General Why and how did you end up owning a Barchetta?

[docorangepeel]

Hi, so why and how did you end up owning a Barchetta? Was it a chance thing, or something else ? How did you find your Barchetta ?

I am not sure how I found out about the Barchetta, I must have found it online a few years ago while looking at cars on Auto trader. My 306 ST at the time was getting on a bit and I wanted something a bit more fun, finding a good B was not that easy but with the help from my father we went to see a good few but found it disapointing to say the least !! People dont even wash the car before you come and see it !??! let alone wax and polish it.

Three weeks into looking for a B I found a Silver 1999 part exchanged B in a high end sports car garage on the Internet, the problem was it was in Bristol and I was in Nottingham and you dont have to look in a map to know its a long way away just for a 10 min look over one single car. The gamble paid off and it was in good condition with stacks of paperwork . Two weeks later I picked her up and was on my way back home with the wind in my hair........ problem is I have been spending money like water ever since ;-) She is now in much better condition then when I first got her and I could have spent a lot less if I did not upgrade the replacment parts.

Well its only money, and who needs food ;-)
Doc Orange peel
:slayer:

 

[patches]

Long story short...

Move to U.K. (Reading) January 2004.
Partner drove rental Rover 25 (dire car) for a month.
Partner bought Skoda Octavia Estate Elegance (TDI PD)(Good car, bit hearse like!)
I started job in Newbury March 2004.
Bought Peugeot 307 CC March 2004. (Silver with nice red/black leather, cruiser but not bad.)
Moved to Newbury and decided to sell Peugeot as not needed (and piece of crap - never ever buy the first model year!)
Was promoted in March 2005 - needed car again but didn't want to spend much as just bought 200 year old house....'nuff said.
Went to Swindon to look at what was available - Popped into Alfa dealership and saw an 18th month old silver 53 Reg Barchetta in the attached Fiat showroom with 8,000 miles on the clock for £9,200. Had seen them in Italy and thought they were sharp so took it for a test drive and quite impressed. Partner test drove and was seriously hooked. Negotiated down price by a few hundred and drove it home. And as you say, keep spending and spending on it. Think it might be cheaper in the long run to swap for a new Alfa Spider!

 

[doolahrock]

When I was looking for replacement for my Punto I started browsing through the FIAT UK website.......WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!!

I had never had any interest in soft tops/two seaters but this car totally changed my mind. First impression was that it looked fantastic. Far better than the MX5, MR2, MG etc.

Anyhow, I bought a 3 door Stilo because I needed the space to carry all my video equipment from job to job but couldn't get my mind off that beautiful B.

This obsession lasted three years. Was always looking them up on the net and reading the info here..

Finally after three years of blood, sweat and tears starting up a business I finally decided I could afford one. Long and painful trawls round ebay and autotrader commenced for weeks. I really wanted a Club Green one but couldn't find one that had done under 60k miles. I suddenly dawned on me that these cars look great in pretty much every colour so I widened the search and eventually found one at 45k and £2,500 which seemed like a great deal.

The car was in Manchester and I am in Edinburgh so I made quite a few calls to the garage. There was not much of a service history (hence the price) and the car had come from France. The chap in the garage mentioned that the previous owner was a Geordie who lived in France and that he had left his number in case anyone wanted to ask him questions about the car. So I did. Had a long chat about the car and also picked up an invite to stay with the guy when my wife and I go over to France in September

That had me swayed and I arranged to buy the car without even seeing it in person. I had no obligation to buy but, lets face it, only if the wheels had fallen off i wouldn't have taken it.

The train journey was about as exciting a train journery as you could reasonably expect. Got there and the car was at the front driveway of the garage ready to go......It looked magnificent.

Was a bit dissapointed to see the hood had a minor tear......but hey. I wanted a mohair roof anyway.

Been loving the car ever since, especially since the strut brace went in.

There are a few things wrong (mainly to do with the hood and the drivers window not fitting tight into the rubber....any suggestions?) but nothing that takes away from this great motor.

The best thing about the car........The what the f**k factor. Just today, I was driving past a guy in a massive BMW (25-30k worth I would guess) and he almost broke his neck trying to get a better look as I went past

Brilliant car and the only problem real (but not really) problem is a knocking sound from the front of that car that I suspect may be the wishbones. Hopefully I can get this seen to under the warranty I bought from the garage.

