More publicity for our fabulous cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFLX55GWDDs

Thanks Andrew

A good little report.

Just what we need

Paul

I watched that video the other day. Looked like he got a decent car to me but the respray might have put me off. Will be interested to see what he does with it and how much he sells it on for! I got the impression he was becoming enamoured with it so maybe he’ll hang onto it instead?

The original video showed such promise for the little car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZTPqGyW9wU

I think it was a good watch and he hit the point at the end. He's nearly 5K into a 4K car. It's back on the road and maybe gets a couple more years so can't be bad.

I saw it and enjoyed it.

Worth a watch.

Paul

The fellow recommends you do checks on the history of the car you are buying. With older cars invoices for parts and work along with MOT history offer a much better idea than those checks.

When the original video was uploaded Dec 2024 the car had an MOT - it was undertaken 09 December 2024 on 73,689. It was a PASS with 3 x Minor defects & 7 x Advisories. The previous MOT had only been undertaken in August, with about 180 fewer miles @73,507. Again, it had been a PASS with 1 x Minor defect & 2 x advisories.

On the 26th August 2025 another MOT was undertaken. The milage was up by just over 40 miles @ 73,730. This was a FAIL with 10 x Major defects! Going through the MOT history corrosion in the areas of fail had been flagged previously, but oddly not always noticed on subsequent MOT's. This shows that if you are looking over old MOT's to gauge condition, you need to see invoices for any repairs to advisories. And if you can't then really check the areas mentioned thoroughly.


It would seem this car has been in poor condition for some years. Corrosion was frequently mentioned on the sills and underside so it seems it was ever properly rectified previously. I really do hope the car is now properly sorted, but sadly that repair to the hole in the outer sill doesn't inspire too much confidence

Indeed it didn't, I thought that sill repair would have been better.

I watched Bangers & Cash restoring classics this morning.
The subject was a Manta A. The repairs required were not huge but it was very expensive. The car was sent to Yorkshire car restorations and during their examination they spotted some patch repairs, they said they needed to address these previous, poor quality repairs. Final car looked good but it was a huge loss.

I do think turning a coupe around from tired to good, or very good, will cost more than the value of the car. This would certainly be the case if paying for labour rates rather than DIY. Hopefully ever more people will restore and keep coupes alive for the long term. I am aware some dedicated owners have already been restoring, and the results have been stunning. The goal is surely to see more coupes being restored to a good standard with a view to the repairs being long term, not just to limp it along for a year or two.

It would be great if the bangers and cash production team took on a Coupe, see the restoration, and see what their costs would be.
Better still would be Car SOS - those folks must have an enormous budget as they restore cars to a crazy standard.

I often regret not having my Coupe stripped and re-built. I reached a crossroads and took a different turn. Years later I have certainly lost more in depreciation than I would have spent on refreshing the Coupe..

I often regret not having my Coupe stripped and re-built. I reached a crossroads and took a different turn. Years later I have certainly lost more in depreciation than I would have spent on refreshing the Coupe..
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That's a great way to look at keeping and maintaining an old vehicle on the road.

This is honestly something I often ponder.


I bought my Fiat Coupé in 2004 and was never prepared for just how much this little car, and the community would get their hooks into me.
Most of the time when I had the Coupé I ran an old work hack too. In later years I got a bit fed up running old hacks so bought a three year old A5.

Sadly this, and newer Audi's that came along, felt much more modern and would become our first choice for road trips. The poor old Fiat Coupé, our previous road trip hero, began to get left in the garage and would be sold in 2019

Looking back today, some six years later, I do wonder why on earth I didn't have my Coupé fully refreshed and keep it. I didn't need the money from the sale and despite knowing that a full refresh would have cost more than it was worth at the time I owed it to the car.
We cherished that Coupé for 15 years and it took us all over the UK and Europe. I should have taken it to Turin in 2024 and be making plans for the next trip, maybe even another run to Norway.

And this is the big problem. Modern cars and traffic make the Coupe the less desirable choice. That's how mine has ended up laid up. The family car is faster, more powerful and seats 5 with luggage. All while giving better comfort, economy, and safety. It's not the same sense of occasion the Coupe gives, but it's a better experience by any quantifiable measure.

I think ultimately most folk would hesitate to spend the cash as a result as many are in a similar place. I think it's great we have the club and planned events else I think we'd see far fewer cars