Mike Brewers Wheeler Dealers

Not sure if this should be here or in Coupé Related Chat...
Whilst at the Silverstone Classic I stopped by the Mike Brewer car clinic stage just as he was saying what cars he'd like to 'restore' I thought he said a Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo.

Turns out that was a clever way of advertising what's in his new series as I went to have a chat when the show was closing Mike said he's already done one. He said it will be aired on the Discovery channel in October (I forget the date). I'll have to wait for it to come to free to air tv.
Anyone on here sold him theirs?

That's a bit of a shame, I'd heard one of the restoration shows was doing a Coupe, and kind of hoped it was any of them except Wheeler Dealers! Think the Car SOS chaps would have done a good job...... Still, great to see it's going to be on one of the programmes.

Quite! I'd trust Car Sosage to do a decent job.

It was seen outside the workshop back in March - https://twitter.com/AutoPap/status/1367162291385479168

Ooooh, a sprint blue one

Ah, so that's the one that went for a remap at Celtic tuning. And that people have been alluding to on Facebook.

I'll watch the program with interest, although they had a bad patch, I think wheeler dealers is a decent show, even without Edd.

Any PR is good PR, maybe I shouldn't have sold the silver bullet?!

I had the same conversation with Mike Brewer about a coupe restoration, and he said - three years ago, just after Ed left and Ant joined - that they'd already done one, expect to see it soon, but no date.

So I'm taking a pinch of salt with this one...

Just seen the trailer for the new series on Twitter - https://twitter.com/DiscoveryUK/status/1429771233378410496 - looks like they are showing how a Coupe is quicker than a Ferrari 348.

I'll look forward to that !

Brewer looks a fat git, he’s getting bigger every series.

Hopefully should be good.

Photos.

I just saw this trailer for the new series on the TV and came straight here lol. Quite looking forward to this I must say!

This is available now, watched the first part of it this morning over breakfast. Seems the episode is just focused on modifying for more power.

Find Italia Autos on utube for several episodes of a Coupe restoration.

Already watched them all

Just watched the episode on Discovery catch up.

I think Mike is bullsh***ing somewhat when he says they have created the fastest Coupe in the UK

Just watched it, shocking is all I can say. Only mention of rust to look for was the top mounts he said 🤪 It was terrible IMHO.

Aye I agree, not enough information regarding underbody rust. Up on the ramp and a look underneath would’ve been good. The exhaust manifold looked like one of those cheap ones that eventually fell apart. To cap it all, Brewer screaming like a Lassie when the Coop was put through its paces

Watched the episode about the mini as well, Brewer getting in and out of the wee car, not a pretty sight..

Gotta love the maths on that programme ... its always been the same. £50 to refurb 4 wheels and tint the windows (not in the world i live in). I think my biggest 'Yeah mate' moment had to be right at the end when he 'sells' the car to the guy that originally wanted it for 6 grand ! hahaha how convenient.

Bring back Edd China

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=edd+china%27s+workshop+diaries

Indeed, but you have to remember this is a TV show, it is what it is. Some parts are staged, all that said I do like to see the finished article

You would hope people do their own research on these things. Everyone on this forum knows not to touch a SS manifold and those water jets were just comical from a F1 mechanic

Here is a link to the programmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhAJ24Yq6k

Judge for yourselves

For me much better than I feared.

As Morrison said earlier any PR is good PR

"Some people have had 'em over three hundred horsepower!"

I knew there was a reason I no longer watched that show... (also, take Brewer out of the car and the power to weight ratio goes right up!)

I enjoyed it and love Wheeler Dealers but I wonder if they researched this piece about 20 years ago and never got round to finding a Coupe until now?
Back then cambelt changes and turbo mods were all the rage and "Baby Ferrari" was a thing people said. CHODs hadn't been invented.
If you were looking for rust it would be suspension turrets and door bottoms but you wouldn't find any there on the Coupe.

Whoa whoa whoa,

300 freakin' BHP?
Taking a chip out of the ecu by brain surgery??
Customising a turbo?

No wonder GB leads the world if F1 technologies - 'innit.

The programme was disappointing and doubt it will bring any extra love to the marque.

Regards MM

Exactly this. Pushing the car as a cheap way to go fast isn't going to do us any favours.

I'm not sure where they placed the microphone, but I've never heard a 20v Turbo sound that ropey. What the hell was that exhaust about too

Contrary to others, I quite enjoyed it and particularly liked the fact the buyer father and son had a shared passion for the Coupe.
This was something I could relate to with my own lads when they were growing up and learning to drive.

If they were passionate, I'd like to think they'd have popped on here and checked out the years old guides on what to look for and have a fair idea of what modifications are sensible. Aside from the fact that 309bhp and 346lbs/ft on a 20vT is unheard of, if it was possible, you wouldn't run it through a SMIC... This was part of common discussion back in the mid noughties.

He’s eminently dislikeable, isn’t he? Perhaps should offer him a passenger ride in mine yours….. Another 180bhp on top of his “fastest in the UK” should see him explode…..

I think they did the car a massive injustice, a cheap Bangle Fiat you could bolts bits on and go fast, sorry Brewer you're not my favourite person right now.

So they generally try and restore most cars to original condition. I've even seen them buy a donor car just to get hold of a parcel shelf (XR2) and yet the coupe episode had nothing to do with originality, it was basically saying to all the boy racers out there........ buy a cheap coupe, upgrade the turbo and bolt a water pistol to the IC to go fast. As for the 5 pot soundtrack, what happened there?

The first one Ive watched without Ed China and sorry to say but my last too. What a load rubbish!

there is some truth in that though...... a lot of owners of the Coupe have chased big power it was all the rage a few year's back, Brewer missed the boat....the demand now is more OE/standard (thankfully) but the market for the model is still basically cheap.

