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February 4th 2012 I went all the way up north of the Netherlands after a call from a very enthusiastic 130 owner, Nico.I knew Nico for quite a long time and he was owner of 4 coupe’s and one saloon 3200. Due to circumstances the plan was to sell off most of his cars and so it happened I bought 3 coupe’s and this one was one of them.

A very special car I remember when I saw it for the very first time. Back around 1988 it was imported by a egg farmer who drove his trucks full with eggs to Italy and came back with a truck loaded with Italian classics. The 130 seem to have a special preference to mister Foppe as he had at least 5 of them in beautiful condition.This particular coupe was originally delivered with a beige interior in velour. But looking at it the fabric was completely white! Strange however was the fact fact that the fabric is the same as the factory cloth.. Anyway, I bought it and did a small technical restoration, tires, exhaust, wheels and it needed a new windscreen as a heavy lamp felt on it during the storage in the barn.

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So in the same time I bought the other coupe’s from mr Hondius, a very nice dark blue one which was completely restored afterwards and finally came in the hands of my good friend Peter. His car and it’s restoration is described in another story on this page (50-YD-53)

unfortunately the world had to suffer from a bank crisis and I had to make decisions what to do to cut the costs in my company. Selling some of my collected cars was at least something I could do to keep things going and so it happened that a very nice gentleman from Germany called me on a Sunday morning asking about my two coupe’s. He came a bit later in the afternoon and was so enthusiastic he bought this coupe on the spot. I remember he was an architect and the car went into his summer house, a giant pyramid building which housed more classic car like a RO80 and a Cadillac which used to belong to the Sjah of Persia. Anyway, I knew from what he told me that this gentleman was also quite ill that time and from what I learned a while after our deal was that he passed. The car went to another owner also in Germany and very recently I saw it offered again on autoscout24. So let’s hope it will continue to be in good hands and the owner keeps in touch!

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you can get quite a headache choosing the right color for your 130 saloon or coupe. Back in the late sixties and seventies other materials were used to paint cars. Paint that nowadays is not used anymore because certain hardeners can’t be bought anymore or are forbidden to use by law.

On the other hand with the new paints can come real close to the old ones using modern methods to measure the tone of your color. So at the moment two types of paint are most used, the one layer system and the two layer system. The one layer system covers the bodywork in one go leaving it with a shining gloss. This type of painting is now normally only used in the truck industry, but as said can also do for (UNI) colors, so not metallic.

Ok that being said I would like to at least share with you some of the recipes I had made for previous restorations. I’m a real critic when it comes to this and try to get closer when possible when it comes to having paint mixed.

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So to start of with the color most of us know it will be the silvery grey 0616 both used on saloon and coupe. I have a saloon myself and this car is still about 80% in it’s origional paint. The quality of it is not strong as it’s a cellulose based paint, leave a cloth with a bit of thinner on it and the paint will react and damage. The good thing however is that it’s still the beautiful light grey which has a very nice effect, almost as a unicolor as there is hardly any metallic effect noticeable. the recepy for this color was made for me back when I did had to paint a part of the car and is of Dupont a good bodyshop should be able to make it with this: Renault640 alte+1%WB06

Blue metallic 0481 for both saloon and coupe

So one of the most used and beautiful colors for both coupe and berlina is the blue Metallic 0481 which gives the car a different look. I have two saloons of which one is in this colour. It was a intensive search to come as close to the original color and once we thought we had it my paint guy came up with yet another step closer. So finally we decided this was the best recipe for the blue metalizato, it’s a color used on the Aston Martin and calledSalisbury blue metallic. find the original container here.

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So there are of course other alternatives and I also sometimes come across a sample which leaves such an impression I just got to copy it! Such car came along when I went to transport the car of an enthusiast in Paris. I was just blown away with this fabulous color and decided to once do one when the oportunaty would come along. Didn’t have to wait long time and what a combi we made of it! blue metallic with tan leather and all new. full report on this car is on this page and here is the car and the recipe for the color

when you are restoring your coupe you want the original badges of Pininfarina on your car of course. There are so many badges and made in various materials that its quite difficult to pinpoint which one suits our beloved coupes. You can search on eBay which is a good choice or you can order you “F” at the French company Teal Max Lion. For your convenience I made a link to their website which you can find in the listing of links.

for the “F” you can also clic here

for the text badge clic here

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