1973 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe 1800
Discussion
The dude's London geography is also weird. He says that Fiat's London base was on the Great West Road, the A4, and it seems that he drove to the M4 and went off to Wales, but he also mentions Madame Tussauds, which is on the A40 in Marylebone (and looks to have been there for many years), some way off his route. Maybe Tussauds used to be located on or near the A4.
EDIT: Nope, it has been where it is for over a century. So, the bloke either made up the story about the overheating E-type, got hopelessly lost, or thought that the Westway and the Great West Road were the same thing. Note also the BS comment about ease of access to the M4. The M4 has always been and remains a right pain in the arse to get onto from central London. Maybe the bloke made up the whole review and in fact spent his day getting ratted in some West End boozer before filing his fictitious copy. NB: 1970s motoring journalist.
I have tried but failed to find a 1970s photo of the Fiat building.
Here is what an early 1970s driver saw as he or she headed west toward the M4 - not very different from the view today, but there are now more tall buildings and the cars would now all be hideous blobby SUVs and hatches..
Here is a bit of Brentford near the elevated bit of the A4/M4 in 1973.
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EDIT: Nope, it has been where it is for over a century. So, the bloke either made up the story about the overheating E-type, got hopelessly lost, or thought that the Westway and the Great West Road were the same thing. Note also the BS comment about ease of access to the M4. The M4 has always been and remains a right pain in the arse to get onto from central London. Maybe the bloke made up the whole review and in fact spent his day getting ratted in some West End boozer before filing his fictitious copy. NB: 1970s motoring journalist.
I have tried but failed to find a 1970s photo of the Fiat building.
Here is what an early 1970s driver saw as he or she headed west toward the M4 - not very different from the view today, but there are now more tall buildings and the cars would now all be hideous blobby SUVs and hatches..
Here is a bit of Brentford near the elevated bit of the A4/M4 in 1973.
[
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 9th July 05:37
Here is a random picture of Michael Caine and Britt Eckland to remind us of just how super cool the late 60s/early 70s were. Until last Sunday I had a lockdown hairdo that was pretty much as Mr Caine's in the pic. Yesterday i drove the Fiat while dressed in a vintage 1970s brown Leather car coat (remember those?) not dissimilar to the one that Caine is wearing in the pic, plus a long collared and lairy floral patterned shirt. Slim jeans and Italian brown suede driving shoes*. I looked like a tool, but I felt great.
*Good idea, the Fiat has small pedals placed close together. Not a car to drive wearing clumpy boots.
*Good idea, the Fiat has small pedals placed close together. Not a car to drive wearing clumpy boots.
Hi scottos. Maybe have a look at my Lancia Beta thread also - another version of the twin cam, and debates rage forever as to whether Fiat or Lancia had the best Lampredi. Alfa used the engine also, and even Morgan had a go at it. I think that its last iteration was in a Lancia circa 2000.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 9th July 09:32
You are right!
Note the comment about no oil pressure. This is true! Often shows zip, but the warning light does not come on. Rarely shows beyond below half way on the dial. No sign of overheating or mayo (clean, bright oil on the impossible to find dipstick), but a slight waft of burned coolant when the (good) heater is on.
I wonder how shagged the top end is after 115,000 miles. Due a rebuild, maybe. Perhaps I can SPAFF at Middle Barton on a "fast road" do-over, but those dudes will charge the big bucks.
Note the comment about no oil pressure. This is true! Often shows zip, but the warning light does not come on. Rarely shows beyond below half way on the dial. No sign of overheating or mayo (clean, bright oil on the impossible to find dipstick), but a slight waft of burned coolant when the (good) heater is on.
I wonder how shagged the top end is after 115,000 miles. Due a rebuild, maybe. Perhaps I can SPAFF at Middle Barton on a "fast road" do-over, but those dudes will charge the big bucks.
Carter, Michael Caine's character in the super gritty and intense 1970 crime thriller in which Carter must be got (a film that has one of the best opening sequences and theme tunes of any British film), is so keen on the character played by Britt Eckland (she is the girlfriend of Carter's boss, a London Crimelord), that he ..... [SPOILER]
gets himself killed over her (but mainly over other things - business before pleasure).
gets himself killed over her (but mainly over other things - business before pleasure).
citizensm1th said:
Arguably my names best film, way better than some old tosh about a mini
Get Carter, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Man Who Would Be King, Sleuth, Alfie, and (my fave) The Ipcress File are all waaaaaaaaay better than the (overrated) Italian Job. See also Without A Clue (spoof Sherlock Holmes), and Caine's sinister villain in Mona Lisa.
Recently a Lancia Montecarlo sold at what looked to me like a very reasonable asking price on carandclassic. It had a (lairy) period bodykit and a Guy Croft fast road engine. I was sorry to miss it but I would have needed to stretch a bit at the price. I would have removed the bodykit.
Middle Barton look good, and are only 30 mins drive from me, but I am sure that they are quite pricy!
Middle Barton look good, and are only 30 mins drive from me, but I am sure that they are quite pricy!
