It like csi this are there any clues In the photos?

Yup

03??? I've seen a 51 plate but an 03???? Wow, high road tax band then!

Is that its real plate? 03?

Yes - its genuine!

A 10 year old coupe!

Does that mean all parts should still be available? (10 year rule?)

This registration was first registered during the period 1st of March 2003 to the 31st of August, 2003.

This registration was first registered in Edinburgh.
It`s no jive -I like the plate.

So is it the last UK coupe or something? Although wouldn't explain why Fiat couldn't sell it

So I was pretty damn close to be fair.....

Just been out looking at my car. The bonnet badge looks offset towards the offside on this car?

Cool find

Just means it been sat about in docks/dealership/compound or the like longer then a correctly registered coupe.

To me it adds no value. Its still a 13 year old car on a 10 year old reg.

Although this surely is the last registered coupe in UK. Nice find though .

Registered 2003 because first owner never registered it on the road
seen a couple of ford rs's like this!

The story is that Fiat UK "mislaid" a handful of Coupes - they stored them in a warehouse and forgot about them for a few years. When they were rediscovered, the Coupe was no longer a current model, so they couldn't sell them to the public.

The cars were then sold to employees - this particular car was bought by a lady in Edinburgh and sold on again straight away with just 20 miles on the clock (to the chap that owned it until today)

I don't know if Fiat UK recommissioned the cars or serviced them before sale - I'd be surprised if they weren't given at least a basic service.

Either way, it drives very nicely - tight and quiet and very smooth. Fuel consumption for the 180 mile return trip was very good - around a quarter of a tank, so our guess is that the engine is very sweet (we'll be compression testing it to be sure)

It definitely isn't the last registered Coupe in the UK - data that I, erm, 'acquired' shows that there were three Coupes registered in 2004 and a couple in 2005. However, when I enquired, it transpired that these may have been unofficial 'grey' imports. We can safely say that this car is amongst the last handful of official UK cars registered.

A Fiat dealer probably wouldn't sell a late registered one like that due to warranty issues.

Very soon after the coupe went out of production and stopped being supplied by dealers Fiat changed their new car warranty from 1 year to 3 years... I doubt that was a coincidence.

Adam, you were very close, you have a credit of £25.00 with Motormech, let me know how you would like to use this. We can send you parts to that value or a credit note against a future invoice.
The Coupe was built in 2000 but was unused for the first 3 years of it's life and for the last 3 years, you can feel this when you drive it!!
The bonnet badge is central, I had to check!!

Will that be affected by Tax changes then Nige for later registered cars? Nice find BTW

Is it the last coupe to come off the production line?it is very nice

Looks like it's got LE coloured headlights

Same tax costs according to DVLA - which is interesting given they have date of manufacture as 2002?!?

Nice find Nigel.

The story is that Fiat UK "mislaid" a handful of Coupes - they stored them in a warehouse and forgot about them for a few years.


So there are more out there!!

A very nice gesture!

Although not needed as I enjoyed the game and that's all the reward I need

But would you believe it I bough 2 coolant tanks off Nigel a few days back for £25 lol, shame you didn't find the coupe sooner

Well done Nigel-lively and entertaining thread.

I agree, feels a bit like years ago. Posting and 3 new posts between what you replied to and yours being finished.

Top man!

Agree, much more entertaining than cash in the attic! That's one special coupe and is going to make somebody very happy I'm sure.

Lucky you, she looks fabulous!

Rofl at many of the comments...

First of all, very nice find!

But do you really believe they just "lost" these cars? I don't buy that.

For whatever reason there are a number of these very late Coupes around first registered well past 2000. We all know about the Malaysian Coupes but New Zealand also got a number of them too. A friend of mine has the exact same model, colour and all, it was first registered in the middle of 2001. Same story, 1 owner 10 years old, 60k miles never had the belt done! There are 6 others I know of that were also registered in 2002, all very late plus models with air bag seats. These cars were sold as new cars by Fiat in NZ, and at a discounted price. I'm sure they were acquired from another market that could not sell them. Maybe Hong Kong or Malaysia although theirs can be a slightly different spec to the UK spec we know.

Alfa Romeo here in Melbourne managed to buy 80 odd 2011 built 159s from South Africa. There is no hiding they got them cheap and they are selling them cheap. Why they had been sitting in South Africa for 2 years, we don't know.

Thanks for the kind comments above - it was just designed as a bit of a tease and a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Bank Holiday afternoon

Turned out to be modestly entertaining and amusing - still want those unobtanium conrods....

The story above is simply a repetition of what I was told by the previous owner - it makes sense, as I understand that Fiat weren't finding it difficult to sell the cars, so they wouldn't have a good reason to hold them back.

Also, having got quite close to Fiat UK when I was fighting for the 20vt manifold warranty claim, its pretty clear that they weren't the most organised outfit - at the end of the warranty claim saga, Fiat 'discovered' a stockpile of the (in)famous LE jackets ( modelled here by a moody-looking Kayjey), which we sold to forum members, in return for a donation to Fiat's chosen charity