scaryoldcortina Posted April 6, 2011 Posted April 6, 2011 "Fortune favours the brave".... well, in this case Brava. I had a call from my daughter earlier, her boyfriend has been offered a 1.2 Fiat Brava (age unknown) for £200. It needs a clutch and has failed a MoT on brakes. She already told him not to bother before calling me, my opinion is that even if it's the cleanest and nicest brava ever the repairs will cost more than it is worth. My backup opinion is that he should be getting a driving licence first and a really rubbish car later. She emailed me, he doesn't care, he's going to buy it anyway. Looking on the bright side, as long as he doesn't spend any money on it I can weigh it in for what he paid. Am I wrong for assuming that it's going to be a godawful pile of shit? Experience tells me that it will...
Guest Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Straight over the bridge pls! Best bet - a car trader I know does that as he cant sell them unless they are under scrap price.
scooters Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 "Fortune favours the brave".... well, in this case Brava. I had a call from my daughter earlier, her boyfriend has been offered a 1.2 Fiat Brava (age unknown) for £200. It needs a clutch and has failed a MoT on brakes. She already told him not to bother before calling me, my opinion is that even if it's the cleanest and nicest brava ever the repairs will cost more than it is worth. My backup opinion is that he should be getting a driving licence first and a really rubbish car later. She emailed me, he doesn't care, he's going to buy it anyway. Looking on the bright side, as long as he doesn't spend any money on it I can weigh it in for what he paid. Am I wrong for assuming that it's going to be a godawful pile of shit? Experience tells me that it will... I'm not sure if you'd get £200 on a weigh in - he's mad - he doesn't sound like a mechanical chap so he'll ahve to get a pro to fix it - I reckon £500 easily why don't you tell him to visit retro rides or here and have a look at the AWSUM MOTAZ avaliable for tap all cash - hell if he wants a car for £700 I'll sell him the Torslanda which will never break down and he can fit 30 mates in!
scooters Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 he doesn't care, he's going to buy it anyway. the good old days! Ignoring the doris....a far cry from the rest of us! When I was living in St Albans during the week it was much easier to operate a fleet without daily AUDIT INSPEKSHUNS from the Frau Grupenfuhrer! Those were the days....sigh......
messerschmitt owner Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 he doesn't care, he's going to buy it anyway. the good old days! Ignoring the doris....a far cry from the rest of us! When I was living in St Albans during the week it was much easier to operate a fleet without daily AUDIT INSPEKSHUNS from the Frau Grupenfuhrer! Those were the days....sigh......ha ha I was aksed last night if I'd bought a new car ... I think she's bowing to the inevitable!
Station Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 I bought an Orion under the same conditions (the head gasket had totally gone), but at least I had a driver's license then. Brava's are naff anyway, must be one of the least interesting cars to drive on the road, deffo future shite.
scaryoldcortina Posted April 7, 2011 Author Posted April 7, 2011 No, he's not mechanically minded at all! The sudden need for a car is because I condemned his chinese 125 as a total deathtrap last week (and then it broke on the way home from work and he had to walk) I think I could scrape £200 by weighing it, as long as the cat is still good and I fill the bugger with rubbish before it goes on the scales. Daughter's opinion is that he might as well learn now as later in their relationship when it could prove much more expensive. I'll keep you all posted how it goes.
timmyteapot Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Its a fiat, an old one at that, sadly they are god awful unreliable things! weigh it in and busy summat else!
Timewaster Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Come on here in another 15 years and we will all clamor "ooh ooh me, me me" In the meantime.... Meh!
Vin Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Unlikely, but if the rubber/plastic coating on the rear door handles hasn't rotted to buggery, you can always sell them to me
Guest Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Right... for a starter.. maybe if I start to eat the damn fiat.. I might get my recommended Iron intake I am the GF of the complete and utter tit who has bought the Brava... why he has done this is unknown to me.. but hey.. so are most the 'brains' that are associated with the male species I will remember to laugh alot at him... when it dies... coz I know it will And for that.. I bid you good night RustyVdub
flat4alfa Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 Scrap's gone down sharpish. Rang two today (Beds/Herts) and it's £125/£130 p/tonne
Cavcraft Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 Right... for a starter.. maybe if I start to eat the damn fiat.. I might get my recommended Iron intake I am the GF of the complete and utter tit who has bought the Brava... why he has done this is unknown to me.. but hey.. so are most the 'brains' that are associated with the male species I will remember to laugh alot at him... when it dies... coz I know it will And for that.. I bid you good night RustyVdub Signature worthy quote on your first post, top bombing. Is there anything at all to like on the Brava? I got one just to weigh in once but ran it ran for a couple of days and it was horrible. Everything felt like it was made of whatever material would break as soon as you looked at it, the seats were falling apart (despite very low mileage) and it just had absolutely no apparant appeal in the slightest. Take it over the bridge and try and get some pictures of it being crushed.
