As a kid I only had two pictures of cars on my walls - a Jaguar XJ220 and a Fiat Coupe. This morning (whilst still slightly drunk from the night before I accidentally bought a Fiat Coupe on ebay. I've not driven the car yet; I haven't even been to see it. I know how stupid that is, but I don't need to be told that - I'm pretty annoyed with myself.

Anyway, I'm collecting the car this week, the deal has been done so I've joined up on this forum. I just hope that this doesn't turn out to be a complete nightmare!

do you have a link to the ebay add?

we should be able to help out with any problems that arrive...or tell you to avoid it full stop

Don't be scared to walk away if its not as described. Tip take a copy of the listing with you so you can check the car against the description in the listing
Good Luck
Ian

Yep:

Fiat Coupe on ebay

Unfortunately I've already paid. I know there's very little information in the ad, and there's a couple of things wrong (rear bumper concerns me the most), but hopefully the low price will compensate.

Edit: the idea of taking a copy of the listing is an excellent idea, thanks.

i would have gone to see it first in all honesty

did you pay via paypal, as if its not as described you can get your money back

check the underside of that crack to see how far its gone in under. check the spare wheel compartment for damage

the add is a little short on details, do you know what oil pressure its holding hot? if it has all the keys (inc the red one) when the cam belt was changed, and who by?
has it had its turbo and clutch done?

and what milage is on it? these are all very important things, its a steal at that price. But trust me when i say buy cheep, buy twice. I have shelled out over 1k on mine since i had it 6 months ago

sorry if the post was alarmist but we see it alot over here. and i would hate for you to get stung on this one

can I suggest you read this :

check list
http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=833076#Post833076

and this, Guide
http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7718#Post7718

should give you a good idear of the costs and what to look out for

Looks "OK" on the listing but as Samsite says there's a fair bit of important info missing, although that might be purely because the owner isn't as obsessive as your average FCCUK member and hence hasn't felt the need to mention them! Good price though, so not too much of a drama if it needs a couple of quid spending. Try and find out when/where the cambelt was done and give them a call to verify.

HPI it too before you go, if you haven't already - if it comes up dodgy then you have a get-out

Well the good news is you bought the best colour.

Understated, classy, mature and dare I say it if the Reds, Yellows, and Sprinty Blues are the mutton dressed as lamb, then the Grey's are definately the MILFs

Upper Middleclass MILF's at that.

You're not gonna be able to tell what you've bought until you pick it up, so I would just keep your fingers crossed. Some of the comments seem fine, others like 'cambelt's fine' is meaningless unless he's knows when it was last changed etc.

Why people leave the mileage off an add I'll never know. It's the first question any potential buyer is going to ask. You'd have to be drunk not to...oh yeah

I wouldn't worry too much, not all coops display the classic coop faults. Some of them rarely even need oil topped up between services.

Tow bar on a coop.........
OK its only 8 hundred odd quid, but a tow bar.
Or am I over reacting?

I didn't notice the towbar, but lets face it its a two litre engine. It should be able to cope well enough with a bit of towing.

Damn i should of put my coop on eBay sooner!

to be honest for that money if there is no history of a cambelt change then i would get that done first and get a health check done, i think poweritalia might be the best place for you to take it.
i would go see it and follow the guides like others have said then get it checked out and get yourself a list done.
if you are lucky then you may be able to find some other willing fccuker to come have a look with you when you collect it

Enjoy. Well done and welcome. I like your style, my drunken evenings normally result in lots of amazon parcels with 80's CDs. You have taken it to another level

Hope it turns out OK, use the forum for advice, we are a helpful bunch. Try and get to a meet too.


Cheers
John

Looks good to me, always hard to tell but it looks pretty untouched and original. At that price, unless it's a cut and shut or stolen, you'll be ok, it will need work I'm sure and if there is no proof of when the cambelt was done then that should be first, you'll get a rear bumper cheap enough, £50-60 ish.

Good luck, looks great, don't forget, it's an old car now, it won't be perfect.

Gareth

Thanks for all the comments - really looking forward to collecting it. I've done an HPI now and it is all fine, although I don't know the VIN yet. I expect to be on here quite a bit in the coming months!

Oh, I forgot to say welcome!

Another tip, take notice of the advice on here, but don't take all of it too seriously, if you do, you'll never enjoy your coop, it's only a car!

Gareth

welcome to the source of all knowledge for coupe's - it's a good community, very helpful and funny too..enjoy.

love the fact you bought it when pissed, might be an idea to stock up on booze too if it turns out bad...

I think you may have gotten a bit of a bargain there mate, obv it will need some work and prob a cambelt change but its very satisfying (and wallet robbing lol) watching the car improve and improve with a bit of tlc, you have a 20v turbo with full leather, 6 cd changer etc for not enough £900!!!? Enjoy it mate

Saves all the 'umming and arring' about which car to buy.

Enjoy it

good rock and roll effort! I bought an 8mm film camera on ebay once drunk, in the morning I paid for it and emailed him to say not to bother sending it as I had no idea why I bought it in the first place! Thankfully was only about a tenner..

I see there is some more info in the questions at the bottom re: keys and cambelt, though I'm not entirely sure what he means by the cambelt comment, 11700 miles ago?

There will always be things wrong with it, just have to hope its standard stuff

let us know how it goes...

The mileage is 120,000 miles but the cambelt was done at 11,700 miles lol!!!? im confused now

To be on the safe side just get it changed asap and get the waterpump done at the same time, around £400+ at specialists

read the next one down

Q: Hi, When was the cambelt lasted changed? Cheers Ben 15-Jun-09
A: I was last changed about 11700*0, there are no problems at all with the Cambelt, runs very smoothly.

it was done 3k miles ago

I think the seller's keyboard has a problem with 6 digit numbers!

First he said it was changed at 17000 miles and then at 11700 miles

If it was changed (as Sam pointed out) at 11700 it means the cambelt has done 108k miles

I guess the seller meant 117000 miles

Must be a typo as it says 11,700 sam either that or thats one paranoid coupe owner lol

I bought mine while gloriously hung over - but I did see it before I parted with the cash.

Enjoy it!

Welcome to the forum and dont forget to check the oil DAILY

Thanks for all the comments, I collected it tonight and finally am the owner of a car I've always wanted. Few things I want to check though, for example the gap between the wing and the passenger door seems quite wide (about 2cm), which is a fair bit wider than the on the drivers' side.

The exhaust is very loud too - I'm not sure how loud it should be, butat 50-60mph it's almost deafening. Saying that, It could be the way I'm driving it.

A final note - by god it's fast. Am I the only one who ended up banging their head against the headrest when accelerating hard for the first time? Good fun to drive and I'm quite looking forwards to getting it looking lovely.

A 2cm gap between any two panels isn't right...could just be the wing that needs repositioning though (fairly straight-forward). Is the door-to-bonnet gap OK? (5 or 6mm ish)

If it's got a performance exhaust with a decat it could be *that* loud at the speed you mentioned, although if it's just a standard affair it should never get to such volumes.

Oh and yes, they are "nippy" Welcome to the world of Coupé ownership

My mistake - the gap between the wing and the door is fine, it's the gap between the bonnet and the door that seems to be excessively wide. As for the exhaust - I've got no idea. I'm hoping to book in with my friendly local mechanic next week to get him to cast his eyes over it.