pim
Kinda New
Posts: 2
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Nov 16, 2018 10:05:01 GMT
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Great car and great story! I just got myself into similar trouble (a 1988 ex-Italian 2.0 Biturbo SI) and love it... Having ticked the 'V12' and 'British reliability' boxes off my list I felt brave enough for the next stage: 'affordable Italian exotic'. Mine keeps its fluids [touches wood] rather well, pulls only slightly when braking and features the same dry solder joints for the speedo you seem to have had. The 'Terra di Siena' interior looks tired for its ~100K kms, that will get replaced this winter. A good excuse to tackle the dash electronics while doing that. ;-)   |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659 
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Nov 16, 2018 10:58:30 GMT
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Great car and great story! I just got myself into similar trouble (a 1988 ex-Italian 2.0 Biturbo SI) and love it... Having ticked the 'V12' and 'British reliability' boxes off my list I felt brave enough for the next stage: 'affordable Italian exotic'. Mine keeps its fluids [touches wood] rather well, pulls only slightly when braking and features the same dry solder joints for the speedo you seem to have had. The 'Terra di Siena' interior looks tired for its ~100K kms, that will get replaced this winter. A good excuse to tackle the dash electronics while doing that. ;-) Very nice - I do enjoy the NACA ducts on the bonnet. Feel free to share a few more photos here. |
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pim
Kinda New
Posts: 2
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Last Edit: Nov 18, 2018 13:52:11 GMT by pim
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 19, 2019 19:54:13 GMT
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It's been a year since I updated this.
I like to wrap threads up so popping in to confirm that I have sold the Biturbo in the interim. I actually made the decision to sell soon after my last post in November last year although it did take 6 months to actually sell. The last time I saw it was when I took it for one last drive to my mechanic's place as he advertised it on my behalf.
I'll update shortly with some final thoughts and some of the shenanigans that have been going on in the interim.
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:08:24 GMT
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Last Edit: Nov 21, 2019 14:16:25 GMT by thebaron
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:19:23 GMT
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If you are following the timeline then you will realize that this is the start of December last year and I am now down to only one car in CH, this delightful XJ. With winter in situ I needed some appropriate tyres:   |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:24:16 GMT
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So within a week the Maserati was gone (but not sold - that took a loooong time), the C200K was gone and my garage looked like this:  So I went on my merry way throughout the winter using it daily from Autobahn trips:  to snowboarding:  I loved it, my wife liked it waaay more that the BiT and all was well...............until it wasn't |
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Last Edit: Nov 21, 2019 14:25:13 GMT by thebaron
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:32:38 GMT
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My sister in law came to visit from Boston in February 2019 and we took a trip to Luzern and up to the top of Mt. Pilatus  On the way back we had a full car, wife, her sister and my 2 kids when the car started to run rough and then immediately the temp. light illuminated. This was not good. I had no option but to nurse the car home which almost did not happen but I knew the inevitable deep down in my gut.... and in my nose as the smell was obvious. Head gasket was fried. I had lost this battle so it was time to re-group and plan the rest of the war. Time + money + convenience calculations completed and the Jag was sold to a guy who would restore it and use for his own wedding. I have not heard more but I hope it is back rocking again.  |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:39:46 GMT
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So now I had no car (well the BiT was still out there somewhere but I was not taking it back) and needed something immediately as it was not exactly cycling weather. I know myself well enough by now to realize that I will continue to swap cars unabated unless I create some blocker. So I decided to do just that and leased a 4 year old Panda 4*4 Twin-Air for 36 months with 0 down and low low low monthly payments. This is boring so very little more on this except for some quick pictures:   |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:43:54 GMT
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Now I have 1 car which I must keep for 36 months - what the hell have I done.
Once I calmed down I went back to my list - what list I hear you say?
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:45:13 GMT
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This list if you allow me to quote myself So I have been running a Fiat Panda 100hp for the past 3 months. I bought it while I had the RS4 up for sale but had intended to keep it for a while. I have no photos of it which kind of says it all. I think it looks very cool, it handles really well, the engine is an eager little beast but for some reason it just doesn't float my boat. During this spell of ownership the Sierra and the RS4 sold and I had a think about the cars I want to own. As per most here I guess it is a very long list. I have been lucky enough to own a lot of nice/interesting cars but there are still many more to experience. Anyway my remaining must haves were as follows: 3,5,10,12 Cylinder Mid-engined Supercharged French Lotus Ferrari or Lamborghini So with the caveat that I must be able to fit the whole family of four into anything I purchase I came up with the following as the shortest route to hit all the above: Citroen C1 / Peugeot 107 - French & 3 cyl Volvo 850 T-5 - 5 cyl VW Polo G40 - Supercharged Audi S6 - V10 Lotus Evora NA - Lotus & Mid-engined Ferrari 456 or 612 - Ferrari & V12 Now obviously some of these are far harder to attain than others but the first three on the list I should be able to knock off the list with relative ease (and cheaper than the Panda) So now you have the long winded intro, the Panda is up for sale and I picked this up last Thursday also: T-5 (you don't need to see the pics again) |
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Last Edit: Nov 21, 2019 14:47:08 GMT by thebaron
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 14:58:51 GMT
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Now since I posted that list I bought and sold the C200K (Supercharged) and C1 (French and 3 cyl) and decided I didn't really want a V10 that badly.