It's Barchetta time baby.......always:worship:

 

[bobian81]

I saw my first barchetta in a fiat showroom, I thought WOW look at that !
It looks like a ferrari (well it did to me) I thought I'd never be able to afford the insurance, but when I started shopping around on the internet, and found that because me and the missess are now middle aged, it was very cheap, so I started looking, and I found what I wanted on ebay, at first the car didnt reach its reserve, so I contacted the guy direct and used my powers of persuasion on him, bought it and off we went.
In 18 months of owning her, I had no trouble whatsoever, I spent about £250 on her in total in that time, and when I sold her (broke my heart) I got ALL my money back, who says that fiats loose loads of money ?

 

[Nino_1975]

I 1st bought an MG from new and loved the handling and performance but hated the realibility, so after 8mths I thought (BEEEEEEP IT) and went to all the garages for a fun convertible, saw an old Fiat B and thought humm I'll have that one... The sales man said he had a new one in the back office, well 3k on the clock (Used to be the directors) it had everything on it, hummmmmmmmmmmm I had it there and then, wanted to save money but ended up spending more.

Cracking car at a great price. Much fun had but I sold it after the warrenty ran out as the guy who MOT'd it crashed it and it was never the same since.



Miss her I do..........

 

[docorangepeel]

Nino, time to splash some cash and buy back in !!!! You know you want 2 !!

Doc Orange Peel

 

[ricky952]

changed jobs in july had to give my 2 seater company van back so bought a barchetta on ebay loved every minute driving in summer with roof down even in scotland but now getting cold and dark still fun but a different car with roof up roll on spring 97(r) 59000km black black leather aircon pass airbag lowered 30mm looking for hardtop hopefully before the snow arrives

 

[Alan.D]

Saw one whe I went to a car meet in Northern Ireland and thought oh! I had a few test drives in the MX5 etc but never really got on with them also looked at Alfa Spiders the late 70's ones but was advised against & the barchetta was just that much different, rare and much better looking so started to look there & then.

 

[magicmole]

Went out for a drive sometime in November 2005. No way could I afford to buy a car then, but if I did it would have to meet certain criteria:
carry 2 road bikes inside, plus camping gear plus climbing gear for holidays abroad. Be reasonable to drive to drive, reasonably economical, comfortable, relaxing for 2-day, 1200 mile drives to Italy, no more than £12k new. At the time I had a Renault Laguna which with the rear seats stripped out could do all this, plus had been unbreakable and had never let me down in 80k miles. The previous three cars had also been Renaults and had been similarly impressive, despite what other people might think.
So, we called at Motorpoint, Derby where we had bought the laguna, and there was a new 1.8 Laguna Tourer, loaded with toys for £11k. But as I said, there was no way we could afford another car at that point so we left to drive home.
Unfortunately, there was a Fiat main dealer on the way home and they had a brand new yellow b sitting outside. So we stopped just to have a look and left having agreed to buy it! Not quite totally financially up **** creek (I didn't put the apostrophes in there - mick) but not far off. There followed a saga which I have probably described elsewhere with us rejecting that car when we went to collect it, then getting another b from the same bunch of w*nkers, having the b off the road for one month out of the first four and finally having a car that did more or less what it was designed to do.
We've put 11k miles on the clock during the year, it's been on a camping holiday round France and it's been a great summer for it. I've got a great sportscar tan i.e. tanned arms up to sleeve level and a tanned face. The rest of me is a glaring white. It's been all I hoped it would be and rare compared to all the MX5s I see on the way to work each day.
It's now off the road until May although it comes out of the garage each week and I'm sorely tempted to tax it through the winter.
BUT it's got to go back to the main dealers (not the bunch I bought it from) to investigate a strange knocking noise at the front. Fiat main technicians are coming to check it over if the dealers can't sort it this time.
I've booked the ferry for next August, we're taking it to the Czech Republic for the MotoGP. Roll on salt-free roads.

 

[JimMagill]

Very sort version...

Drunk, ebay, flights, lovin it!

