There’s no way this car is being broken for its tuning bits - it is far too well resolved for that - everything works so well together that it would be a crying shame to split it.

I know I won’t get my money back, but if I decide to sell, I’ll set a price that I think it’s worth, and if I don’t get it, I’ll keep it.

That said, whatever the price might be, it will be one of the cheapest ways of going over 180mph or from 0-100 in less than 10 seconds

When you go to Stoneleigh, ask if anyone's put a coupe engine into a Westie... the Quantum lot know about coupe engines

I am much the same Dave. Despite a big driveway i'm a bit overreached with cars at the moment so rent a couple of garages. 140 quid a month aint cheap.....
And crazy seeing as i also rent a large warehouse (most of which i have sublet on a long-term agreement - fruatrating.....).
Need more storage space!!

The ad has been submitted to the Mods for approval....

I may wake up and change my mind, but I think my time with a Coupe is coming to an end

Quick question - how many of the original forum members are still on the forum AND still driving a Coupe? DaveG has just posted above, Begbie shows his face every now and then and I believe our illustrious co-founder, Kayjey still has a Coupe, but I'm struggling to think of any more

Sad days...

I've been on the forum for many years. Still driving the Coupe daily - it's 20 years old this month.
Just read the rest of the thread and I fear the problem is the curse of the weekend car - if you don't need to drive it, it's hard to justify the tax, MOT and cost of keeping it.

I've had my Coupe for 15 years now, been on the forum all that time (and for a few months before) but not one of the original forum members. I was one of the very first to re-register after the forum crash - number 11 apparently!

Sad to see the decision you have taken Nigel, but I do understand it. I've got work to do on mine at the moment to keep it on the road but with what I spent over the last couple of years it has to be done, the main reason for some of what needs doing is lack of use I suspect. Not in any way suggesting yours would need the work mine does.

Nigel you are where I was a year ago. Had my Coupe since 2003, always been the 2nd car, nearly chopped it in numerous times but worth nothing so kept but lost interest. All was fine until it lost it's space in my garage to kids bikes and other crap. Then it was sat on the drive for years getting baked in the sun and the bonnet paint had blown. Then we said right, either we get rid or spend money and start using the bloody thing as I'm fed up of tripping over it. So we've thrown about £4k at it for a front end respray. I invested some time on it and now it's all good and I'm SO GLAD WE KEPT IT! I love it when it catches peoples eye in traffic and they're trying to work out what the hell it is. No badge on the back and the old Fiat badge on the front confuses many. My main drive is an E Class cabriolet but if I had to choose, that would go tomorrow. Although just a humble working mans Ferrari, the Coupe I feel is quite well made and was designed with passion for aesthetics over logic. When you turn the map pocket inside out on the back of the leather seat you can see it's full grain leather not some faux crap like on my 45k Merc. We all have our own reasons but in short.... Nigel don't do it!

Difficult one. I have had mine from new in early '97 and it has been my winter car plus usual work car for over 21 years. It is nearly unique here and so does not feel old, as few know what it is or how old it is. It still turns heads and it still feels like a nice place to be in.

Mechanically it is very good, but, it is getting rusty, even though it looks fairly good at 7m. It needs some work now (serious money at German prices). Add to that my wife not being able to make up her mind what she wants to drive. We have a nearly new Tucson that she already wants to swap for something small. I take the Tucson as my daily, she gets a new "something small" and the FIAT is out of a job as I have an XKR and an S-Type, which are not rusty, for summer days.

Up side is that my son gets the FIAT and we can investigate getting the rust and the paintwork sorted. However, there is the chance that said son might damage it ...

Going but not gone yet, and maybe won't be far away. However swapping cars around the drive reminds me too much of Butterflies

Yes they still are a nice place to be inside of. I like that its basic compared to modern cars too. They have just what you need, and nothing you don't. I've spend many hours on mine recently stripping out the whole interior for chassis work and like that the car is properly bolted together. Not may nasty little plastic clips but allen bolts and screws, old school! Hence my 20 year old Coupe has less squeaks ans rattled than my 8 year old Merc! Still drives nice to and i was pleasantly surprised to find that since a set of new tyres it now points straight and true and ans has greatly improved the comfort of the drive. Ever more draw to that rather than the boring Merc!

I remember someone saying on here years ago "The more power you have the less often you can use it" and I think that's right, certainly for a road car. I had a ride in the famous 500bhp coupe and (resale value aside) I wouldn't swap it for my own coupe.

As for the old forum members, I'm still here but not in the same coupe I bought back in '99. Paul is also still here and still has his original coupe from '97/98 but it's been off road in bits for years.

