I've recently bought my 1988 1500 Bertone, F233 HMV, Mica Red in colour with only 26,000 miles, having been in storage between 2001 and 2013. The car was owned by a London family from new and is in excellent condition with very very few rust spots. It has a full service history and some receipts.

I bought it on Car & Classic from Helsby and had it delivered to Glasgow from where I drove it back home to the Western Isles of Scotland via the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway, Glasgow to Ullapool is approx 240 miles, a good run to get used to the car.

Apart from the speedo cable giving up and a non-working fuel gauge and an iffy oil pressure gauge it's running fine, though I haven't got the idling speed down to the 800-900 mark yet, it's sitting just on the 1000 rpm but hunts when cold.

I love the handling, the twisty road between Inverness and Ullapool is superb for such a car!

I also own a 1971 Triumph Spitfire Mk IV which is also excellent to drive so I'm well spoilt!

This shows the car along the road from Amhuinnsuidhe Castle, Isle of Harris.

7th Aug 2014

Well, the car had supposedly been fully serviced by a "Fiat specialist dealer 100 miles ago" before I bought it - mmm?

So far, I've changed both brake and clutch fluids (both reservoirs contained a filthy black liquid), replaced the clutch slave cylinder, changed engine & gearbox oils & filter, replaced the Fiat/Champion spark plugs with Bosch and also replaced cam and alternator belts for my peace of mind given the apparent lack of "fully serviced items".

Next up are a set of tyres, the fitted Pirelli P3000s date from 2001 and are showing signs of cracking across the treads.

The condenser on the distributor cap has spots of rust and the distributor itself is certainly older than the 3500 miles I've covered since buying the car. I've got a new distributor cap, condenser & points ready to go in but since it's running fine I'll leave well alone for now. The "cold hunting rpm" disappeared after fitting the Bosch plugs.

Kool for Kats!!

28th Sept 2014

After some searching forums etc, I replaced the tyres with Uniroyal RainExperts, so far so good in wet and dry conditions and peace of mind when nearing the speed limit ;-) - Re-routing the fuel pipes on to the bulkhead and sheathing the section of hose to and from the fuel filter & carb has proved successful, no fuel starvation issues since - I've now bought sheathed hoses to replace my homemade aluminium sheathing! I've allowed a few local lads to drive the X 1/9 as well, very favourable comments all round about the driving experience and a refreshing change from the various Fords/Vauxhalls etc. - happy smiling faces at the end of each drive!