Hi, here are my cars: img512.imageshack.us/img512/3791/trequartimuso2.th.jpgimg412.imageshack.us/img412/2972/trequarticoda.th.jpg
(These are old photos, now the car has rear park sensors, painted frond headlight bezels and Fondmetal 5-spoke black rims)
Here is Fuffy. It’s a 1995 FIAT Bravo HGT, the top-of-the-line version that came with the HUGE 5-inline 2.0 20v engine from Lancia k. It has 147hp and pulls the car at approx 220Km/h (138Mph). The engine is near 300000Km and still pull like a beast
Ah, it has a LPG conversion (here in Italy actually we pay 1,7€ per litre of unleaded gas…).
Mods:
-Full custom leather interior
-External door handles, front headlight and armrest from FIAT Marea
-Hood vents and front chromed grille from Brasil (Marea Turbo)
-White side flashers
-FIAT Coupè windshield washers (original washers location in the hood sealed)
-Bi-XENON lights, LED position lights
-Painted dashboard, headlight bezels, door handles and mirror mounts
-Full interior MKII conversion (white plastics instead of grey)
-Sparco Limited Edition pedals
-Momo shift knob with 5cm lowered stick
Engine:
-Wider intake without resonator
-BMC cotton airfilter
-Sport kat
-Free muffler
Other mechanics:
-TAR-OX G88 front disc brakes
-SPARCO rear disc
-Custom race shock abs with Eibach 7cm lowered springs
-Fondmetal 5-spoke black-polished rims, 8,5x16"
-Yokohama S-Drive 205/45ZR16
Audio:
-Source: Sony Xplod
-front custom housings with 4 woofer and 2 midrange (W/xover)
-2 tweeters on windshield pillars
-Audison 500W amp
-Jensen RS600 600w woofer
-Magnat TheRock 600w amp
And this is Ponty, my other car: img16.imageshack.us/img16/9562/100d2990.th.jpgimg16.imageshack.us/img16/1176/100d2992.th.jpg
It’s a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am with the Oldsmobile 403 V8 engine. It has a 3-speed transmission and fully red leather interior.
Actually the car is still in the restoration phase, then she will pass the “exam” to obtain the italian license plates. She has not modifications, since is a historic car and i want to keep her stock.
Yes, near my town there’s a friend of my mechanic that owns a race prepped Camaro, same F-body of my T/A. About 150km from my town there’s a T/A, but the older version with two headlights. And that’s all
But here (i live in Viterbo, north of Rome) there are lots of US old cars: i’ve seen a matte black Cadillac Eldorado with sidepipes (awful mods for a Caddie IMHO), a restored Cadillac DeVille, some Hummers (also a army Humvee and a pair of H1), an old Chevrolet and… rumors of an Harley mechanic that own a General Lee replica Charger R/T (never seen it however…).
Are you kidding me?..Fiat over a Pontiac Trans AM?
Anyway cool cars, dude. [/quote]
Not OVER… but i love them in the same manner, as they are quite different in most aspects, and surprisingly IDENTICAL in some other:
-Approx same MPG (yes, the 20v engine is a little THIRSTY…)
-Same restoration price (about 4000€ per car)
-Same internal space (T/A is a 2+2 coupè, Bravo has room for 5 person, better 4… but MY Bravo is very low and driving with 2 guys on the rear seats means scratching the muffler at every road imperfection… so is a 2+2 too )
-Same stock rims dimensions: 7,5x15" (but now i have 10x15" polished Cragar on T/A and 8,5x16" on the Bravo).
EDIT: to US people: i’m curious to know how much you’ll costs a car like a T/A in your country (an historic sportscar with a big engine), I mean in taxes, insurance etc.
Here the historic vehicles are subject of a particular treatment:
-The owner tax (to pay annually even if you not use the car on public roads, calculated on the engine output) is reduced to a fixed sum of 75€ if the car has more than 20 years, and 36€ if it has more than 30 years. The normal tax covers a period of 12 months starting from the first month you pay the tax (ex. you buy a car in April, then pay the tax in April. You must pay again next year in April), when the historic owners tax covers the period from 1/1 till 31/12 even if you pay it later than January, and you can not pay it if the car is not running in public roads in the year (Ex. museum cars, cars in restoration, race cars etc.)
-Insurance is mandatory for all vehicles that go on public roads. Normal cars have “bonus-malus” insurance (if you make a crash the insurance goes up, if you are a good driver goes down) based on engine output. Historic cars (if registered in the historic register, the ASI) are subject to a reduced and fixed insurance fee: 120€/year. If you own two historic cars you can insure both for 160€ (120+40 for the second car), +30€ for the third car, +20€ for the fourth and other cars (so for ex. if you own 5 historic cars you’ll pay 230€ for all of them). This insurance has some limitations, according to each Company: some cannot let you drive the car over X Km per year, some limit the drive of the car to the owner and only one aother driver, etc.
-Each 2 years every car, normal and historic, are subject to a legal check, to verify that are OK to hit the road (no mechanical problems, functioning and adjusted lights etc.). This check have a cost of 67€ (plus 4€ for the pollution check, to do annually. If done alone this has a cost of 14€).
There is no ownership tax here in the US, For New Mexico and most of the Western US besides Califorina all we have to pay is reregistration fees which are $50 to $60 USD a year and have proof of insurance, Emissions test which is done every 2 years unless the car is older than '74.
For insurance costs most older cars are really cheap unless its a super super rare model.
