Sorry to hear that there won't be a Coupe driving around Canada any longer

Sounds terminal John, shame there's no coop scene in Canada as I'm sure you'd recoup a fair amount from breaking her.

As has been said, could be time to cut your losses and sounds like you've already got a replacement lined up that you've had in mind for a while?

Would be sad as that car is up there on a pedestal in conversations I've had over here

Always love following your progress threads, massive shame to hear you are having more problems.

Yeah sad news indeed. That's got to be one of the best looking coops ever. The mods were/are a bit mindblowing and you must be the most patient & persevering owner on the planet (with prtetty deep pockets too ) I think we should just ship you a good 20vt engine over then you can bring it back to blighty

Really sorry to hear this TipoBoy

Argh life's a b*tch sometimes. Really sorry to hear this John; I've enjoyed reading your tales right from the start of your adventure.

Get in touch with Scooby - they're in Canada and might be interested...

Hi John,
Incredibly disappointed for you. I bet you are devastated. It was a very sad post to read. Having seen this car in flesh I can vouch it is one of the best coops on the forum.

Have you any idea why the engine has failed once again ?

Rgds.
Sean.

If I may be blunt.

do the people in the us know what car you were driving or?

@Tipoboy: have you tried to get in contact with this USA FIAT and Lancia club ?

I've seen barchetta's turn up at their annual meet

Sorry to hear this John, I've been following your post since I got mine 5 years ago.
Hoping it'll get back on the road again !!

Sorry to hear this John

Some friends of my GF are in Banff (just went to their wedding in Mexico) and I was speculating about how far away that was from you - supposed to be visiting them next year.

I think I remember you mentioning that one of the clauses in importing your car to Canada was that you weren't allowed to sell it on - is that correct?

Some people have suggested:

1) It's just a faulty sensor but that wouldn't explain the cold start problems or the puff of smoke on boost.

2) The oil pump. However this was replaced with a new item during this rebuild just in case the previous engine failure was caused by the pump.

3) Non round crank.

I'll wait until I come back to Canada and pull the engine. Tear it down and find out what's wrong. I'll use a different engine builder this time. As said previously it'll probably need a new block which I'll have to source from UK or maybe Brazil.

It's frustrating as the engine wasn't even that powerful and wasn't exactly pushing the envelope.

The $1000 a year storage is cheap compared to what I spend keeping it on the road so it'll be nice not to have to think about the expense for a while.

I'm very excited about the new car I'll be getting. Don't want to say anymore until I'm in a position to buy it.

Banff is 140 km from Calgary heading West into the mountains. About 1.5 hours drive. The mountains are covered in snow at the moment and look beautiful. I'll miss them.

John

darn about the Job john, shame about the coupe, I think if you bother again I'd cut the unknowns and get guy to build it and ship it, hell you could even get it mapped by G+G prior to shipping on the engine dyno. Failing that do what many would do you side and put a V8 chevvy in it!!

Holy S**t Texas...

Can I just add to that that you must be the most level headed coop owner too kudos

Oh men! This used to be my most favourite topic to follow, so sad to see her being cocooned!

The chapter is finally over. Hopefully you will win the national lottery and get a shiny new 20vt engine and slot in there one day.

I can almost imagine a century from now, your grand son will get a call from the storage facility to re-claim the vintage coupe from them.

Barn find coupe in Alberta!

I had to get my FIAT appraised before it went into storage as it was 5 years since the last appraisal. Now insured for a guarenteed value of $55k.

I'm glad it's safely in storage now as we had our first snow dump of the season, 10cm last night and another 10cm expected on Wednesday. We're having a cold spell for a few days, On friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday we're going to have a high of -12 and a low of -20. Brrr

The guy appraising it found this information and included it in the comprehensive 12 page document. I don't know where he got it from and if it's been found before but thought it might be interesting:

March 1990. Leonardo Fioravanti was head of Fiat Centro Stile. Pininfarina receives a call for some design work, starting from an idea by Chris Bangle who was, at the time, working with the Fiat.

January 1991. First proposals using the Fiat Tipo floorpan as a base saw the management choose for the Pininfarina designs. These were a bit more common (read: elegant), as opposed to Bangle's more daunting drawings. Luckily the Fiat designers didn't stop their work and went on. As new management directors found their way to Fiat, these favored the results of the in-house design center. It was Paolo Cantarella who wanted to break away from the classical design and offer a new, innovative product. As for the interior, it was Pininfarina's proposal who received approval by everybody. It was May 1991 and final development was started. It is not just the interior that make the Coupe have the Pininfarina text on the sides and on the dashboard. It was constructed (by hand) at the Pininfarina factory alongside the Peugeot 406 Coupe, 306 Cabrios and the odd Ferrari here and there. Fiat Coupe was Introduced in late 1993, at the Brussels car show. Initially it was available with a venerable 2.0 16V Lancia engines, a base model was normally aspirated and top-of-the-line model had a turbocharger. Using platform of the ageing Fiat Tipo platform, Fiat engineers worked miracles to create such a fine-handling car as this. Turbocharged models were equipped with LSD to handle the extra power.