That left me with these:
Lotus Evora NA - Lotus & Mid-engined
Ferrari 456 or 612 - Ferrari & V12
So how can I get one of these I thought. Now I don't have 40k (chf as this is the price here) lying about to go and buy an Evora or a 456 outright. Ok, maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and finance one or the other as a 5-7 year investment as I keep banging out about cars that will go up in value to anyone who will listen but not actually doing anything about them myself.
(Don't even talk to me about Ferrari 400i and Alfa SZ)
So I took my time and did some calculations, and checked finance options, and check the market and waited.........and waited... and the months rolled by. I usually do something as soon as I make up my mind. I can take my time to make up my mind but once done then I pull the trigger, or I do 99 times out of 100.
Roll on to early September and 6 months after I had made this decision and I still was Panda only. The landscape had also changed and I now decided to join a start up in addition to a real softening of the "market" so I did something else.
I went searching for a car that I also mentioned earlier in this thread.
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 15:00:50 GMT
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Mentioned here ..... and for an extra twist I have been offered two different close to swaps (+/- 2000) for the BiT. 1. 1998 996 Carrera 2 2. 2002 Opel Speedster (VX220) Now I could say of course I'm not considering these but that would be a lie. To get into the 911 would mean shipping out the C1 as well to pay the balance. That's no problem and I'm actually now really interested in the 1st year 911 996 C2 with the 1st year only throttle cable and the fried eggs. I just think that the value is incredible at the moment and a 20 year old 911 is always the cheapest 911. However, this would be a deviation from my previously stated bucket list quest as it's nothing "new" as I had a 911 10 years ago. The Opel is interesting in that it hits two checks on my list (or 1.75), mid-engined and Lotus (WTF!!!!) OK calm down Loti aficionados, I would claim it's 3/4 of a Lotus and as I always say, it's my game so my rules  ). The issue is that it's strictly for two so will get very limited use. In any case, it's nice to have options to think about but I will spend some more time in the BiT before I make a decision. |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 15:21:07 GMT
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... and I found it and I bought it  Now that I'm almost up to date I'll pop off and create a new thread for this. |
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Nov 21, 2019 15:22:36 GMT
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And I thought you were going to be another member of the RR 996 ranks for a minute there  |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Nov 21, 2019 15:31:46 GMT
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And I thought you were going to be another member of the RR 996 ranks for a minute there No, well not yet in any case Too soft all these peeps with roofs ..... and heaters  |
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jan 11, 2022 21:23:00 GMT
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Bl00dy hell I've just re-read this thread after seeing the replacement, it's that HNNNG feeling all over again.
I thought I was cured, well, no. Good to see it's all fine and dandy for you though, good luck with the flyweight!
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Jan 12, 2022 13:47:16 GMT
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Bl00dy hell I've just re-read this thread after seeing the replacement, it's that HNNNG feeling all over again. I thought I was cured, well, no. Good to see it's all fine and dandy for you though, good luck with the flyweight! I don't think you will ever be cured of the Maserati urges. You just become wiser and less trusting but no less interested I hope you and the family are doing well. Have you ventured back into Retro shenanigans yet? |
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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Jan 12, 2022 17:13:27 GMT
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I bought an Alfa 147 last year, which I thought I'd need but I don't. It's basically scrap at this point, I just can't bring myself to kill an early petrol 147 that's really fun to drive... Small flat, two young children and an expensive city don't help with tinkering space/te/monies. All good for the little uns and the missus though!
Now get a 456GT, or a 400i, they'd complement the Speedster well and look quite, uuuh, Swiss.
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Jan 13, 2022 14:41:14 GMT
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Good to hear that the growing family are doing well! Is it Nantes you are based in?
Still keeping it Italian ;-) Nice commitment
I missed the boat on the 400i about 7 years ago when I did not pull the trigger on one at 20k, then I missed the boat on Alfa SZs 5 years ago when I did not dive in at 35k and the 456GT ship has now sailed as they have gone over 60k while I was procrastinating at 40k 2 years ago.
The Panda lease car will be off lease in February and after I buy out the remainder and sell it on sharpish I think I'm going go a different direction and tick another item off the car experience list and buy my first ever new car.
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Last Edit: Jan 13, 2022 14:42:10 GMT by thebaron
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off me. So a swap with some extra cash and a trip to Geneva resulted in my replacement:
). The issue is that it's strictly for two so will get very limited use.
