131mirafiori forum

http://www.autoscout24.eu/Details.aspx?id=v3n1inf3d2bk

At last a black 131 Sport turns up for sale - Strangely it's in Italy ....as I have a feeling they were either not sold (or were not popular) there.

Seems a bit highly priced and would prefer not to see that sun roof in it.

Doesn't the fact that it's a "Sport" and not a "Racing" mean it's not an original Italian car but most likely from Germany?

Or that it had changed a taillight ;D ;D ;D

Ah, but left tail lights come with "FIAT 131" already on them but right ones come blank so the badge needs to be added!  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Well I think ,after all the recent discussions on the forum - It is actually a 131 arbarth works car  -and some one has modified it by putting  a steel body kit on it and different seats and made it into a mirafiori sport. As these are now getting hard to find  ;D ;D ;D and worth much more  ;D ;D

Somebody please notify Suljo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Yep! Thisguy should be his hero :D :D :D

I looked closely at the pictures, isn't it dark grey under the bonnet?

And yes, there is also GPL in the car.

Could be Albert - I'd like a better photo with fewer reflections to decide - Disappointing if it is as there are so few black ones around... :)

I think that the color under the bonnet its glossy black because if you see the left fender it's the same color with the engine bay...

Could also be black, I am not sure

Looks nice :) I was never really keen on the black of all the main 4 colours. However it is really growing on me and the interior looks genuine. I assume it could be brought back into standard (looking) external appearance quite easily. 8)

You're all missing the obvious too guys - black cars had red interiors, this car has a black interior.

Simon,

Exactly my thinking. Something's not right. I think this one is painted all over again and was either silver or orange. Or perhaps not a Racing at all...

And it's a TURBO! Now where does he hide that? :D :D :D

This is the first black 'Sport' I've seen in years and to be honest it makes my heart sing. :-* I have always loved black 131 Sports.  8) I had two back in the day and would dearly love another one. Oh well, I only hope they're not all gone yet. ;D

Not the case with all black Sports Si - They could also come with either black or light brown interiors as original Fiat colours. This conversation comes up every 6 months - Arn't Sports great...? I've said this before but I'd love to have been present when Fiat were deciding on the colour combinations to make the car available in - I'm convincved they were having a laugh ..or pi**ed on vino! ;D

I empathise with the heart singing comment - I too would love a clean original black Sport.

I think Simon is right for UK cars; all black ones had the red interior. But I saw a German black car with a very light brown interior. Not sure how Fiat described it but I described it as "diarrhoea brown". It was awful but could have been because it was old and faded and dirty as the car I saw was a 'spares' car.

Isn't that a bit like saying "Simon is right for all cars that had red interiors"....?  ;D

Even so I'm not sure that that statement about UK cars is 100% correct - I'll see if I can find a picture of a black UK car with a black interior - The light brown colour was in my Father's car and it was a rich velvet when new. However the material was prone to rapid deterioration ...as we all know... ???

I'm tentatively with Kev on this one  ;). I am sure (and have seen) UK cars in their day with a black interior. I have the brochure from the pre black sport days and if anyone had the later brochure then the issue could be resolved  8).

I am going back to the UK in a few weeks and will raid the attic and see what contempoary Mirafiori pictures I can find to post on the forum. Maybe there will be a picture of a black Mirafiori with a black interior. The more I think about it all the ones I have seen may have had the red interior. Confused  :-[

As a final thought for the cars where their was an option of red or black interiors (Silver or Gey); what was your favourite. I'll start Red.

Not quite! As far as I know (and I remember seeing a mini-leaflet on this) the UK options were:

1 Silver exterior black interior
2 Orange exterior black interior
3 Gunmetal grey exterior choice of black or red interior

and that was all until the black cars were introduced in 198? (can't remember) adding to the choice as:

4 Black exterior red interior.

Then again I could be wrong.....  :-\ (but I don't think so  ;D)

You're not wrong Theo. ::) Black cars in the UK came with the red interior as per both the brochures of the time and my experience. Other markets (including Eire)probably had other options.  ;) I too have seen Sports with both black exterior and interior in the UK but only where there had been a change in either body colour or interior.

This debate never fails to fascinate me ;D

Aside from the fact that I don't trust Fiat produced documentation on the Mirafiori (latest example I've seen is the S3 131 handbook showing details of a 2 door version) and therefore would not treat a colour option list as absolute I, like Rob, think I've seen a picture of a black UK market car with a black interior in a Fiat brochure - I'll dig it out to see if I'm right or not.

Another example of why I feel that marketing literature for the 131 (and Sport) is untrustworthy is that I have never seen the black body/beige bumpers and interior documented on anything that Fiat produced....other than their Eurpoean colour chart.