1995 brought new engines and a facelifted interior. The range started with a 1.8 16v and ending up with a pair of brand-new five-cylinder 2.0 units. Again, one was NA and other turbocharged.

Late 1990s saw various special editions but the basic line-up remained unchanged until production was to stop at the end of June 2000.

Official Fiat figures put the total production at around 53,000. Pininfarina have stated that the 50,000th model rolled off the production line in July 1997, and in March 2000 they stated that over 70,000 had been produced. Conflicting Italian car production figures are nothing new,
however!

Some of it can be found on

http://www.fiatcoupe.net/history.php?ID=3
http://www.fiatcoupe.net/history.php?ID=3&chapter=7
http://www.fiatcoupe.net/therange.php (and further)

Looking forward to Houston given the current weather here. It's over 50 degrees warmer in Houston



My joy might be short lived though. That 23 in Houston feels like 34 though due to the humidity, that's in November!

Holy crap! I bet no matter what you do the coupe handbrake would freeze at that temperature...

I arrived in Houston on 6th January. Weather at this time of year is a hell of a lot warmer than Calgary, about 40 degrees difference. Ask me again in the summer whether I'm still enjoying it!

Since I was told I was moving here I'm been looking for another car. I've wanted a 911 since I was a child and raided the Porsche fund piggy bank to buy the Tipo 16V and then again for the Coupe.

I've been searching AutoTrader and the Porsche web site for cars and finally one came up which I liked in Los Angeles. A 2007 Carrera 4S in black with full black leather interior. One previous owner and certified pre owned by Porsche so comes with full 2 year Porsche warranty and has been bought up to almost new condition.

The front bumper had been resprayed but only to get rid of the rock chips. The bonnet and wings were original. The first thing I’ll do is get the bonnet and bumper covered in Venture film (similar to 3m protective clear wrap but Venture is supposed to be better for dark cars). The paint is perfect and it would be nice to try and keep it that way. They had done a top job of detailing it. The paint had a mirror finish. No dents or scratches anywhere.

The only wear on the interior was a couple of light scuffs on the drivers seat bolster which they had touched up and were hardly noticeable. The steering wheel was like new as were all other controls.

During it's last service they had replaced the leaking rear main seal and whilst the gearbox was off fitted a new clutch.

I'd been talking to the dealer for a week. I flew over to LA for the weekend. Wow, why don't we have an office in Santa Monica! Would be a beautiful place to live although not cheap. I turned up at the dealership and the salesman handed me the keys and said take her out for a few hours, go grab some lunch or something. Take as long as you want :-)

I struck a deal with them which included enclosed shipping back to Houston. He then asked if I wanted to take a new turbo for a spin. I may regret this but I said no. The roads were busy and the thought of testing out someone elses $160k car scared me.

Trying to sort out all the paperwork, insurance, finance, tax, payment etc.

I've already ordered a bunch of Porsche accessories. Little things to finish it off.

I'm looking at an aftermarket exhaust. Lots of options and combinations of manifolds, cats and silencers but may go with a Tubi with switchable straight through flaps.

So, you left the Coupe in a dark garage somewhere in Calgary?

Yes I'm sure it's sulking but it's in very good company.

Congratulations on your new purchase John,
i hope you've kept a few dollars aside to get the beastie back on the road again?

Yes don't worry. I really enjoy working on the car, it's my pride and joy and unique.

At some point in the future I'll probably move back to Canada. When I do I'll take her out of storage and rebuild the engine. The problem being that I'll then need a 3 car garage!

Glad to hear it mate.

Enjoy the Porsche in the meantime though you might get a little bored with its reliability, not having to constantly check the oil and not turning as many heads as the coop does

The Porsche arrived on 18th February. Initially I was going to pay cash but the credit union where I work were offering 2.24% for up to 3 years if I put 20% down. Couldn't say no to an offer like that. No penalty for early repayment either.

Since the car has arrived I've washed it every week. I'm using it as my DD. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 as back up but it's a horrible thing to drive. I've wanted a Porsche 911 since I was a teenager, now 41, so it's a dream come true. Some would call it a mid life crisis. I've decided I don't care about resale value, I'm going to enjoy it for myself and to hell with it.

The first week I would sneak down to the garage and look at it. It's fantastic to know it's MINE and it's sat in MY garage. Can't really believe it. Loving the ownership experience so far. Like the Coupe I keep turning around as I walk away from parking it to get one more look.

I've fitted clear side markers, 5mm spacers, leather stitched console cover with creste, clear bra, 50% 3M tint, aluminium foot rest and the leather bit that fits infront of the gear lever.