Fiat 132 - Engine bay question....?

[djape1977]

what happened with the driver and passangers?
my first car was 132 diesel, dark blue one. i had spun it on an ice covered road about a month after i got my drivers licence and went over and thru the centre line  divider sideways into oncoming traffic and ended up in front of one unfortunate fiat 128 which slamed into my drivers side front door and wing. fortinately, no one was injured. 128 was written off and i rapaired my 132 by replacing whole A pillar, both doors, front wing, rear wing sill, and front left suspension arms. i drove it for another 7 years. incredibly, it didn't roll over even when it hit and went over the 10cm curb sideways! also, direct impact into drivers door left it 5cm away from my shoulder, instead of normal 15cm which proved to me that 132 is a very strong car.

[djape1977]

one more point:
132's petrol tank is in a rear right wing, right above rear silencer. when i spun and crashed my 132, petrol takd was also hit. since it was full, it had split open in the bottom and fuel spilled directly onto exaust. fortunately it was a diesel which is pretty much inflamable. i hate to think what would happen if it was gasoline.
on argenta, which is 132's sucsessor, gas tank was moved behind rear seat, as on 131.

[sid131]

the early celica like mine had the petrol filler between the rear lights & the tank where my spare wheel is & after some accidents in the Us & people hurt etc toyota moved the tank to where the 131 tank is so leaving the earlier "flatlight" models sought after & very rare, so is this why Fiat moved the tank in the argenta?

[kev131]

Ah thanks for the concern mateys - A cut to the forehead for the old man was the limit of human damage and he was travelling alone at the time. He looked remarakably calm afterwards when I saw him 2 hours later. I think it must have all happened too quickly to register what could have been a much worse result.  

The newspaper headline is in fact wrong as the rails were scattered and were useless in stopping a vehicle - It was a steel cable running through the top of the railing that prevented disaster. It rode up the A pillar and stopped a few inches below the roof level leaving a clearly visible indent.

He had begun an overtaking manouevre not realising the presence of black ice and the back end overtook the front. The local council never pursued his insurance company for the damage to the bridge and we think it was because they felt that there may be some liability of their part. Also solid white lines appeared shortly afterwards.  

Your accident sounds just as horrifying Djape - and I agree with you about the fuel tank - What an absurd location!

[bellamacchina]

I looked carefully but I am afraid this one is not up to your standard Kev!
To much detailwork still needed. I should better pay a premium for a top of the line example, although it is difficult to find nowadays!

[kev131]

Well the mystery seems to be solved - Apparently the car was originally green and when it was painted orange (pre 2005 I'm told) the engine bay was left green. A subsequent owner dealt with this by painting it black!

Well that explains why the door jams are painted so thoroughly but for me this puts me off the car, I was dubious anyway but now any doubt that I might be missing out on a great car is gone.

Back to looking I'm afraid. 

[mirafioriman]

How about the green one? Have you had any more info back on that one yet?

[kev131]

Yes - Two very helpful forum members have fed back some first hand knowledge of the car which has painted a slightly different picture than I knew already ...so I'm afraid this is off the shopping list too. 

On the plus side, this is the second time that I've been saved a wasted trip for cars that looked to be worth the risk of a flight. A huge benefit for me from the international community that has evolved around these twin cam Fiats that we love! 

I'll keep looking - Patience is a virtue although I really have the bug since I drove Enda's red 2000 in Killarney in Sept...

[mirafioriman]

Not being able to find something you want is fustrating, but going a long way to view something which is not as described and therefore not what you want is a real pain in the backside

[sid131]

one car sticks in my memory when i was looking for a ta23 celica all those years ago , i went to see a car in galway around 1998 time advertised as mint just needs paint & after speaking to the seller went over to see it with a trailer to take it home, but??? it was the worst car i ever saw & it had all holes filled with fiberglass & newspaper & after a row with the seller he still thought it was mint, so ordinary joe soap dont really know whats good or bad!

[djape1977]

go get a white or gold one. they're both good honest, no flaws covered up, cars. i think you won't find flawless 132 at the price range you're in

[kev131]

go get a white or gold one. they're both good honest, no flaws covered up, cars. i think you won't find flawless 132 at the price range you're in

Have you seen the white one Djape? That's the other car that I've been saved a trip to..! I think I agree with you on the gold one but I dont want that colour thanks - is it still for sale? - It's disappeared from the usual websites.

With the greatest of respect, what price range am I in...? 

[sid131]

?100

[djape1977]

http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?id=121619524&__lp=2&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=searchNetGrossPrice&sortOption.sortOrder=ASCENDING&makeModelVariant1.makeId=8800&makeModelVariant1.modelId=20%2C25%2C1%2C29&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&vehicleCategory=Car&segment=Car&minFirstRegistrationDate=1975-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=1985-12-31&siteId=GERMANY&damageUnrepaired=ALSO_DAMAGE_UNREPAIRED&export=ALSO_EXPORT&customerIdsAsString=&lang=en&pageNumber=1

if i understood correctly, you're looking to spend around 4k euro

frankly, i haven't seen many 132's out there for more than that. sometimes a really nice one pops up like that red one from holland. there was also one gold 132 in swiss ads last year, i think it was something like 6.000e, really flawless car, 23.000kms, factory installed LPG system, 2000 ie climatizatta.

i'm not looking for a confrontation with you on this subject, or any other for that matter. you are a person of your own free will and you'll buy a car you like. i'm just trying to be of help on the subject. my standards are probably well below yours, or is it just that i'm not so anal about it? i'd have any of those 132's. they're all in better shape than any of 132's i've had over the years.

if you have seen the photos of flaws on a white 132, please share 'em with us.

[kev131]

Thanks for the link - I was puzzled why I couldn't see it any more but I've saved a search for Fiat 132 and this is showing as "Fiat other". I see the price has come down about ?500.

I'm certainly not looking for a confrontation either Djape - I just felt that your language seemed a little confrontational in some of your postings but I'm happy that I'm mis-interpreting you.

The red one in Holland/Belgium(?) was priced at ?6900 and disappeared from sale within 2 weeks so I'm assuming it sold. I baulked at the price but if I had my time again I'd pay up like a shot - It had a few cosmetic blemishes but with hindsight, easily sorted. I've since learned of one that is not for sale but if it was, the owner could be tempetd to part with it for ?10k!! I might be a big fan of the cars but not that big! I'll wait a while more.

Anal? maybe....but I'm not interested in a "fixer upper"- I want the absolute best I can find within a reasonable (to me) price limit - Otherwise flaws in the car will annoy me and dilute my enjoyment of it. 



The photos taken of the white car were not taken by me so I dont think I should publish them but believe me it is not as "top" as the advert says - It is still a very good car and drives well , but does not reach the standard I'm looking for.