Half a bottle of Vin Blanc/Ebay = Barchetta

[rswift]

Well a rare night off, a decent bottle of white and a casual browse under the LHD section of Ebay I found a Fiat Barchetta for £1500, which looked qutie tidy....FSH, nice colour, 90k full years MOT, new hood etc....anyway, cut to the chase I idly put a bid in for £1200 .... and would you believe it next email back I've bought it !

Always fancied one of these, probably won't keep it too long. 150 miles away, but only myself to blame !

If only EBay had a breathalyser !

[zaphod42]

Good choice... :-)

[rallycross]

A fwd Italian attempt at an mx5

[FreeLitres]

Very nice! Got any pics from the advert?

[0a]

Excellent news. If I recall correctly the odd review I read in eco rather rated them, despite (again IIRC) using vaguely Punto bits. They look miles better than an MX5 in any case.

[zaphod42]

IIRC, amazing seats....

[rswift]

This is it;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

What do we think (I'm not easily upset, so be honest)

Hope that the link works. Had an MX5, well a Miata. we have a Cappuccino, which is great but a tad small, would love an XK8 cab, but had an XJ-S cab ... and too thirsty to use, so this seems worth a punt ?

Don't mind LHD at all, had a few LHD cars....might be worth a few quid more in summer, in the men time I own a leather flying jacket and a woolly hat.

Just checked train fares (train line.com) , about £30 to pick it up, so result there, as option B was LPG range rover (£90 in fuel plus trailer hire).

[Six Fiend]

I have a feeling this one belonged to a friend of mine in Bristol once upon a time and on its original plates. The dings on the door in front of the handle look familiar.

Great little car

[tbc]

you won't find many Barchettas for your price range

the guy down the street from me has one garaged from new, its's a 2003 with around 20k on it in yellow

he was offered £6500 for it but refused it point blank

[rswift]

Six Fiend said:

I have a feeling this one belonged to a friend of mine in Bristol once upon a time and on its original plates. The dings on the door in front of the handle look familiar.

Great little car

Interesting, I haven't done a HPI check yet, I will before I hand over the readies....it pains me, but I once got caught out on a £800 Ford Explorer that a previous owner had taken a 'Log Book Loan' out on. We only bought it to do one towing job to France with as it was cheaper than hiring, but took ages to sort out after I sold it.

Edited by rswift on Thursday 16th February 00:57

[rswift]

Well picked it up tonight. Perfect Ebay deal, met the owner nice chap. Train from Beds to Dorset, drove back 130 miles without any problems. Loads of paperwork including a cam belt/variator change, and the all important red key.

It does drive and handle like a FWD Hatchback, which under the skin it is. But quite lively for a 1.7, and definitely nicer off the motorways. But the heater worked, and I am used to driving LHD, so all good.

[Aviz]

Nice. A friend had a RHD one of these from new. Cost an absolute fortune and was very odd as the dash kind of faced the passenger.

[Kitchski]

Coolest exterior door handles ever.

[drophead]

Aviz said:

Nice. A friend had a RHD one of these from new. Cost an absolute fortune and was very odd as the dash kind of faced the passenger.

LHD only. Unless your post was a really bad joke.

[C2james]

I think that's a good buy but I don't really like the wheels.

[gazchap]

Looks like a good buy I've just done the same thing with an MR2 Turbo... Hope it goes as smoothly as your transaction!

[McSam]

That looks like an excellent effort, and seems to be way under what it might be worth if it's sound..

Either way, well done!

[steviegunn]

drophead said:

LHD only. Unless your post was a really bad joke.

DTR converted some to RHD iirc.

[rswift]

There is in fact a RHD one for sale on Ebay as we speak...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Barchetta-1-8-16V-L...

I don't really see any big problem, LHD here or RHD abroad. It's not Rocket Science !

[Wigeon Incognito]

I was sitting next to a right hand drive one in traffic a few days ago - it took about three glances before I realised it wasn't my mind playing tricks on me!