Postcard from Malta....

[mirafioriman]

If you see any series 2 Argenta wheel trims for sale........

[c.a.c131]

And S2 131 Velour too 

[kev131]

Glad the postings are appreciated. My eyes about Malta have certainly been opened.

A non Fiat story is about the cousin of James whose Dad runs a vehicle import and sales firm. He has a couple of early Celicas (c 1974) and plans to fit an uprated Jap motor to one of them. He found a rather special Toyota Carina in Japan and bought it. It had a twin cam engine producing 165bhp stock. A good drifting car. We knew the basic versions as the first Carina 2.

The local authorities were only prepared to admit the car in to Malta from outside the EU, if it was cut in half and each half shipped separately! The solution was to ship it to the UK instead, register and MOT it there and then just transport it to Malta as a European registered car. Apparently this is also the solution for the American cars here.

I haven't found a good source for parts here yet and I'm running out of time. I'll keep my eyes open for those specific requests though.

I might have a pics solution involving a laptop tomorrow but failing that I'll be loading up pics next week some time.

[bellamacchina]

Great story so far, Kev,

The 131 is such a great car, with most other type of cars a forum would dry up faster, there is always something new to tell, 2,3,4,5 door, compressor, Abarths with a lot of different specs, rallying, different interiors, green bumpers ;)etc.etc.
I simply love this kind of stories. Keep going on the good work and enjoy us with a lot of pictures!

[kev131]

Albert what do you think of the orange Racing with green bumpers story? It's a new one to me. What do you think...genuine?

I think you should show us what it looks like by swapping your car trims around just for fun!!  

Another car collection I was taken to see belonged to a fellow hill climbing competitor of James. He has an unusual collection of competition cars including a red Lotus Sunbeam. Also a seventies open wheel race car - possibly a Dallara.

Anyway, the Fiat connection here was a red Fiat 600 Abarth with a Fiat 1800 twin cam engine....possibly from a 132. I think constant oversteer was the expectation from all that weight in the back. Again, pics to follow.

Today was the last day of our hire car and we popped across to Malta's sister island, Gozo. We saw 1 series 2 Ritmo and 4 Regatas. Nothing more interesting than that except that the island is less commercialised than the main island.

Back to 131s the owner of the 27000 mile grey car unwrapped the original diff (without axle) that he had removed when fitting the LSD. It had only done 10000 miles before being replaced. I made him an offer to buy it but it is staying with the car. He may sell the car one day but he is in no hurry.

[mirafiori76]

You're quit some years too late, Kev.
 I was in Malta for about 15 years ago and couldn't believe my eyes. 131's all around. Some 132's as well and some Argenta's. Haven't i told this story before? I can't really recall, but i know i spend two articles in my magazine (when i was frontman of the Dutch 131 Club).
Anyway, i wondered why i never recognised the sound of a 131 passing by when i was having a beer somewhere. I asked a local and he told me why. Almost every "old" car with petrol engine is modified. Modified with a brand new diesel engine. Even the Busses, from 1950 or so, had brand new turbo diesel engines. The reason is indeed that diesel is so much cheaper then petrol in Malta.

When i returned to Malta 9 years ago there weren't much mirafiori's left in the very same town i spend my hollidays in.   Didn't find much anymore.

Fact is this; cars are in a really terrible shape or perfectly restored in Malta. I love this country...

[kev131]

Hey it's never too late to look at old 131s Mike although I take your point. I should have come here ages ago!   It looks like Ford Escort mk2 and Mini Cooper fans have milked the place....according to the people I've met.

Went to a Sunday "Cars and Coffee" (although they all had beer in their hands) meeting this morning. There were four stunning mark 1 Escorts there all badged either RS2000 or Twin Cam, all with 16 inch wheels and quality paint jobs. A clean red Fiat 127 GT drove by but didn't stop so no pictures of that one.

I found a champagne gold Fiat 131 S3 Super for sale in the evening and had a good look. Originally owned by a Fiat dealer principal it had the optional sliding factory sunroof. The current second owner has had it 25 years and is selling it because he has too many cars. It was originally a 2000 twin cam but you've guessed it - a Toyota diesel engine now resides in the engine bay. According to the seller it's a two hour job to swap the engine back - part of the conversion includes the manufacture of a special gearbox flange to mate the Toyota engine to the Fiat gearbox.

We had a short spin and if you ignore the engine (which is hard to do .....especially the bang upon starting up ...which may indicate some sort of slack being taken up between the engine and transmission) it seemed to drive quite well. 76000 miles and the car looked very straight. It needed a good clean but like all the Maltese 131s I've seen in the last two weeks (11 I think) it was absolutely solid underneath.  

The seller was a real gentleman too which is something that struck me about the Maltese people in general.....such a friendly welcoming race.

[bellamacchina]

I am not sure the orange with green bumpers is a genuine combi, not as far as I know. Were there green seatbelts in the car? The seatbelts always had the same colour as the bumpers

I tried green and orange bumpers on gunmetal, both nice in my opinion. I still have the orange set. Silver also suits gunmetal good. I don't like silver bumpers on orange(standard in Holland, black bumpers not available).

[kev131]

Sorry for the delay with pictures...there are so many.

The Fiat 125 from the file Munich.

[kev131]

The Museum 125S - Restored to a very high standard - ?14000.

[kev131]

Fiat 124 Berlina 35000 miles for sale at ?5500.

[kev131]

Fiat 131 Abarth replica with Group 4 style arches - all in steel. Specially for Daverwd...

[mirafiori76]

Must have been a lot of work. And it's standing for a long time now considering the dust it gathered. 

[daverwd]

WOW .. thanks for the 131 pic's kevin but i don't think fiat ever put arches that wide
on to a tarmac  car... they look huge ..

[stathe174]

Great pictures! But I suspect that there are more coming...