I have had mine off the road for a number of years, it hasnt been used in recent years due to having a baby, but now she is coming to an age where by she will be able to go in the back in a forward facing seat, the prospect of getting some use out of a car that has many happy memories (and plenty of bad ones) has inspired me to wash the cobwebs away and get some use out of her.
For someone who sells cars for a living, I rarely sell my own... you never know, one day it might come in handy!

I'll be interested to see if yours sells and for how much.
My coop is similar in that it's a high-power Moonie Plus.

I've been on here since 2003 but don't post very often. Had a sprinty for about ten years as a daily. The current Plus is a second car.

We all move on, times a change and it can be quite refreshing. I suspect it will hurt a lot to sell but its nice to have a new direction.
As you say, i don't think there are many of the old guard left with their cars now.

I'm on the forum most days during the week, just don't post as much as far too busy working, whereas previous jobs, I had a lot of free time, so would be casually spent on the internet most of the day

My coupe has been sorn since Sept 2016 and last time I drove it was Dec 2016 when I moved, otherwise, it's sat on the driveway reminding me every day that I need to do things to it, but paying for the wedding took priority over other things, as well as the wife being out of work for nearly 5 months now.

Inheritance came through, which has allowed me to clear debts, but the rest of that is ear marked for a deposit on a house. I then got a 9% bonus from work, so am looking at getting it into a body shop to get things sorted on it, then I might start to like the car again. Doesn't help that I bought a MK3 Mazda MX-5 1.8 as the Nismo RS Juke went back to the leasing company and I've been enjoying that and thinking what mods I can do to it

What was your take on the duke?
I looked at the nismo version and took a few out on test drives. Great place to be, great kit, but found the power and drive wanting for quite a bit.

Juke was a fine place to be. We only spec'd it with the electronic / entertainment pack, so you had auto lights, auto wipers, rear parking camera, lane detection etc.. Didn't bother with the Recaro seats, a little too snug. It drove fine and always left it in Sport mode and it still gave 35MPG. If you wound the revs up, you'd have boost early, then it would kick more from about 3500rpm till about 6000rpm (only in sport, eco or normal mode was pants :D). LSD on it was odd, if you nailed it into a corner, it would kick in, but when you came out of the corner, you'd be fighting the steering wheel to get straight again

My coupe had only came out the garage for a mot last year.

Im lucky to have the space to keep her dry stored but often think whats the point.

Always other priorities than cars atm so coupe stays where she is.

Im currently in an 82bhp DS3. Nice place to be actually but functional which is exactly what i need atm, which the coupe isnt.

Great reference, not sure many will get it but I know just what you mean and often have the same thought!

I like your DS, wish it was yellow! something to be said about a time and a place, are you really in love with them still, or is it more a case that its low millage and could be a real clean example.....

Ahem. Not just still driving a coupe, still driving the same one!

Ah, how could I possibly forget the famous forum barnacle?......

And for many years Begbie just had a "Brick"

Wasn't Lashes someone from the early days?

I was a late bloomer... On the Forum from 2003 Coupé bought April 2004.

Sad to see you selling up Nigel, though I have to say, not as sad as when your Sprinty departed this world

Hand's up-old enough to get the reference I am afraid.
:-)

Thee and me both...

I’m old enough to have driven a Butterflies replica Mini....

I've been 'ere since late 2004 I think, got my first Coupe in December 2004 and second in 2013... and it's still conveying me to work.

Tempus fugit

The main thing which would make me sell would be lack of space (like other people). Maybe if I empty the garage I could get another (don't tell the Mrs).

I´ve been here since 2006, and then i had a Coupe that was my daily drive, and now i still have the same Coupe as the daily drive and because it as been so amazing, and last year i bought another one for my weekend drives (when it´s sun

Many times i think i should sell the Coupe and buy something more modern, but the true is the Coupe is so cheap to run, and in more then 10 years, it as been so reliable, never had a big problem, just normal maintenance, and normal things of the Coupe, like the thermostat or the original cracked manifold (then i bought a late one from you Nigel that never cracked again ),my 97 20VT Coupe still as the original Turbo working perfect.

So the true is that i love driving this car, and i really like driving something completly different, that most people don´t know what it is, the only downside for me is the Mpg sucks.

So Nigel don´t sell it your amazing and unique Coupe, you will never find another one like yours.

I must have signed up either late 2003 or early 2004 as I bought the coop in July 2004. I still have the same car but it recently went SORN so I guess that counts me out!

Good to see a few of the old regulars have posted on here (I joined 02 but flogged my second one 10 years ago - and it was Nigel who confirmed it was a goner last year!)

Nige, you not being a Coupe owner will be a seminal moment. I think my enduring image of Coops will be you on the handling circuit at Elvington.