PLR465W My second 131 Sport (4th 131)

[131Steve]

This was my second 131 Sport.  I already knew the car and I bought it because it was a Sport and it was ?50

Rust was the main problem, no really    The driver's door was so rotten that it was screwed shut and you had to get in the passenger side.

I replaced it with a second hand door in brown, the passenger side door I borrowed from my first 131 Sport which was in bits with the intention of a full rebuild.  It wouldn't start so Duncan my brother in law towed it home for me, not that I was going to drive it back to the work shop if it had started  

Once back it took a few short minutes to work out the fuel pump had failed and fit a second hand one "from stock"  When it started for the first time the fast idle was a little high and it just sat there with the exhaust absolutely howling away.  In the end all it needed was the fuel pump, engine & brake service, and......welding.......lots of welding.

[131Steve]

The pics show me and my mates on holiday in the 131 Sport in Noja near Santander on the North coast of Spain.

I'd had to replace the passenger side outer sill, repair the plate between the inner & outer sill and replace a lot of the inner sill, including making a new seat belt mount + floor obviously....thinking back, for a 10 year old car it was a bit rotten....

Needed to drop the front cross member down as the chassis rail was rotten too.  The both rear arches were good and the drivers side just needed...patching    Windscreen had to come out to weld the end of the scuttle panel 

[131Steve]

My 131 Sport made it back from Spain and here it is outside my sister and brother in law's flat in the early 90s.  It's packed full as I was moving to Hatfield that day....

Parked behind me is Duncan my brother in law's 131 Sport, that was a very "happy" 131 Sport and it always purred out of the exhaust.  It towed our friend's racing ALFA Sud Sprint all over the UK from meeting to meeting...week after week, after week.....happy days  

As you can see it was illegal at that time in Essex to have FIAT car doors the same colour as the car 

[131Steve]

Pics..

[131Steve]

I sold the black 131 Sport to buy an "Y" 1983? 3 owner from new 131 Sport off my mate's Dad.

http://www.131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?topic=6757.0

There's no reason why my black 131 Sport PLR465W shouldn't be out there in a barn some where, I'd done all the welding that it needed for the moment....

The new owner drove it pretty hard, he "did" the diff but replaced it himself OK.  The next time I saw the black 131 Sport he'd "done" the rings on number three - you cannot keep driving a 90,000 mile engine like it's new  

What I do know is that Duncan's 131 Sport lives on (LWL???W).....it's fully restored in Orange and it lives in Ireland.  I've got a coupe of pics of it restored but they are not mine to post    Gotta respect the owner's privacy.  If anyone knows of LWL???W It would be really great if you could PM me