1976 FIAT 130 COUPE

In the care of the vendor for just over six years, this genuine right-hand-drive Fiat 130 Coupé was built in February 1976 according to the Certificate of Origin.

Believed to have been restored in the 1980s (photos included in the Gallery), the vendor has continued to improve it over the years, spending a considerable sum on the mechanicals and bodywork to bring it to the condition you see today.

He’s got such faith in his car that he’s used it for a couple of classic car tours around the UK and instead of putting it on a trailer as so many would, he drove it 130 miles to our HQ near Abingdon - and, when he checked the oil on arrival, he was delighted to be able to show us that it hadn’t used a drop.

Only being sold because he’s found an even better example, he’s happy to offer this one with a sensible guide price and to include it as one of our famous No Reserve Friday cars, which means it will sell from the very first bid, no matter how derisory that might be…

The bill for the 1987 respray came to £3,331 or around £9,500 in today’s money. That’s a hefty sum but then the fact that the Fiat still looks this good three decades later is a vindication that it was money well spent. The work included cutting out any rotten metal, welding in new metal and lead-loading the join before finally respraying it.

Further bodywork included repairs to the areas around the front and rear screens in 2016, plus some general refurbishment. As you can see from the attached invoice, the resulting bill came to £3,200 – and that’s not including the cost of the custom-made rear screen; the vendor twisted Pilkington’s arm and it agreed to use his car as a template, which makes the bill for £700 seem quite reasonable. (It also means it can reproduce them for other owners, too.)

It’s stood up to the intervening years very well, something the recent mop-polish will have helped. More importantly, the panels are still straight and free of serious corrosion, the shutlines are decent, and the doors, bonnet and boot all open and close as they should.

The front and rear bumpers are ultra-straight and with a brilliant shine. Mind you, this isn’t surprising as they’ve only just been re-chromed at a cost of £500.

The 14-inch Cromodora alloy wheels are in great shape, being free of significant marks and showing no signs of having been kerbed. They’re shod with matching 205/70R14 Autogrip tyres, which still show good tread but were fitted in 2013, so are coming to the end of their useful life.

That said, as we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you an insight into their attitude towards maintenance.

The rest of the exterior is pretty impressive too and there’s no denying that it has massive presence.

Problems? Well, aside from the inevitable stone chips and general wear and tear, the rear bumper needs two reversing lamps fitting, there’s a slit in one of the bumper end caps and the offside headlamp has a stone chip. The latter has passed an MOT without comment, so it is only a cosmetic problem, although new replacements aren’t available.

There are a few small rust bubbles just starting too, most noticeably on the sills, the lower edge of the nearside front and rear wings, and the underside of the nearside door. However, the jacking points all look to be good and strong still, and the floor appears to be similarly robust having been well protected by a good coat of underseal. All those who have done work on the Fiat also confirm its solid status underneath.

The interior is as wonderfully OTT in its design as legend would have you believe. Highlights for us include the wonderfully simple two-spoke steering wheel, the ingenuous seatbelt buckles, the period twin-spindle Pioneer head unit (still working), and handsome chromed gear-lever.

The velour seats are wonderfully plump and extraordinarily comfortable. Placing more of a premium on comfort than lateral support, their coverings are in reasonable shape bar what looks to be sun-damage to the upper edges of the seats, plus some general wear and tear to the other faces.

The door cards are in a decent shape with good wooden cappings but there is some wear and general deterioration to the fabric of both door cards and the rear quarter-panel trims. The fabric on the A-pillars isn’t great, either, but as it was all restored in the 1980s a little deterioration is expected.

The pleated headlining is decent, but when it was replaced after the screen works, the installer left a few of the clips off and it no longer sits quite flush to the ceiling. Looking around the interior, we have been charmed, the electrics are working, and the atmosphere befits a proud Italian business leader.

The boot, which is home to the spare alloy wheel and what looks to be the OE vinyl cover, seems to be solid and shows only light surface corrosion in the odd corner.

The brake calipers were rebuilt in 2016 at a cost of £360 and the engine has been the subject of various work since the same date.

This work included having the block ultra-sonically cleaned and then rebuilt with new piston rings and professionally refurbished cylinder heads. The vendor estimates it cost him around £4,000 in all and while there is a little smoke still on the over-run, as we mentioned earlier the vendor drove it 130 miles to us and it didn’t use any oil so it’s almost certainly the sort of minor bugbear you could live with for years before further investigation would be necessary.

Other recent work includes rebuilt carburettors, plus a re-cored radiator, custom silicone coolant hoses, fresh coolant, work to the air-conditioning system and a new heater matrix. The work on the coolant system alone cost him around £2,000.

We’ve driven it and can confirm that it drives as you’d expect – and it makes a lovely noise! As with the interior, the team here have been mightily impressed with the driving experience, the car rides and drives very smartly, the car is short of rattles and feels ready for any long journey.

The Fiat’s new MOT certificate expires in June 2021. It also comes with a number of expired MOT certificates plus a thick sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years. Some of the invoices date back to the 1970s!

It still has its original owner’s handbook, an old V5 registration document in addition to the current one, and an emailed Certificate of Origin from Fiat. This is one cared for car.

The Fiat also comes with a photo album of its restoration in the 1980s as well as some shots of its more recent rolling restoration.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained and restored to a good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.

With a freshly rebuilt engine, a strong underside, the steering wheel on the correct side and finished in what is arguably the very best colour of them all, this is a hugely desirable example of a perennially popular coupé.

And, for all its minor cosmetic faults, it’s a car we’ve grown to love; it’s as handsome as hell, sounds like a Ferrari under hard acceleration and oozes Mafia-menace. It rides very well too, and handles decently; it really is all the car you’d ever need this side of a race track.

Yes, it needs some cosmetic fettling but it’s strong and running well so you would be able to bring it up to your preferred condition as and when funds and time allow.

With a guide price of anywhere between £7,000 and £11,000, the vendor is sufficiently confident in the quality of his car to offer it with no reserve, so it’s going to sell from the very first bid. What is not to love?

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.