Vin Posted April 8, 2011 Posted April 8, 2011 I'm going to stick up for the Brava here. I love mine Nothing has fallen off/broken/snapped/come off in my hand etc etc, in the seven years and 180,000 miles I've owned it. As I can end up working all over the place (I'm currently averaging about 600 miles a week) I spend a lot of time in it. It's been very reliable and more than capable of doing the job of 'just getting on and being a car' than anything else I've had as a daily driver. And that includes my forays into Ford and VW ownership...
scaryoldcortina Posted June 1, 2011 Author Posted June 1, 2011 Update time - I finally got a look at the Brava this weekend (after various relatives had given their opinion). We took it to the yard and had a proper look at it. The altenator was siezed solid, belt was missing. Car started fine with a fresh battery but was tappy and had wandering tickover. Clutch was virtually non -existant (bite at the bottom, crunch into gear) and the brakes were totally absent. Loads of pedal travel, but no effect. Onto the ramp for a look, both rear sill ends needed welding, the sump was holed and leaking. Oil hadn't been changed in forever, filter was ancient too. Timing belt looked fit to snap any second. Also needed 4 tyres, and front disks and pads, and the rear drums were wet with fluid (I assumed the worst and didn't dismantle). Add this lot to the fact that it was an 11 year old fiat that you would struggle to get £300 for taxed and tested and it was dying time. It went over the weighbridge yesterday, I got £213 for it (180 for the car, 33 for the cat) which is £13 more than he paid for the car. Shame about the £50 he had to pay me..... One odd thing I noticed while de-polluting was that the brake fluid was bright red. Given that every brake seal going had failed along with the clutch seals as well (*and I've never seen red brake fluid) I'm wondering if some bright spark topped up the brakes with power steering fluid. If it had just been fitting an altenator and doing an engine service it would probably have lived.
Pillock Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Wow, that's had a hard life! Glad it didn't turn out too much of a loss, £180 for a smallish hatch with (I'd imagine) pretty flimsy metal isn't bad.
scaryoldcortina Posted June 1, 2011 Author Posted June 1, 2011 Exactly 1000kg, and frag feed is 180/tonne this week
eddyramrod Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Seems like the lad got away lightly, apart from the decade or two of earbashing his other half is going to give him (they forget nothing!). Just a thought though: isn't the Fiat Brava the one with those lovely triple-teardrop lights on sexy curvy back wings? Surely those wings could have been sliced off and sold to some hotrodder? I know if I was building a 1940 Ford Sedan, or similar, I'd be wanting some Brava lights and surrounding metal!
scaryoldcortina Posted June 1, 2011 Author Posted June 1, 2011 You know, eddy, I did have that thought (being a fairly avid hot-rodder) but then I realized that "Colonel" Andy Saunders already did that (to an allegro) and realized it wasn't worth the cost of a cutting disk.
Pillock Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I've seen 'em on a Beetle too. They don't look bad, but they're too identifiable - they won't be seen as a cool mod, they'll be seen as "Brava Lights".
eddyramrod Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that, I decided they were beautiful the first time I beheld them. Which was at the launch, IIRC, as somehow I got an invite to my local Fiat dealership for the party (with free test drives, and token-donation Burago 1/43 Bravos, two of which I still have, boxed). What I'm saying is, I don't care what car they came from, if they're good-looking lights, why not use them? And OK, Andy Saunders has done it (among others) but does that mean nobody else can?
scaryoldcortina Posted June 1, 2011 Author Posted June 1, 2011 Good point. But given the attrition rate of bravas I'm pretty sure I coud grab some from the scrapyard over the lane if I need some for an OMG_AWSUM hotrod build. There are enough "I might need them" parts cluttering the garage already.
eddyramrod Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 Fair comment, I know it's all too easy to wind up tripping over stuff.
KruJoe Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I've seen 'em on a Mini too....don't look bad, but they're too identifiable... I agree, but have often thought that two of the three Brava tiger claw slashes could look good on something old and curvy.
Mr_Bo11ox Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 I'm pleased to hear this has been crushed to death, sounds like a good result for all parties.
Pete-M Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 For some weird reason, I've got a set of Bravo lights in the garage. I've never owned a Bravo/a.
autofive Posted June 1, 2011 Posted June 1, 2011 it was a tough old thing, very bouncy panels but still it yeilded to the grab
scaryoldcortina Posted June 2, 2011 Author Posted June 2, 2011 I'm pleased to hear this has been crushed to death, sounds like a good result for all parties. For some reason I detect a note of sarcasm..... I have to say I hate scrapping cars. It always feels like an awful waste, and often (if it was my car) feels the same as taking a loved but terminal family pet for the last visit to the vets. In this case however, it probably was for the best. Not a criticism of the brava as a car, because I have customers who love and maintain them and have few problems (remember the mad woman with the rusty one?), but more a reflection of its previous treatment. Sadly, a lot of low value cars end up in the hands of penny-pinching idiots, who then sell on to gulliable friends and family instead of doing the decent thing and having it destroyed themselves.
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