My funny Fiat Barchetta

[iva cosworth]

When my Escort Cosworth went wrong this summer for the umpteenth time,what do you do ?

You go out and buy a convertible sports car obviously.

I have always liked the Barchetta [little boat in English]and as the UKs top specialist

and the original importer of most of the cars ,as Fiat didn't sell them here, is local,it was

easy enough to find one to buy.

So on December 1st i picked up this.





Stuck that on just yesterday



At the SS @ Goodwood today



When i got home from Goodwood ,top off since i left house at 7.45am.

One niggly problem so far is the speedo needle keeps not working.I took it back on the 8th

and a quick re-solder on the back of instrument fixed it.....for a week.It is playing up again

and speed displayed now is a bit hit and miss on accuracy,so phoning them again tomorrow.

[iva cosworth]

Nearly forgot my interior shot with compulsory "Flat Eric" companion.

Black leather interior........nice

[iva cosworth]

wolfy1988 said:

Very nice, I forgot just how pretty they are!

I like the wheels too. Are they all LHD?

Yes,almost all are LHD.

Some were converted by the importer but they say on their website that the conversion took

100+ hours so really wasn't economical.

There are some other cars converted too,very badly with instruments stuffed into glovebox slot

or something similarly awful.There was 1 on Ebay recently too.

[iva cosworth]

anomaly said:

Lovely cars. My barchetta was one of the best cars I've every owned. The original steel wheels on yours are beautiful too

I prefer the steel wheels TBH.

The alloys some have are just a bit bland IMO.

[iva cosworth]

Ordinary_Chap said:

What up with the Cosworth? And what are your plans for it?

Lee

Replaced fuel pump and now have a new starting problem and i don't know whether it's connected

with the pump or another fault entirely.

I also paid for some work which i wrongly assumed would get me an MOT pass,it didn't.

I drove it home,very quickly as it may have been my last drive of it.

It might get fixed in the summer or sold or something

[iva cosworth]

Max M4X WW said:

I like it, watched you park up at Goodwood after the Marshall asked if you wanted to put it undercover!

Yeah.i looked straight up at a clear sky and said"Nah,it'll be fine out here" or similar

[iva cosworth]

So today return trip to DTR to get the speedo fixed again.

They fitted a whole different [not new] clock pod and all seems good now and i have

also "lost" 50% of my KMs so all's good.

Whilst there i wandered around the other Barchettas in their worshop and.......







after the comments on alloys on these,i quite like all 3 designs above.

It also seems like silver is the most popular colour as i keep seeing silver cars


The yellow car also has partially yellow seats......bit loud

[iva cosworth]

I am torn between the 1st and 3rd set

[iva cosworth]

Forgot i had this pic

Parked at a house few miles from me is a French registered car looking a little

neglected.

Will keep an eye on it to see if it ever moves

[iva cosworth]

Nothing much to update/report but the speedo is now all working correctly.

It's also nice to have a speedo needle that doesn't wobble all over the shop[FORD]

And for some reason the speed reading looks really accurate to me,it just feels rightand

i don't use a Satnav to compare it with either.

Went down to Worthing today to pick up an Ebay win so went down the coast looking for a nice

location for a pic and voila



I also passed the French car above again and it still looks forlorn and grubby

[iva cosworth]

Yes,definitely using it ALOT.

Already taken it abroad once [last weekend]....top off ALL the time for over 600 miles.

Going off to Italy in it this summer too.

Pics and report on that when completed

Currently the only time the hood is up is when parked at work.

[iva cosworth]

For those who maybe don't frequent other forums here is the thread of my Italy trip

mentioned above.

3435 miles in 2 weeks,car almost perfect,one near miss with a flying rock.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Already booked off some more time to go to Germany next month as i have enough euros left

for another much shorter trip.

Don't think i have ever been to Europe 3 times in 1 year.....

[iva cosworth]

Update on 2 of the other cars pictured above.

The yellow one is being broken,i have bought one piece of it.

The french car also doesn't seem to have moved at all but has gained dents in the rear panel.

Some oik has kicked it or something....

[iva cosworth]

B17NNS said:

Love your original wheels by the way.

They were refurbed before i bought it BUT there is rust seeping out of the rims now

so on the look out for alloys which is not easy.

OE alloys in various designs [above] don't come up that often and some i have dithered over

on Ebay got sold before i made a decision on.

A fella on a Fiat forum saw my plight and offered wheels off a Strada Abarth he's breaking

but they don't look like they would suit the car at all,he was local too.....

[iva cosworth]

B17NNS said:

iva cosworth said:

They were refurbed before i bought it BUT there is rust seeping out of the rims now

Shame. There's a set of 4 NOS steelies gathering dust somewhere I bet.

Not at DTR as i went to buy a wheel for a full size spare and they only had rusty old stuff.

I bought one anyway as i didn't want to tour Europe with a spacesaver....

[iva cosworth]

tinkertaylor said:

go for these wheels - they look perfect

That car is being broken but wheels are not available or else i would have.

I may have found some on Ebay but as usual will ummm and arr about them and someone

else will snap them up......

[iva cosworth]

5potTurbo said:

I do like these.

Would the alloys from the Punto HGT fit?

Probably if 15 inch.

Standard are 6.5x15.

[iva cosworth]

New POD said:

I think the DOOR handles show a degree of care in the design that is magical.

Agreed the door handles are a style masterpiece.....

[iva cosworth]

Little update.

Went over to Germany for 4 days in this ,its 3rd trip overseas this year and stuck

another 14-1500 miles on it [car's at home and haven't checked exact miles] without any problems.

1000 miles in first 2 days,just like the last trip and this car just keeps taking

all the punishment of driving hours on end at 75-80 mph on the continent.....

Now where can i go next ?...

Should have done a lap of the Nurburgring in it though....

[iva cosworth]

1463 is the exact miles covered last weekend to Germany n back.

Nice thing yesterday happened ,a teenager said "nice car mate" as i drove past,hood down,

in Sevenoaks Kent.

Makes a change from usual abusive yoofs....