How to buy an Italian sports car on a budget

In the summer of 2000 I finally sold the Volvo 142 which had served as my "hobby car" for 20 years, and as soon as the garage was empty I realized that I needed something else to occupy it. This time it didn't take long to figure out that the car I wanted had to be so unpractical that there wasn't going to be any doubts about which of my cars that was intended for recreational purposes.
When I scrutinized the market for small, open two-seaters I quickly found out that there were really only two contenders, the Lotus Elise and the Fiat Barchetta. They are so different in appearance that it wasn't  too tough to decide between them. What finally made me make up my mind was the fact that I wasn't allowed to test-drive the Elise, and even though it's probably a very good car I sure couldn't buy one without checking it out on the road first. The Barchetta was immediately available for a spin, and when I got back I simply knew that I had to have one. Not only is it head and shoulders above its competitors by its looks alone, the gear-box and engine form a well-adjusted unit that makes it both fun and relaxing to drive.
So where to buy a Barchetta? Well, one of the few benefits we Swedes have enjoyed since we joined the EU, is that a car can be bought duty free anywhere wthin EU's borders and  the sales tax is paid when the car arrives in Sweden. This fact made me start looking for cars outside of Sweden, but I also compared prices at the various Swedish dealers who advertised their cars on the web. After a little math I figured out that a car imported from Greece (very high local sales tax) would set me back somewhere around SEK 175 000, depending on how many options I wanted. I also would have to go through with all the paperwork and picking it up in person, something that would add another 10 000  to the grand total.
	Enter Maria Jonsson, and her company, Ital-Auto.  Her pricing on brand new Barchettas was very different from all the other dealers on the web, so I called her up and asked her to make an offer for a car with the leather upholstery option. Not only is Ms. Jonsson a very charming lady, she also made me an offer I couldn't refuse. (Maybe it comes with the territory, because she's specialized in Italian luxury vehicles?) It was much lower than any price I could get by importing the car myself, and when she threw in the plastic part needed for replacing the tape deck (this is the 21st century, after all) and a full tank of gas we quickly reached an agreement. This was in mid-September...
And then the big wait started. September was sunny and warm, and so was October, so I was sort of hoping to get at least one week of enjoyment from the car before it was time to put it in winter storage. The Maggiora factory (where the Barchettas are made) thought otherwise. The leather upholstery took a week longer than estimated to fix, so the car missed the first available transport to Sweden. Then there was very bad weather in central Europe, and when the next transport was scheduled the river Po was flooded, and of course my car was on the wrong side. The next transport took almost two weeks to reach Sweden, and when I made the trip to Skövde to pick up the car, the license plates were missing, due to a mix-up at the Swedish DMV. Ms. Jonsson have handled all these small mishaps in a perfectly professional way, though, and what the heck, I never thought owning a sports car would be easy...
But even if it's kind of trying sometimes, it is always enjoyable! So far everything has been going just fine. The car seems to be well put together, the leather seats are beautiful, and since November was quite warm I have even done some driving with the top down. (It started to get cool at 170 km/h...) Everyone who has driven it has been surprised by its nice driving characteristics and excellent gear-box. It is very hard to tell that it has front-wheel drive, unless you're cornering very hard. Even though the cockpit is by no means large, you don't feel cramped in there. And then there are all those little designed gadgets that are scattered all over the car:
The door handles which comes out when a button is pushed; the white dial backgrond which turns black in the dark; the fact that the top is neatly tucked away under a cover when it's not in use; the combination of painted sheet steel and leather in the cockpit, and so on. I could go on forever! Let me put it this way: While its competitors might be just as fun to drive as the Barchetta, none of them is even close to it when its comes to design. While owners of the other sport cars might be perfectly content with that, I, for one, thinks that a car should be appreciated with all senses. Because of this I consider myself lucky to have got one of the last cars of the '00 vintage. The new '01's are sporting a brake-light in the middle of the trunk-lid that doesn't improve the looks at all (to say the least). Talk about good things coming to an end...
	So what's next? Well, after fitting the Kenwood sound system and an alarm unit (including immobilizer) I will put it in winter storage. Next spring I will give the paint a coat of preserver (the S40 have benefitted enourmously from it) and rust proof the undercarriage. Even though Fiat is boasting that they have improved their rustproofing I think this is the only way to go. I don't believe people from southern Europe can imagine what the roads look like here in the spring and fall. And I will replace the "Fiat" badge below the trunk lid with a "Barchetta" one instead. This will make the car very anonymous, and get bystanders to make the most ridiculous guesses about its origins. Who knows, some people may even look for a yellow badge with a black horse on it...

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