His programme was showing a cheap Italian Fiat could take on and beat a Ferrari in a drag race...so yes pointless viewing for most people.

Oit, enough of that! I may have missed the boat but I'm still demanding big power! Think more 458 Italia though

Yes quite, you're building a properly mod'ed Coupe,not bolt on a couple of goodies and away you go..........

What is interesting to know is that exact car is presently in pieces on a garages ramp in Worcester, the garage owner rang me before I fell ill asking about corrosion repairs as it's a complete rot box, since then he's sent me a list to quote for a complete rear end subframe assembly and associated parts, sounds like it wasn't in the best shape and any funds were spent in the wrong place...... oh well, it's just a cheap fast Fiat so who really cares.

Can you really get 9hp by shooting cheap waterpistols at a radiator? Give the amount of rain we get mine must be getting near 500hp by now!

Hey now CC, it's not just a cheap fast fiat, it's a cheap fast fiat with a crappy water pistol aimed at the intercooler.

Shame to hear it's in pieces and is rotten.

No Warranty from Mike "WD" Brewer?

Have to say it really is starting to look like a bodge it and scarper production. If the father and son were passionate about a Fiat Coupe before hand...no doubt this has damped their spirit.

I guess Mike did not read the forums pre-purchase sale guide.

Shame to hear its had a short lived live. Hope they have the time and interest to save it.

MM

That is really disappointing to hear, especially for the owners.

I thought it a really disappointing episode because they didn't cover much about the car at all, and as far as I'm aware the figures achieved were unrealistic for just a turbo mod and off car remap (although based on the location of the water pistol tank it must have had a different air filter fitted).

Mike Brewer doesn't come across well to me, I talked to him at the last NEC Classic Car Show to ask him about a picture he had used in an old episode (it had personal significance to me) and he was very off-hand, saying he couldn't help. He had been dissing Ed China to someone he spoke to before me which I overheard. By contrast Ant Anstead was really pleasant when I chatted with him in a similar setting, remembering a tweet I'd mentioned in him where the episode he had done about a Lancia Fulvia had really helped me with something. For some reason I had thought Ant might have been a bit full of himself but he couldn't have been more personable and interested - Brewer seemed to only be interested in himself.

There's some pics of the car (I assume from the garage who have it now) in the comments of this twitter feed.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mikebrewer/status/1439895371573039109

Also i read that it had a very recent MOT fail for corrosion in the usual coupe places but then a clean pass. Looks like it hadn't been repaired, bit naughty if true....

Oh dear that Twitter thread!

I thought the episode was a bit crap tbh. I always saw Wheeler Dealers as a bit of fun and nothing more so I didn't expect much in the way of mechanical accuracy, but yeah... disappointing.

Just watched part of the episode on youtube again, the state of the bonnet seams is atrocious. The whole things left a bad taste. A taste much more foul than the top gear episode.

I'd missed that thread, interesting comments and pictures from M bucko. Looking at the MOT history it did at least have long enough between the fail and pass for the work to have been done, but they didn't spot the issues hiding behind the wheel arch liner and boot carpet. Poor quality for such a prominent show and must be gutting for the owners.

What I didn't understand is why someone who was looking at a car under £3k then paid £6k for it when it apparently only had a £1k turbo/mapping job done. What else were they told?

Yes well found, not too good at that back end......

Just thought I'd have a look at how fast a 20VT is at Harewood Hillclimb in relation to a 348 but it seems no one has ever entered one in the years I've been going. However, looking at the results from 2019 when Ferrari Owners Club were there the only prancing horses which were faster than me were a 488, a 430 and an unknown one. So it doesn't take over 300hp for a Coupe to marginally beat a 348. Results from that event here - https://barc.blob.core.windows.net/harewood/final-web-results---1-gnnfi.pdf

Just to add, I didn't use the Fiat for that event this year as it was awaiting an MOT and the weather would have made times invalid anyway - it bucketed down all day!

In regards to what the new owners paid I wouldn’t believe any part of that side of it, reckon it’s all for TV

Erm, it’s a TV show, that’s exactly what it is, as said earlier things are staged in parts.

I met a chap at Brooklands a few years back who had bought an American car that Wheeler Dealers had done.

The deal was agreed some days before off camera and then there followed a filming session where the haggling and hand-over stuff were filmed for the programme's ending.

£6000.00, told by the owner to the mechanic at the garage where's it's resting in pieces.....

That's absolutely gutting. 6k. For something worth £600. I'd be hunting brewer down and very angrily wagging my finger in his general direction.

After talking to a pal of mine (who is a fan of Brewer) about this Coupé and re-reading M Bucko's comments, I just looked up the MOT history of R422 AYA on www.check-mot.service.gov.uk

Seems legit

Wow that Twitter thread is a horror show. Just watched the clip in the Twitter thread Brewer says a little way in 'crucially we want to spend as little money on it as possible' well they did that.....this was no Ed China resto, it was just a garnish for an immature TG style storyline. £6K,,,,,the MOT history would of kept me away from that example unless there was documented work on the areas of rust.....which there wasn't. So as above.....a fast rusty old Fiat then.

A fast cheap rusty of Fiat!

Yer man engineer elvis made it quite clear from the start, he was not a fan of the Coupe.

Although I don't know the origins of the term 'wheeler dealer' it always had dodgy overtones, you wouldn't buy anything from one. I'd have thought that Mr Brewer would be eager for this not to get too much publicity to protect his revenue stream from future continued contracts, the media don't like to be associated with a 'bad en'.
A solicitor's letter should start the ball rolling.