Ordinary Cars That Have Disappeared Off The Radar
Discussion
johnxjsc1985 said:
Sharknose said:
My Dad always had company cars, mostly Cortinas and Cavaliers.
There were a couple of oddities though: a 1972 Mazda 1800 Deluxe estate in white (HOT460L) and a 1976 Fiat Supermirafiori Panorama estate, also in white with tan velour seats.
The Mazda was remembered fondly and covered over 100,000 miles in 3 years, and I don’t remember ever seeing another one on the road.
I remember thinking it was a bit of a Triumph 2000 rip-off, which I guess isn’t a bad thing as it was a nice-looking car in my opinion.
The Fiat didn’t last as long, my Dad blew the diff trying to get up an icy hill and I never saw it again.
Triumph 2000/2500 estate ?There were a couple of oddities though: a 1972 Mazda 1800 Deluxe estate in white (HOT460L) and a 1976 Fiat Supermirafiori Panorama estate, also in white with tan velour seats.
The Mazda was remembered fondly and covered over 100,000 miles in 3 years, and I don’t remember ever seeing another one on the road.
I remember thinking it was a bit of a Triumph 2000 rip-off, which I guess isn’t a bad thing as it was a nice-looking car in my opinion.
The Fiat didn’t last as long, my Dad blew the diff trying to get up an icy hill and I never saw it again.
Edited by Gunk on Thursday 5th May 23:17
Hub said:
Early SEATs are rare and forgotten - mk1 Ibiza, Toledo, Marbella (Panda clone), but in particular does anyone even remember the SEAT Malaga? - how many left says one still on the road!
Back in 1986 I had a summer job as a car cleaner and dogs body at the local Alfa dealer (owner was a mate of my father) - Childs Garage, Long Street, Sherborne (long since levelled and turned into luxury flats....). It was a proper old school independent dealer (but official Alfa dealer) prior to all the corporate makeovers - staff of 5 plus me. In my first summer there they also got the Seat franchise and we shifted a few Malagas and Ibizas to the old dears who may have otherwise bought a brand new Polo every 3 years, trading their old one in with 9,000 on the clock and looking like it had just left the showroom.After the car came off the transporter it was PDI'd and given to me to clean. I'd then have a very important job - with a permanent marker I'd have to carefully pick out "SEAT" in dark blue and "System Porsche" in red. It did look cool, but for me it meant that at 16, and before I had a driving licence, I was in a workshop in overalls, with my head under a bonnet!
One thing that I remember about the Malaga and surprisingly chic and peppy Ibiza was the catastrophically s
te ergonomics that made the mid 80's Alfa's I was also playing about in look like Mercedes. I mean, nonsense like this - stalks too simple, intuitive and functional for you? Never fear, with Seats extra special slidy-up-and-down-cum-push-buttons-that-disappear-when-you-turn-the-wheel-cheaply-made-tat to break your fingernails on, a memorable RTA is never far away.
The Ibiza was nice though - crisply styled and handled well I hear.
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Living in France I am constantly amazed at how many cars such as the Renault 4, the 12, 19, and the 21 I see and the other week I even saw a Fuego. This isn't in the dry south but Le Mans so one would have thought they would all have rusted away by now. And it isn't just Renaults either, but Citroens in abundance although less than Renault, which figures since we have a Renault factory here.
2172cc said:
Try finding a regular Chrysler/Talbot Sunbeam. A few Lotus's have survived due to the desirability and now value but an LS or GLS and even Ti are virtually extinct. Come think of it, pretty much all the Talbot range from early 80' is no longer around. Suppose it's the same story from the motor industry at that time, cars weren't built very well and not designed to last more 10 years....
Chrysler "180" 2-litre?
Can't remember the last time I saw one - must have been in the early 1980s.
Horsetan said:
Chrysler "180" 2-litre?
Can't remember the last time I saw one - must have been in the early 1980s.
I had one of these in the early eighties, it died of terminal corrosion when it was 6 years old although I know of examples that failed there first MOT for advanced corrosion. They were also well known for wearing out camshafts at very low mileage.Can't remember the last time I saw one - must have been in the early 1980s.
The one I had was a right heap but I knew that when I bought it, I just needed a car in a hurry to keep me in transport for a few weeks, lasted 4 months until one day driving along the road all 4 headlamps fell out and I ran over the top of them, thats how rusty it was.
imagineifyeswill said:
one day driving along the road all 4 headlamps fell out and I ran over the top of them, thats how rusty it was.
Kid's today, etc...I had a mate at college who owned an orangey-red Capri Mk2, 1600. (Knock Capris all you like but even this rotten heap was an amazing magnet for girls, but I digress.) One day he was driving back from his current girlfriend's place in Halls (St John Reade Halls of Residence, for any Bristol Poly 'alumni' out there) when he heard a bit of a bang but carried on back to our place. When we went out the next morning more or less the entire lower part of the offside rear wing was missing, from just below the c-pillar down to what was left of the sill. There was just a ragged trail of filler left around the periphery, presumably all that had been holding it on. I seemed to remember we rode around in it like that for quite a while too
Looking back, the whole thing was basically just rust. I think it was about six or seven years old.
I had a Santana too with the 2.2 liter 5-cylinder 115BHP. But mine was a 1985 model, in 1984 they re-named it to Passat Stufenheck
(Limousine in english ).
Metalic gold, carat equipment level, auto box, velour seats etc. 1980's wafting
We drove down to Bavaria on holiday in it three years on the trot, I drove it over all the alpine passes I could find in Austria and Switzerland, good times.
Used to like a drink though: around town in winter I was getting under 20mpg
(Limousine in english ).
Metalic gold, carat equipment level, auto box, velour seats etc. 1980's wafting
We drove down to Bavaria on holiday in it three years on the trot, I drove it over all the alpine passes I could find in Austria and Switzerland, good times.
Used to like a drink though: around town in winter I was getting under 20mpg
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