I had my last journey in the coop yesterday morning to it's final resting place...poweritalia for breaking. It was Strangely emotional as I walked away from the car knowing that it really began life at poweritalia and was ending at the same place 4 and a half year later.

As I looked back I had a flashback over the 4 years, rewind to the beginning, Rog basically resurrected this car from the badly knocking engine with a virtually brand new unit and made the car seem as good as new. Over the years it has been the most frustrating, annoying, fiddly, unpredicatble exciting fun car I have owned, but It was never less than an event everytime I pressed the blipper and opened to door reveal the yellow strip that encompassed the dash. It never felt like a 90's car more a timeless classic.

Things changed later, but the car was present at important events in my life, I drove it to my wedding day, it took me to southampton to our cruise for our honeymoon,It transported me to my new job 80 miles a day everyday for a year,it transported most of the small items(and some of the big ones) to our first purchased house together, it took us on our last holiday together before we became parents. It didn't let me down when I had to rush my wife to hospital in labour, and it brought my baby boy home from the hospital safe and sound.

I didn't really want to let it go, but I drive two other people to work in a diesel 406 and couldn't justify having a 3 car family. Head had to rule heart.

I just want to thank Rog at Poweritalia for keeping the car sorted for me over the years, and to the the forum for answering any annoying questions I have had over that time!

I will still read the forum with interest and hopefully get hold of another car in the future if cirumstances change.

Take care

Austin

Any reason why you didn't sell it on instead of breaking it?

Sounds like it was quite reliable if it got you to and from all the important things though , what sort of fiddly/unpredictable things went wrong?

Hi Duncan

The problem was that I wasn't getting any interest in the car, even on ebay!, There were numerous things that were going to cost a lot of money over the next year, The gearbox problem and a probably a new clutch required, new belts required, rust was slowly starting to get hold of it in places.

The problem is a lot of people can't see past the high milage when looking at a car, therefore when Rog bought the car, he did the best he could do which is to break the best bits so that other forum members can get the benefits of the parts.

Nice wee story there mate can't beat the 'special' feeling of the broom yellow models, still think it's the best colour Am i right in saying it was the original launch colour?

red and yellow

Great little write up and we hope you stick around
You will be back

I understand what you're saying about the mileage and I look at that too but if you're interested in buying a Fiat Coupe then at best they are 10 years old! hence it's all about condition and not mileage.

Shame to break the coupe but there a few people who would want to spend a lot of money fixing stuff, it certainly feels to me like the numbers are dropping all the time. At least the parts from your car are going to other owners

Lovely story.

Very sorry it is going to die a painful death especially for such a loyal servant.

Disconnect the battery first and she wont feel a thing

It's ok, it has a donor card

If you were getting multiple light showing on the dash toward the end, then it's fair to say she was brain damaged and therefore putting her down was the humane option

Next AGM there should be an agreement on opening up a retirement home for old, fragile and injured coops.

Cheerio Aust_Powers

Nice post

Yes, nice post Austin.

Even though the Coupe has died, it's served you well and it will get to live on in other Coupes.

Hopefully, one day, you'll be back with another Coupe, but in the meantime, I hope you'll continue to enjoy this forum

Austin - I felt the same way when I sent my Sprinty to the scrappie - it was hardly a fitting send-off for a car that I had owned for seven years and well over 150,000 miles. It had commuted me 80 miles a day for five years. It had won me trophies for its handling. It had impressed countless other Coupe owners with its fantastic paint finish. It had raised many eyebrows of owners of "superior" cars when they had been left standing in its wake.

And what did I do to repay this loyalty? - it was stripped of all its bits, thrown on the back on a pickup and sent to the crusher for the princely sum of £20

I still feel guilty...

But you sent it to the crusher AFTER pulling the donor card out. Imagine just sending it to the crusher as a whole car. You did the right thing.

Thanks all.

I am making a promise to myself, this second. I will be back in a coop within four years. I need to get everything financially in order.

I will hopefully buy a cherished example for keeping and my son will be old enough to ride shotgun with me to any meets

Regards

Austin