The UK only got black bumpers and trim for the Sport. Strangely though, the parts department listed all available colours even though they only stocked black. When I went to Fiat Alperton in 1983-ish to buy a replacement front wheel arch trim for my silver 131 Sport, the parts man said "what colour do you want?" to which I said "black of course, they are all black". He went on to list all available colours and then said "no, we only have one type and comes unpainted so you have to paint it". I expected to get something in grey primer but I actually got it in black. And it was ?80+ back then which must be the equivalent of a few hundred ?? now!  :o

Here in Holland there were only three colors available. From 78 to 1980 we got orange and gun metal grey with silver trims. From 1980 on to 1982 there was only silver cars available with black trims.
The orange cars had black interior and the gun metal grey had the red interior. The silver all had black interior.
We never had black Racings at all :'(

Perhaps a few dealers swapped interiors? For example a dealer could have taken a black car with a red interior and a gunmetal one with a black interior and swapped them over? strange things have happened particularly where customers and sales are concerned!

I have the brochure from the Walter R?hrl version where is also a black car shown with a black interior and "gold" trim.
Red interior was only available the earlier years. It looks like red was far more popular in the UK than in other countries.
Mike, gun metal you could get with black or red, although I believe that the first cars in Holland all came with red interior. And as far as I know silver was indeed only possible to order with black interior.
And yes, then there is the small black serie with brown interior.   and we can start with the outside trims..........   Great cars, interesting history, nice talks... Just love it.
You also can remove the trim and interio and change it into an Abarth repro. Discussion closed isn't it? ;D ;D ;D ;D

Interesting theory Dave but I think that a picture from a UK brochure should settle it.

If this theory was true, it would involve swapping door cards.... and seatbelts too... where some colour combinations were concerned.  :o

Now you have prompted me to look at my brochures and contrary to what I said earlier, I do have some Fiat pictures of the black/gold colour combo...ie the WR versions. Actually Albert, that interior could be gold/beige - Look at the seatbelts... :)

Now we are discussing Racings and their interiors and trims, how about this one:

A lot of us will have the orange brochure with four Racings lined up: Silver, orange and gun metal grey. Has anybody ever seen one Racing or mirafiori Sport with blue trims? Or with the green trims?

Kevin, I took the brochure and looked closely. I am pretty sure the car in the brochure I have( 2 pages in french and german) so not the one with the black cover and c-pillar, has black seats together with a black interior with "gold"bumpers. Here the seatbelts look gold or sand, there I agree with you. That also strokes with the fact that the seatbelts should have the same colour as the sidetrim/bumpers.

Mike, the answer is YES, there are a few other old items here which tell a hell of a lot about this.
Silver was possible with blue( Mark from Ireland has a not too good(to say it gentle) car in this combo. In New Sealand is a gunmetal/green car. And Paulcas has a car with blue bumpers.
The original press release even talks about different colour combo's and green and orange for the bumpers. You also could order every single part of the side trim/bumpers in all the colours. When you come to me I'll show you italian magazines with a dark grey car with green bumpers.

Here is mine made after the brochure, but I think you saw this picture.
Amazing what a black car advertised can do with us, isn't it. Lucky we, we are not colourblind. ;D

And also a set of original orange bumpers.

Albert.

I think we need to meet over a whole weekend. Since you have so many cars, brochures and pictures. I always thought i had lot's of stuff, but it seems you have a lot more ;)

Very interesting this topic indeed. But then again, topics about Racings and repl...thingies do seem to draw the most attention here. ;D

I like the green on the gun metal grey very much. However i am not sure if i should ever consider putting the green color to my car. Or the orange, or the blue.
Do you have pictures of these combination, Albert? I think i'm not the only one who is interested in these matches :) ;)

Mike,   

Ask Heini131 how it looks ;D  He absolutely didn't like it, till I took of the cover ;D ;D

Great to know. The 131 Racing is the ONLY car you could order with different coloured bumpers.

With your other question... patience Mike, patience ;)

 :o ;D ;D :o

Looks much better in the flesh than on fotos!

Hi Heini,

Do you have foto's to share with us? Or is your car already somewhere in this forum?

Mike

Hallo Mike,

my car is already known here :)

http://www.131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?topic=2612.0

Just some quick&dirty Photoshop work. This is how this might look like:

Looks stunning, Heini,

But i think that's not what Albert meant. We had a little talk over gun metal Racings with either blue, green or orange trims.

Anyway, your car looks wonderful.

Mike, I know what you were talking about ::)

Robert, try once again a silver car with light blue trim, a bit more in the smurf(Schlumpf) direction.

