Have had to do the one thing I never wanted to do.

My plan (as it was) was to buy a 'winter car' to rest the barchetta over the wet and wild weather here in Lytham.

However I was unable to find a garage to rent for my glorious b. Or, as it happens, the cash to have both the b and my winter car.

So, it has gone - or rather it will be on Tuesday.

So farewell and thank you all for all your help and assistance during my 2 and a bit years ownership.

It has been a blast.

Colin (barchingmad)
2 time barchetta owner

Colin sorry to hear that , it has been a pleasure to see you making it to the scottish events all the way from Lytham . Take care and see you in the future with your 3rd B hopefully .

Cheers for that.

I have some great memories to take away.

Colin

Sorry to hear about this. Being in Southampton, about as far away as one could get from you, I'm really sad and feel for your position. I may not have been able to help but would certainly have tried to have help find some form of solution if I could have.

These "loves of ours" often tend to stretch our emotions and loyalties to ......

I've recently retired and we have 3 great cars on our fleet. Strada 130TC, Barchetta 05 and Croma 06, all purchased from new.

Sadly the 130TC has done only 2152 miles over the last 8 years, yet she has remained fully insured, MOTed, Taxed and roadworthy.

Cost per mile ......... don't even want to think about it.

Now, being retired, the money is tighter than ever and their a so many draws on the funds.

Marry a Fiat and you are in for a long, expensive haul full of the joys and pleasures of owning, driving, thrashing, showing, maintaining and sometimes repairing your pride an joy.

Departure is always the hardest.

barchingmad said:

Cheers for that.

I have some great memories to take away.

Colin

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And (presuming the scrap yard hasn't called), for every departing B owner, we should be welcoming a new one - I hope you passed on details of the forum!

Matt

we will miss you, but you can still come visit us all the best

Let me reassure everyone I have NOT scrapped my barchetta. it was way too good for the scrappie. Indeed I have given it one last wash. the sun is out and i am going out for one last big topless drive.

pick up the alfa on tuesday.

I will pop the forum details in with the log book etc.

This site has been really useful and supportive over my ownership, and i hope the new owner visits you.

I will still be popping in to check what everyone is up to!

The barchetta is, and always will be, my favourite car. Unfortunately as I said at the top, it is becoming a little impractical without a garage and all this horizontal rain we've been enjoying! That and increasing runs north to Glasgow demanded the change.

Anyway, must stop waffling on and get out and go for a drive!

Colin

What engine did you go for in the 156? I hope you checked over all the bushes and didn't buy a sillyspeed.

2.0 156 JTS

Had an good test drive on mixed country roads.

Engine sounded spot on.

Handling tight.

No nasty bumping sounds etc.

Had the belt done a 2 years and 15k ago, so should be OK for a year or so. Being serviced and MOTd before I get it.

Basically... fingers crossed.

Having owned a few alfas before I know what I might be letting myself in for.

Hey Colin, I'm so sorry to see you go. We never did get to meet up in Lytham and I was there last weekend too! If you get nostalgic for the B just shout and I'll come over with mine and you can have a go!
Good luck with Alfa.

Cheers

John

Sounds like a good idea. I supect I will be nostalgic the moment I hand over the keys...

barchingmad said:

2.0 156 JTS

Had an good test drive on mixed country roads.

Engine sounded spot on.

Handling tight.

No nasty bumping sounds etc.

Had the belt done a 2 years and 15k ago, so should be OK for a year or so. Being serviced and MOTd before I get it.

Basically... fingers crossed.

Having owned a few alfas before I know what I might be letting myself in for.

Click to expand...

Ah fair enough mate, just wanted to make sure. A lot of people are buying older 156's because they're so cheap, not realising they need a lot of work done.
The cambelt is the only concern then, interval is 36kmiles or 3 years.

I would have said:
Make sure there aren't any creaks or knocks from the suspension, also feel round tight bends if the car squirms etc. Feel each tyre and check for uneven wear.
If any symptoms are present then it will more than likely be; upper/ lower arms, anti roll bar bushes, drop links, rear trailing arms.

Enjoy your Alfa.

The JTS is probably the worst engine Alfa ever produced. Extremely underpowered (the 2.0 actually delivers about 120HP) and very dead to drive.

I do think the 156 is the most beautiful car ever made, as long as it's not the Bertone abortion. Always happy to see a man in an Alfa, just buy a JTS with extreme caution

Funkstar De Luxe said:

The JTS is probably the worst engine Alfa ever produced. Extremely underpowered (the 2.0 actually delivers about 120HP) and very dead to drive.

I do think the 156 is the most beautiful car ever made, as long as it's not the Bertone abortion. Always happy to see a man in an Alfa, just buy a JTS with extreme caution

Click to expand...

The 2.0 twin spark is 155bhp and the 2.0 JTS is 165bhp. Don't listen to rumors they're often false.

barchingmad said:

Colin (barchingmad)
2 time barchetta owner

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Re-offenders can't be cured. You will be back with number three.

Sorry to hear that Colin! No I'm not upset! Honest!. Still, if you have an Alfa you can still meet up with us for the next Scottish Italian Car & Bike day in 2010!!! Good luck with the new car!

Stevo Gee said:

Sorry to hear that Colin! No I'm not upset! Honest!. Still, if you have an Alfa you can still meet up with us for the next Scottish Italian Car & Bike day in 2010!!! Good luck with the new car!

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Thanks for that Steve. I hope to keep in touch, and will continue to visit your excellent site and see what the friendliest bunch of b drivers are up to!

http://www.barchetta-scotland.com/index.html

Anyway, the b has gone... and don't feel too bad yet! I honestly thought I might .

I have even managed to drive the 156 for 30 miles and nothing has gone wrong...

When I typed that sentence I was not just touching wood, but hugging a great big f'in tree!!!

Thanks for all the nice messages (even the one about the JTS being crap!!!).

Colin

back for a look around!

Found the new owner of my old car - sounds like my old b is being well treated!

Now the owner of a 53 plate silver Alfa GTV with red leather and carpet...

Hope you are all well, and enjoying the greatest car ever made!

I try my best Colin!!

When are you buying another one??

What engine is in the GTV? Its very swiss with the red leather )

barchingmad said:

I have even managed to drive the 156 for 30 miles and nothing has gone wrong...

Click to expand...

Hopefully you'll still get up to the meets. Was perhaps part of my thinking behind the Abarth...'well, at least they might still invite me if I get this'.

Every now and again I get a stupid happy feeling that my B is now living it up in Spain. I even ended up taking 100 quid less than another offer just because it was obvious it would be taken better care of. What a freak.