131mirafiori forum

I believe that there is an Auto Italia Day at Gaydon this coming Sunday, 23rd September. I am planning to be there in my 131 Abarth, and by the sound of it Theo will be there in his Sport and Andy in his 'Beast' 8) so it should a good turn out from us 131mirafiori forum members ;D

Anyone else planning on coming? If so, we might be able to pursuade Mr Ward to 'allow' us to all park together ???

I'd love to go but am working ( leave request turned down !! ). I'm sure Wayne's going with a few others as well.

Shame as I would have loved to have another nosy around your motor.

Hope the weather stays fine for you all.

Unfortunately not unless I can fix the car on Saturday. Starter motor refuses to be helpful and start the engine so the car isn't going anywhere. I had a quick look last night and one of the long bolts that connects the starter motor body with the gear plate at the front is missing  :o and the other long bolt is completely undone so the starter is about to fall apart  >:( :o. Also one of the two bolts on the rear bracket that supports the starter motor is missing!  ::) I think the 8000RPM runs up the Healy Pass must have worked a few bolts loose! I'll have to find the old Croma starter and see if I can make a good starter out of the two (haven't I said that somewhere on this forum before?)

I had this problem with my first sport back in 1987  :(
Easy fix though -just park on a slope or kerbside -lean out of drivers door and push  ;D ;D
Worked for me for 6 months -till i borrowed another from a 132  ;)
Just dont stall at traffic lights  ;D ;D

hi guys,
love to be at gaydon but i left it too late to book flights
now just to exp; we travelled over last year it was fab show
you guys are spoilt for good shows.
have a great day all.
regards gerry.

the orange boys will be there with 2 131 sports 127 sport 850 coupe and a yellow 127 :)

Dont want to be dodging Ian's stray 131 windscreen wiper again down the M6 if it rains like last year!
Hopefully he's fitted them a bit tighter now!? ;D

After making my posting up the page and having spoken to Theo last evening, it looks like both of us may have a problem now. :'(

According to my 'secretary' (the wife) I have a previously booked 'engagement' on Sunday - that will require some 'negotiation' on my part to get out of ::)

Theo's starter motor continues to give problems, and although I have offered him a recon unit he is severely restricted on time to get it fitted before Sunday.

Watch this space

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the insurance runs out at midnight on Saturday night too :-\

I've just received my renewal but the idiots have got it listed as a Strada Abarth 130TC and not a 131 Abarth >:( Total muppets >:( They got it wrong the first time and assured me that things would be put right - all they're interested in is taking the money!!

A few bits from the old Croma starter motor, a bit of dexterity, a tad of ingenuity, a lot of contortionism and a touch of the obligatory super glue and the 131 starter motor in once again spinning the engine with great enthusiasm! So all going well I should be in Gaydon tomorrow...

Well, my 131 and I made it there and so did another five 131s so we had six in total  :o  Quite an achievement but we never managed to get them all together for a photo shoot so the photos are of the cars in pairs  :-\

It was a good day (even though it rained AGAIN! ::) ) and a good selection of Italian cars including what seemed like every Lamborghini registered in the UK  :o Apparently the Lamborghini club had some sort of milestone celebration. Of course we also had a TFC meeting and it's always a pleasure to meet up with the president of my fun club  :D as well as all the other 131 friends.

The run round the test track was great fun and confirmed that the newly fitted Mintex discs and pads are well up to the job of stopping the car; I wish I had them fitted before driving the Healy Pass during the 3MA. At least now I know the brakes are up to the job for anything we might drive during 3MA-2008  ;D

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G01.jpg)

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G02.jpg)

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G03.jpg)

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G04.JPG)

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G05.jpg)

(http://www.131mirafiori.com/photos/GaydonSep2007/G06.jpg)

thank god we can reily on you theo to get the photo's on super
quick for those of us who couldn't make it . hope you and the 131 boys  ;D had a great time cheers

Top photos as usual Theo - Yes pity they were not all together - Did you do any recruiting for 3MA08?