Like that?

Nice car, really 8)

Very different, by my opinion. But i believe the original blue is lighter.

Well, this was just some quick photoshop work without any reference, save "smurf light blue"  ;)

Sorry Albert for hijacking your pictures  ;D

No problem Robert ;D

I know you like the cars ;)

You want me to do a replica job on them?  ;) ;)

After all, it's not the real world, just artwork...

Sure with big wings, gullwingdoors, a chrystal steering wheel and chrome wheels.
Or try something like the VW Polo Harlekino, then you don't have to worry about colour differences ;D

Well, the blueprint already exists, I just have to add the harlekin colors:

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4122.0;attach=7308;image)

 ;D ;D :o ;D ;D

eeeuuhw...i just control, alt, deleted it from my mind. And here it is again... :D :D :D :D :D :D

Why Mike? I kind of like it...

Like i said, in the topic of that one, it's nice that somebody put effort in that car. I respect that. No doubt it took a lot of skill, effort and forget not, time and money to convert that car. But man, this is absolutely the most hideous 131 I ever saw.
Of course this is my point of view. And i respect everybody who thinks different.

I was kidding Mike...

And as i know Albert and Robert are joking about it, this one doesn't belong in this topic. Forget not, it started with a black Racing ;)

I know you are. ;) ;D ;) But i'm not ;) :D ;) :D ;) :D ;) :D ;) :D ;)

:D :D :D

Heres one or 2

"Second sport should be saved, 131 sport nice car all should be saved no Abarth replica from second sport"
 :D :D :D

Too bad about the roof. Grille, trims and bumper look ok. Rest unimportant. Is this car still somewhere or is it already crushed? Like the blue on the silver. 8)

I think its gone to the great Fiat heaven :( Heres some more combinations

The gun metal grey car has light grey trims. That's different? Mostly they were silver.
Always prefered the red interior over the black one...and mine has the black.

If you dont like the black seats - I will swap them for my leather living room recliner - Throw the whole car in and you may get the settee as well  ;D ;D ;D
Oh by the way -its cream leather -If youre interested Ill get some pics  ;D ;D

Red seats in a 131 - really !!!! You only get them covered in oil fixing and tweaking  ;D ;D

Just for fun

Curt

Curt,

I never said i don't like the black interior. I just prefer the red. Never had it in my car but i find it suits with the gun metal grey and silver lining.

Well as long as it doesn't clash with your wardrobe - or the wife/girlfriends  lipstick then thats OK

 ;D ;D ;D

Like i say - all in fun  ;D

Anyway forget interiors - crack on with the rebuild and get some photos up  ;)

I know you're making fun, Curt. ;)

At the moment i'm working three cars at the same time. Because the Abarth needs some parts that are very expensive and even harder to find i have to put it on hold. The replica is on for some major cleaning up. Have to take off all protection stuff and metal parts that don't belong on the rally car. And believe me, that's a lot. Should take off some kilo's.
Just got the Racing running again and now i am fixing everything that needs to be fixed to get it nice and ready for the road again. After ten years of standing it really needs work. And i don't mean changing the black interior for a red one...would be nice though... ;)

Guys, the colour debate is always interesting!

My brother-in-law brought a gunmetal car with a black interior, then a silver car with a black interior, then a black car with a black interior.  Another friend brought a black car with a black interior and an electric sunroof!

I got a gunmetal car with a red interior.  I like the combination.

I realise I may get shot for this, but here goes anyway..........

Remove seats from car.
Carefully remove 'hog rings' (round metal clips) and peel covers back from seats.  You need to unhook the through bars that keep the seams straight.
Remove all clips, bars, and rings.
Check seams for splits and loose stitching.  Repair and damage.
Distract wife and place in washing machine on a short, gentle wash.  Add one tablet to each load.
Remove from washing machine and tumble dry for 30 minutes.
Remove from dryer and place straight back onto seat while still warm.
Brush gently with a clothes brush to align the pile on the fabric.

It helps to concentrate on one seat at a time, and assemble it before you move to the next.

You will be stunned by the amount of dirt that comes out, and how bright the seats are when you put them back in the car!

Good info, think i'm gonna try it.
 

it's a bitch to put back on. i did it with my 132

@124AC - Whats a washing machine ? I thought that was the wife  ;D ;D

Guys

You're right, they are difficult to put back, but if you try assembling while they're still warm they fit better.

When you wash a red sport interior, or a gold super interior they almost look metallic in the sunshine.

As for the washing machine, I managed to blag my way clear when my good lady returned home to find me baking enamal onto brake calipers in the oven!  I explained that it was new paint on calipers that had been blasted clean!