131mirafiori forum

Hello,
i just found an absolut fantastic rare mirafiori on german ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.de/Fiat-131-Mirafiori-Familiare-1300-1976-TOPZUSTAND-/230496408824?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Automobile&hash=item35aaa814f8

car looks like a new one

greetings from germany
Heini

Now that is a comprehensive set of photographs - Strange that so many sellers do not realise that buyers want to see this level of detail when considering a purchase at long distance.

The price wont happen though - There is an equally impeccable S1 Saloon S in the same colour for ?4900 for sale several weeks now (price has been coming down steadily from ?5900). On Autoscout and Mobile.de.

Hello Kevin,
i hope you are doing fine!
I agree with you, the price wont happen. I also recognized the falling price of the saloon on mobile.de and autoscout.
wondering if it will fall again

greetings
Heini

Truly lovely example of a very rare Fiat 131 though!

No matter how hard you try you just can't beat an original, unrestored, unmodified car!

but lads as its a 1976 131 with 69K it has had to have some work done to its body at sometime?

I agree it will im sure have had some work done at some time,unless its been inside an air tight bubble all its life

Not all cars have been damaged or become rusty and been repaired. Anyway it looks like a nice example to me........

Yes i agree  these gem's do sometime's come come up for sale,but like Sid said its 1976. Also its a fiat 131 estate.
You maybe right it could be one of these genuine gems !!

no way Dave it has had to have some work done to it sure these 131s were rusting in the showroom brand new

Thats an interesting challenge Nick - Are you saying that every 1970s Fiat has had some bodywork done at this stage...? I'm not sure I agree. There must be some cherished cars out there that never saw a damp climate - I know my white Super is 5 years newer but I'm absolutely sure it's had no bodywork as a result of corrosion... :)

ok then wont comment any more on that

Well in my time as rust goes ive had 2 VX Novas  1 P reg & 1 E reg also a VX Cavelier H reg all needed welding and they were all only about 8/10 yr old when i had them and i have a Renault van S reg and its had 2 new sills and floorpan is now rotting.
A guy i used to work with years ago had a Y reg mini cooper it was only 6 yrs old  when he got it and about 3 yrs later it was half rotten.
Although the Scottish weather does not help and as far as i know the Irish weather is not that much better than ours.

Even here in Greece with our dry climate our FIAT's got rotten.. And fast...

just take a look at djapes latest pics of his resto, looks bad but its actually quite good, All 131s rotted under that wiper panel because of the pipe that takes the water from the bottom of the screen gets clogged & then it lies under the wiper panel which has a very poor sealer on it (porus) & bare steel underneath no paint or undercoat & thats where it starts ever see a 131 with sealer between the wing & a wiper panel? well why do you reckon that was put there & what lies under the panel? rust & rust! & often wonder where the water drips or damp are coming from? same under the wiper panel is rusting away & you dont even see it, so even a mint looking 131 will have issues under there & if the seller has pics of any repairs with the wiper panel off all the better all the rust will have to be removed not plated over of eventually the bulkhead valance will fall inward or the car will crease & bend!
Thank god for Yagmur ;D

I am pretty sure this car was for sale around 3 months ago in France for a fraction of this price!
But a truly wonderful timewarp found!

As a former owner of different mirafiori's through the past 25 years I would like a comment on this one. Surely these cars were badly constructed. And I mean, holes in the wrong places, bad protection and water having free space to do it's damaging work. But 1976, 77 and 78 cars were better made then the ones from 1979. I don't know what happened with Fiat overall, but it was a b-a-a-a-a-d year. Bad metal and very poor paintwork. So not many have survived. Later on Fiat recovered from this little dip by using better material and protection.
It's very possible that a car from 1976, which may have been in a garage for many years and with low milage, could be in an outstanding good condition.

I think the bigest issue with UK Fiats when they were new was they were imported in bulk but sold very slowly because only mad people bought new ones.....My 1981 sport I bought in 1983 at 2 years old cost me ?2250 at the time. When new Fiat used to put a date stamp on the door grab handle on the drivers with the build date on. Mine had June 1979 the car was registered Nov 81. That car had rust in it in 83 because it was sat around with rust proofing that was rubbish for over 2 years. I suspect most sports registered in the UK after 1979 were all much the same age in real terms.

Don't ask me why, but they were mostly orange. I had one wich was very badly painted. It was saved however. Was later converted to an Abarth replica in red. Now it is an Altalia replica (made by me) and sold again. But it's still alive.
But my first Racing was silver, also a 79er. I couldn't hold up with the rust. After a year of hard work it finally ended up the scrap heap :'(

The thing with Fiats you love them or hate them. My current one is not the sexiest one but a fun one. A new shape Multipla. Brilliant with the family. At least the rust issues have disapeared.

I once had a 127 for three years. Wonderful little car. Had great fun with it, but I craved for a 131 Sport again. So I got one again. It's a disease :D ;D

Lots of 131 in Holland disappeared because of little rust during the time that first, and I don't know what it's called in English, year control was exercised. Mechanics didn't know what was allowed and what wasn't. So minor things became big issues and owners thought that cars weren't safe anymore. It was about the same time I discovered the mirafiori and even though mine was bad, there were a lot on scrap heaps which were better.
If only people would have known how strong these cars were build, they would have more money, time and effort invested and keep them on the road longer. But then again, I think that counts for a lot of countries.