Jim

 

[Alan.D]

Story of your life then Jim

 

[dimitris_original]

well i first saw the barchetta back in 1999 when my girfriends(at the time)
father had one!!!didnt know much bout the car,but loved everything bout it!!it was love at first site!!!!!!took me a while to get one since i got mine in 2005 but it was always in the back of my mind!!!!the car screamed adventure to me and a sence of freedom that generally all roadsters have!!!!!to make a long story short i looked into the market in greece found what i was looking for( a silver 2004 20.000 km full extra all leather)and been in love ever since!!!!!!!!love the car!!

by the way i found out a while ago that my x-girlfriends dad had a very big accident in that car (he was known for his reckless drivin) but even though his poor barchetta was damaged beyond repair he walked out of the car with minor scratches(he was going around 195km!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!---with seatbelts on)
never overestimate your driving abilities!!!!no such thing as bad barchettas only bad drivers!!!!!!!!take care and enjoy driving this amazing handmade roadster that the italians offered us

 

[docorangepeel]

Well put Dimitris_Original

 

[Flash!]

Ok, another old thread for me to add my two pennyworth to!

I first came across the B when I was selling MGFs in 96/97 (I think). Of course it was something of a competitor for the 'F as they were both new vehicles that did similar jobs. However, I never found it too hard persuading the masses that came knocking on the door of my showroom to buy an MG over the Fiat; mid engined v's front engined, rear wheel drive v's front drive, RHD v's LHD, proper sportscar heritage v's someone that makes cheap family cars & dabbles in sportscars occasionally (ok, a spurious one I know!) & British build quality v's dubious Italian build quality (again, I admit a tad spurious!). Those & various other "sales pitches" had the MGF on a 6 month waiting list & me laughing all the way to the bank. (On paper at least, the MGF seemed far more technically advanced - Of course, we all know that doesn't always account for everything!)

I next came across the B about 7 years later when I befriended a girl that had one. She had decided that she wanted to buy the new Ford Street Ka & needed to get rid of her B quickly. I thought it would be a good car to buy & sell on & turn a bit of a profit, so I bought it off her. However, I bought it just as we were having a bit of a heatwave, so I decided to use it for a while before moving it on. Well it seemed nicer than the Rover 400 I was using daily at the time!

Ended up selling the Rover & keeping the B! It must have had an effect on me as it's the first car I've named since my MG Midget (Piglet). I layed Boo up at the end of '05 as I had just moved & didn't have the space in the communal car park to keep it, the company car & the motorbike! However, I'm really missing Boo & am more determined than ever to exhume it & get it ready for the spring.

If I had driven a B back when I was selling the MGFs, I doubt I would have been able to discourage people with quite the enthusiasm that I did!

As an aside, I think part of the reason I like the B so much is that it has that ingredient that is so rare in a car these days: Character! Many years ago I specialised in classic cars: MGAs, Bs, Cs & Midgets, plus Triumph TRs etc. They were great fun & although not the fastest things in the world would have me grinning every time I drove one. Sound familiar? Maybe it's because (like the old MGs & Triumphs) they are largely handbuilt & therefore have something of the craftsmen that built them inbuilt?!

 

[jezzer]

I was chatting with a colleague about cars-always looking and was getting a bit fed up having owned my mr2 for 8yrs now. He said had i noticed how cheap Barchettas were on e bay -and so i looked. I saw what was a very honest description of a tatty 96 silver barchetta-all sorts of bits and bobs needed sorting and rashly bid a max of £830 for it. no one else bid and it was mine-big problem i'm in Lincs and it was in Hampshire.It was taxed and motd but alternator had packed up. I was a laughing stock at work for buying a car unseen. Purely by fluke i saw a mate i;d not seen for years who had a trailer and we went down together to pick it up. He laughed at what i had done, but was as amazed as i was when we saw the car in the flesh-super condition really -dent on bonnet, broken bonnet release cable (support in dash broken-due to dent?) faulty locking only 1 blue key no red, split roof and dented rear bumper plus of course it needed a service cambelt and new alternator. 3 months on and I've just got the dint on the bonnet to do myself-carhoods direct produce a lovely roof i fitted easily myself, and halfords mix you a can to spray the dents over which is a great match. i'm over the moon with the purchase and my partner is going to use it in the summer-if she can get the keys off me! I'm hooked and it was so cheap i can afford to keep the mr2 too!
Jezzer

 

[jezzer]

Ps eventual cost of the B was £790 ! Plus the rest of the tax!

 

[pilier1]

Well. I was looking for a new car after passing my old Peugeot TD onto my daughter. I was looking at an Alfa Spider or a Barchetta. I'd always thought the Barchetta a very pretty car. One came up, I liked it, I liked the price, I bought it

A