Having arrived at Gaydon at 10.30, we were greeted by Theo who said what kept you, ( yes he had overtaken us on the M40),it was great to see so many cars already there, and eager to see if there would be any more 131's, we parked up near Simon and Theo and went a wandering.
Chatted to a guy Dave Richards a free lance journalist who was interested in the 3ma 07 and was saying about the possibility of doing a feature for 3ma 08.Heres hoping ,and we will definately be going.

Nice to see everybody yesterday, especially Wayne (Hicky131) who I'd not seen for ages!

It was also good to see 6 131s in the same place again, although (as mentioned above) unfortunately they were not close enough together to get a decent photo of them all :-\ Only 33% of them were orange too - so sunglasses were not required ;D ;D

Not much to add to the reports above except to say that the weather was decidely cold and blowy, with the sort of occasional fine rain that gets everything wet! ::) Most of us had had enough by early afternoon so Theo, Andy and 'Nita and me left at about 2pm.

My 100 mile journey south was uneventful but took a great deal longer than the trip up!? ;) I got home to warm sunshine, which apparently had been the order of the day since the early morning mist cleared :-\ Brilliant! :(

I think I'm all 'Gaydon'd out' now. It always seems to rain when I've been there and it's a long way to go to park on a large expanse of concrete. Also the ?10 per person entrance fee (?8 if purchased in advance) is a bit steep when I'd already paid for the tank of petrol.

Yes,it was a great day out and i finally got to see Simons beast in the flesh for the first time. :)
You've got your numbers wrong though guys.
There were seven 131s!
Bobby turned up in his silver sport with the family on board.
Nice to see the car without the integrale wheels on it too. ;)

Our convoy stuck to a steady pace so the little 850 coupe could keep up with out the valves bouncing. ;D
The weather on the M62 allways does it's best to make life difficult.In the morning the wind was that bad,i had to stop and tighten the mirrors up as they were nearly touching the door skins!
Then on the way back,a mast and a main sail would've been more suitable! :D

Nice to meet Andy and talk a bit about bmw diff conversions. :)

Here's a selection of pics that i took.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007052.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007051.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007044.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007042.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007015.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007010.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007003.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/hicky131/Autoitalia%20gaydon%202007/AutoitaliaatGaydon2007001.jpg)

Wayne.

Wow! That's a nice looking Sport. I like them in Silver. Where was it hidden? Must have been hidden as I never saw it  ::)

I think parking allocation is one of the problems with Auto Italia at Gaydon. They direct all the Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis and even Lancias and Alfas to the prime locations and then put all the Fiats together on the grass out of the way of anyone! I was sent on the grass when I arrived and parked behind a myriad of Puntos  (one of which had an air intake in place of the nearside high-beam headlamp!!!). Then I noticed Simon's Abarth and the Volumex and moved my car near them.

Bobby parked up about 3 cars to the left of us orange boys.
He must've turned up just after you took your pics Theo! ;D

Did anyone speak to the owner of the volumetrico?
That's a lovely looking car too. 8)

Ah! so we never had more than six 131s there at the same time. Still, if we get all seven at next year's 3MA we are nearly half way to braking  this year's record  ;D

Did you,Andy and Simon leave at the same time Theo? If so,i remember seeing bobby talking to Simon before he left which would make 7 at the same time! :)

We didn't leave until about 2:00pm. In fact I was the last of the 3 of us to leave (but only by a couple of minutes and only because I was plugging in my SatNav). I am sure I saw Bobby around midday so we must have had the seven there. We should get a bit more organised next time and get all the cars parked together.

Your right Theo, I spoke to you around midday whilst admiring Simon's and Andy's beasts! I arrived at about 11.30am with my mum and dad and left about 3ish. It was a great day out and especially seeing so many 131's out, a beautiful 124cc and in general having a chit chat with fellow enthuisasts.

My Silver Sport will now be put on sorn and awaits a garage to be built for restoration work.






 

Hello Bobby,

I am glad you confirmed I wasn't dreaming when I thought we spoke about starter motors (amongst other things) around midday! I was beginning to think I am getting really senile!


Restoration? It doesn't look from the photo above that it needs restoration! Don't get carried away though as 3MA 2008 is less than 8 months away and you don't want to miss that!  ;)