car impressively and I was offered the car to buy. I politely declined and no feelings were hurt I hope.  :)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170868.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170889.jpg)

As some know I'm quite partial to an Argenta ;)

I remember the low mileage one being advertised. It's a series 2 (rare and my favourite :) ) although the alloys and boot spoiler don't do it for me ::)

I wonder if the owner kept the original trims, I'd like those ;D

This solid beige is not a good colour :( imagine someone picked this colour from all the good colours when it was new.

The sea air has got at this one :(

Here is the Fiat 600 with the 1800 TC engine shoe-horned in.... :)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170463.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170461.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170462.jpg)

While strolling around Valetta (the capital of Malta) we enountered this Fiat 132 2000. It was gone a few days later so obviously not abandoned. A great colour but suffering from the sun.   :-\

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170264.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170284.jpg)

We used to call this color "Maltese" when we visited Malta - it's the color of most housings, dogs and cars - even two of our 3 rental cars ;)

(http://www.oelprinz-online.de/images/monat/malta.jpg)

Both great finds. However, either is probably nothing you would consider seriously purchasing and shipping back to Ireland.

I never understood why people would choose a Beige Car. It is worse then that awful Brown that we debated a couple of weeks back on a S2 Super.

I have some pictures from my visit to Malta a couple of years ago. Will place them here in a short while.

In the the tradition of keeping the best till last here are some 131 pics.

The first was bought new by a garage owner, later sold and regretted and only after 10 years of recurring attempts to buy it back did he succeed...so it has 3 keepers recorded but only two owners. It has 45000 miles showing and is very very solid. I could not find any corrosion - It had a few access holes here and there for some anti-rust treatment. The interior showed many signs of damp but with a vinyl interior doesn't mean much trouble to deal with.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170617.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170618.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170630.jpg)

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(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170657.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170659.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170662.jpg)

The next is a genuine one owner from new car. very solid too although it would benefit from one new door. A very basic model but very honest and would be great fun to hack around in for cheap money.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170605.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170607.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170591-1.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170592-1.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170609.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170610.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170602.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170601.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170597.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170598.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170599.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170603.jpg)

Kev

Before your many  ;D holidays, do you do your research prior to travel regarding locating 131's / 132's Argenta's etc.

Any of these cars even if they are lower spec models, multiple owners etc are a rare find.

Are there many left in Italy.   

Not really Rob but I had a sneaking hope that I'd find some treasure in Malta - I just got lucky making a good contact as I wouldn't have seen nearly as many as I did without local help... :)

Here's another car belonging to James...Lovely stance and I'd have liked to have seen it in the daylight...This was in yet another underground lockup full of treasure.  Another great number plate too!  :)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170479.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170478.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170477.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170476.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170475.jpg)

Some more 131s....

This car belonged to a collector who had at least 4 Racings plus a 4 Door...He was than happy to share the pictures with the forum and was one of the Fiat fans introduced by James.

The first car had ?4000 spent on the engine. I can't remember what bhp was quoted but it truly snarled and revved freely. This was the owner's favourite.

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170460.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180337.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180364.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170452.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170420.jpg)

A second 131 belonging to the same owner....Much more standard and a very solid right hand drive car. Not for sale unfortunately...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180334.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180338.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170458.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170459.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170446.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170441.jpg)

Another Racing from the same owner....4 door in the background...

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1180347.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170448.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170447.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170437.jpg)

(http://i766.photobucket.com/albums/xx305/kev132/P1170449.jpg)

Always nice to see cars of other enthusiasts  :)

Kevin, I like the way you come around with new pics from time to time  ;) 8)

Very short I thought I saw my orange car :)
Great pictures, fantastic to see more survivors around.