Fiat 131 Racing / Sport prices

[MarkoH]

I am very interested about prices of a Fiat 131 Racing / Sport. Seems that a car with a good condition costs in UK several thousands Pounds - in Germany you have to pay something like 7000 ?.

I've always thought that cars are really expensive here in Finland, but now it seems that old Fiat's are really underrated here. As I told you before in different topic, you can buy a fully restored 131 Racing with A LOT OF SPARE PARTS (Engine, transmission, etc..) with 6000 ?. This is the car for sale:



So, tell me guys. What do you think is the RIGHT price for example for a 131 Racing / Sport with original condition, not much rust etc.

Is it a secret or are you willing to tell what you have paid of your own beauties? Mine is in poor condition and I was forced to pay 1700 ? of it. Here in Finland it is a lots of money to pay just to get a old rusty Fiat...

[simon131]

Marko,

This is an extremely difficult question to answer, as it varies so much depending upon the car's condition, location and how desperately someone wants it

I favour original spec and condition, but there are those who prefer their Sport/Racing to have 'Abarth' looks, such as spoilers and wheel arch extensions.

The silver car that is depicted has a sprayed grille, the 'wrong' wheels, a series 1 bonnet and a wooden steering wheel, so it tells me that it's probably been fairly extensively restored at some point. Overall condition looks good, and it appears to be a pretty standard spec - which I personally favour, however a closer inspection might find all sorts of rot, bodged repairs and over spray.

Price is whatever you feel it's worth. If the car shown is available for 6,000 euros with a spare engine and gearbox I'd go for it if I were you as I can see it selling quite quickly for that money.

I'm not sure whether people will be prepared to tell you what they paid for their beauty, but we'll see. People don't want to be accused of paying too much or buying at a low price only to sell quickly for a big profit.

Let us know how you get on

Simon

[MarkoH]

Thanks for your reply, Simon. You are absolutely right and you have a "good" eye. Car in picture above is at the moment with "wrong" wheels, steering wheel, bonnet and "rear bonnet". Original wheels, steering wheel are included in price. I'm not sure about the original bonnet.

I'm not buying this car because I think it is too expensive and I have no use for it. I'm going to restore my own Racing to 100% original condition. I've made my budget for this project and I hope it will stand. With 5000 ? I think my Racing is restored. Of course I have to work hard by myself and without a help of a "outsiders". I am able to do the bodywork but e.g. I have to paint this car in local spray shop. This will cost approximately 700 ? for me.

When you are restoring a car and then try to sell it I think you are not able to get much profit. With my budget my Racing is going to cost about 7000 ? and that is the absolute maximum price you can ask for it. At least this is the case here...

I restored an 40 years old 50 cc moped a year ago. I spend 2800 ? of money and 300 hours of work. Now the price for this moped is about 3000 ?.

Before:



After:

[sid131]

nice job on the moped marko, here is my celica 5 year restoration & cost ?17k no shortcuts taken new almost everything & polished stainless nuts & bolts throughout, well worth the effort as far as i am concerned, i have a budget of ?10 to ?12k for the 131 not saying i have that money now to spend but over a few years its only cigarette money, btw off them almost 7 years now, i have almost everything got for the 131 now & have started work on it, be realistic about the paint job you do get what you pay for the celica cost ?2700 to paint & for ?700 you would only get the paint & laquer here in Ireland, best of luck with the resto if you need anything just ask.

[Robert]

Hi Marko, I paid 500 Euros for my car, which did not come as? Racing from the factory but was converted to a true Racing/Sport by its former owner. It looked like that when I bought it (note the Diesel bonnet!):



Now, having spent around 1000 Euros for half a garage full of parts, it looks like this:



Condition is far from perfect, but I took it to around 40 Regularity Rallyes (Germany, Greece, Italy) in the last 5 years, driving nearly 40,000 kms without any technical problems. Really value for money. Now it needs some attention (rust...) and a new coat (arancio racing, I presume).

I think the 1700 you paid is not a bad price. And 7000 is quite a lot. I think I will end up having spent around 5000 for a nice competitive Racing. Keep fingers crossed that I'm not too optimistic...

Greetz from Germany,
Robert

[alan.acs]

That  celica is a beaut, would love to see it some time.

[sid131]

you can see it when you collect your bonnet alan, the pics dont do the car justice at all.

[alan.acs]

Gotta collect that bonnet soon,just so i can see it.
 maybe next week if that suits.

[sid131]

no problem

[bolger]

I think 6000 E for Sport after unknown restoration might be a bit too much, because you don't really know how it has been done. I've been offered to have my Sport restored by an oldtimer specialist for about 3300 E (in Warsaw) with paint job included. I would think about paying 6000 E (if I had them ...)  for an unmolested Sport, but if this one is without documentation from the restoration, I would go for restoring mine. I have seen too many shiny wrecks.
Or, you can try to buy that one, sell it immediately and buy the Sport bodyparts form Italy for the difference

[bellamacchina]

I am on the market for already a longer period and I see that Racings start to become really scarce. Last year you could still buy a nice car for 5000 euro. At the moment there is almost nothing on offer and if so than the prices are much higher. My expectation is that prices will stabilise on a little higher level as last year, but remember that it is still a buyers market!

Know very well what you are doing when you start with a basketcase, mostly you think you save money but at the end you spended 10K or even much more( YES,I talk also for myself ).
So when you have to spend 7K on the car of your dreams, why not. Buying a new car and trade it in after 3 years for exactly the same example costs mostly a lot more!

[Testament]

Fiats are generally cheap here - most european stuff is seen as unusual (most cars are japanese imports or australian fords and holdens), so either people think its really fancy and expensive e.g. mercedes/bmw ?or just strange and troublesome e.g. anything italian or french.

131's in particular are very rare, the often damp and humid climate in the north island (where most of new zealands population lives) ?just dissolved most of them, and not being worth alot few were restored or looked after too well. My guess would be even a perfect low milage showroom condition car would struggle to reach $10,000nzd (~5000 euro) in new zealand. ?I paid $3000nzd/1500euro for mine as a shell in pieces, ?but it had little to do with the car really as ?I had worked out that the parts and rollcage were worth about that much to me and more or less came with a free 131 2dr shell.

I bought my 124 coupe about 5 years ago, and its the same - a fiat so not alot of interest, I had seen it advertised for about 6 months prior to buying it. It's not perfect, but good running condition, next to no rust, very good condition interior and had a respray so it looks nice and shiny, set me back $5000nzd/2500 euro

[markwilliams131]

it was only a matter of time before 131 sports started maekeing big money
look at the prices of mk2 escorts rs2000  and the 131 sport was out  the same time
back in the 80s if you had a 131 sport 1 of your mates had a rs2000
all it takes is 1 lad   2 put his car up for sale at say 7000euro and every body elce will follow