It's surprising how few Cinqs are left on the road.

The attached image shows how many...

You can check for other vehicles on https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk

I sorn'd mine last month as the MOT ran out and i have lots of things i want to get done whilst it' off the road

I have no doubt it should fly straight through again though!

So you can add 1 to the list

Mine is tucked up but fully insured and mot at all times just in case ?

glenn2602 said:

It's surprising how few Cinqs are left on the road.

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It is shocking.
When I got mine in 2005 (I think it was 2005, same year i joined here anyway) there were about 10,000 Cinqs on the road, now well under 1000.

I think loads went to the crusher during the scrapage scheme...

I think loads went to the crusher during the scrapage scheme...

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Yes, probably. That scrapage scheme took a lot of cars of different marques off the road.

Though having said that, what's the survival rate percentage-wise of any marque of car? I would imagine it's quite low.

Back in the 70s and 80s I used to mess around with old Rovers, which you could buy for 'pocket money'. That's the old Rover P6B 3500cc .. the traffic cars in 'the Sweeney' and the even older Rover P4s. I don't think I've even seen one on the road in the last 25 years.

Remember the Vauxhall Chevette, the Austin Maxi/Allegro, not forgetting the MK3 Cortina and Sierra? The roads were full of them though they too have long since disappeared.

Here's a link to yesteryears cars:
http://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auctions/vehicles?view=datavw

Ive got one of them! None the less, a 1995 Sporting Abarth!

I wonder how many of these there are and if it can be a collectors item!

I know in Poland where they were also manufactured, they are collectable.

Anyone know about Abarths? It is in good condition apart from the rear black spoiler broke from the previous owner. It is apparently only had three owners, I am the third.

I've got two Cinqs SORNed in captivity here and always keep an eye out for others on my 30 mile daily commute around the Ilkeston / Matlock / Bakewell area of Derbyshire. In all the time I've been looking I've seen only one on the road and that was a month or so ago. It was a basic white S model in reasonable nick being used as a daily driver. I ended up tailing it in my Seicento, going a fair bit out of my way to find out where it lived. They shook me off in the end unfortunately!

Referring to 'how many left', my main car is a Seicento Soleil (for sale soon ) which, unlike the Cinq equivalent isn't listed as a separate model. Apart from mine I've seen only a couple. I wonder how many are around? Come to think of it, how many were sold in the first place?

Surely it can't be long before a Cinq or Sei gets a proper feature in Practical Classics or Classic Car Weekly.

Steve

and if it can be a collectors item!

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The short answer is yes, it will become a collectors item. Though collectible doesn't always mean 'high value'.

Back in 1972 as a young Naval aircraft mechanic based in Cornwall, me and my friends would chip in to buy a car. Back then we earned £22 a month..

£30 would get you a real banger of a car - something like a Jaguar with big round headlights and running boards, which we did buy and ran it until it broke down (about a month later). Then we moved onto a 1959 column change 3 gear Ford Consul, which cost £25 and which we managed to introduce to a Cornish granite wall the same evening we bought it. Petrol was 35 pence a gallon and we never had enough money to be able to drive far.

About that time I was offered a Jaguar E type for £40. It needed vast amounts of rolled up newspaper, chicken wire and plastic filler to make it roadworthy... and as it was expensive ... £40! .. I didn't bother.

Of course back then there was no such thing as a classic car, as we would understand it today. There were plenty of old cars such as Frog-Eyed, Sprites, Jags, Alvis.. Ford Zephyr etc .. but they were old bangers.

Come the late 70s if you wanted spares for a car that had been out of production more than 5 years .. well .. it usually entailed getting a telephone directory and phoning around ..

I think it was 1982 when Practical Classics magazine first came out. What Practical Classics did was draw together those with an interest in older cars - and provide a source of services and parts. That was probably the 'birth' of the classic car movement

Yes, your car - whatever make or model it is - will become a classic. It doesn't matter if it's a 900cc Fiat or a 7 litre Rolls Royce. The term 'classic' has no relation to value.

If you've never been to a classic car show or autojumble .. well, maybe you should look in:

http://www.newarkautojumble.co.uk/

http://www.jonniejumble.co.uk/classic_car_events_and_shows/Enfield_Middlesex_Autojumble.shtml#map

Some good memories there Glenn! I was in my 20s in the 1990s and at that time you could have your pick of 1960s/70s cars for a few hundred quid. Some were good, some not so good, some appalling. Popular Classics and Practical Classics were around, but the Nottingham Evening Post's 'Jalopy Corner' would yield things like a down at heel 1972 Triumph 2000 with M.o.T. for £250. I got through loads of cars, just buying them, running them for a bit and moving them on again. I learned a lot about how they work. Newark Autojumble was a regular haunt for parts.

My first car in 1989 was a 1968 Morris Minor bought off a friend. It was 21 years old at the time, that's younger than the Cinquecentos I own now. Most 60s and 70s bread-and-butter cars have risen in value to the thousands, so the golden age of buying them cheap is long over and I'm glad I was able to have my fun when I did. Having said that I find just as much satisfaction lavishing some tlc on some poor neglected Cinq or Seicento as I did on my Morris Minor.

Steve

I dunno if it's THAT surprising. The Cinq's are all 20 years old now.. so 200-odd left is probably what I'd expect.

The Younger Mrs S. has a Titch (yellow Sporting) that is one of those left. It's pretty okay.. does aboot 4000 miles a year (now on 87k-ish) and I'm thinking of buying her a 500 instead (mostly so I can borrow it.. ) but also so that the Cinq' can be semi-retired. It's too good and too old (parts!) to be a "daily"...


Ralf S.