Lowtimer said:
The carburation needs sorting but as for the core engine internals... I'd just keep an eye on the oil consumption, and hopefully that will be within reason, and as far as I could see it's not smoking signficantly either under power or on the over-run. It was super-smooth above a fast idle when I saw it and doesn't make any nasty clatter or knocks, so if there's nothing horrible in the oil when they drain it I'd say then I'd leave the guts of the engine well alone for a year and see how you get on.
Cheers, wise Yorkshire Porsche and Merc bothering fella. C Lee Farquar said:
There was a poster on here who would point out to anyone seeking legal advice and mentioning price that there are good lawyers and there are cheap lawyers.
Perhaps the same maxim might be employed here?
I agree 1 million percent. Alas, we all have the dreary realities of cash flow Perhaps the same maxim might be employed here?
...
Cheers all! Thanks to all those techo car know how boffs for handy comments on the techno stuff. Me, me no understandee cars, me, I just like them. I might be the sort of petrolhead who thinks that the Otto cycle is a bike belonging to a German bloke.
I am in THAT LONDON with my modern Jaguar. It shows that it is a proper British car by having failed central locking while parked overnight next to Battersea Park (no sign of it having been slept in by a tramp), but after I get back to ye Grockleshires I will take some more pics of the FeetKoop. The two below are filched from the for sale ad that my good friend Lowtimer spotted and kindly drew my attention to.
BTW, the Jag is from 2009, so to the boys in General Gassing who like white hotboxes on lease finance, it is SUPER MEDIEVAL MEGA OLD.
The more I know about Fiat the more I admire what they did in the 60s and 70s, making small but tech-forward cars for family motorists and sporty types. I have for long been an Alfista, and I adore Lancia (but cannot afford their most beautiful cars), but am now a confirmed Fiat fan also.
I also have two Italian motorbikes. Italian food, wine, clothes, cars, bikes, you name it, are ace.
If I can get this car to be a reliable car, I might in a year or two consider a madcap scheme such as driving it in stages to stay with a friend near Lake Trasimene in Umbria, blatting it around by the Vittore Emanuele monument in Rome, and parking it on the cobbles while I have lunch at Fortunato Il Pantheon, one of my fave eateries in the Eternal City.
Click here and turn up yer speakers -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ckV9QueXc
[
I am in THAT LONDON with my modern Jaguar. It shows that it is a proper British car by having failed central locking while parked overnight next to Battersea Park (no sign of it having been slept in by a tramp), but after I get back to ye Grockleshires I will take some more pics of the FeetKoop. The two below are filched from the for sale ad that my good friend Lowtimer spotted and kindly drew my attention to.
BTW, the Jag is from 2009, so to the boys in General Gassing who like white hotboxes on lease finance, it is SUPER MEDIEVAL MEGA OLD.
The more I know about Fiat the more I admire what they did in the 60s and 70s, making small but tech-forward cars for family motorists and sporty types. I have for long been an Alfista, and I adore Lancia (but cannot afford their most beautiful cars), but am now a confirmed Fiat fan also.
I also have two Italian motorbikes. Italian food, wine, clothes, cars, bikes, you name it, are ace.
If I can get this car to be a reliable car, I might in a year or two consider a madcap scheme such as driving it in stages to stay with a friend near Lake Trasimene in Umbria, blatting it around by the Vittore Emanuele monument in Rome, and parking it on the cobbles while I have lunch at Fortunato Il Pantheon, one of my fave eateries in the Eternal City.
Click here and turn up yer speakers -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ckV9QueXc
[
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 10th July 10:28
C Lee Farquar said:
I thought the Special T was the coolest and fastest car in the world, but I see now it only had 85hp.
It was the coolest and fastest car in the world when all your mates' dads had tedious British saloon car products. Even the not quite as disreputable as he wished he was uncle with the bog standard MGB could not catch the Fiat on a B road, or indeed on a motorway (not least because the MGB would be on fire). Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 10th July 12:21
LAIRY. Note the plusho orange seats, as found in some 130 Coupes, but this car does not have the Mr Smoooooooooth attributes of a one of those.
https://www.classic-trader.com/uk/cars/listing/fia...
A friend who has a Lancia Gamma Coupe that he and I love, but which does not love anybody back, says that a Fiat 130 Coupe is like one of those, but with an engine that does not explode every five minutes.
https://www.classic-trader.com/uk/cars/listing/fia...
A friend who has a Lancia Gamma Coupe that he and I love, but which does not love anybody back, says that a Fiat 130 Coupe is like one of those, but with an engine that does not explode every five minutes.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 10th July 12:21
Check out all these 131 Racing Loonbat machines -
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fiat+131+racing&iar=...
There are some youtubes of one of these getting very airborne indeed. It could probably get a medal at a snowboarder freestylin' big air contest.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fiat+131+racing&iar=...
There are some youtubes of one of these getting very airborne indeed. It could probably get a medal at a snowboarder freestylin' big air contest.
I have been reading up on the 1960s to 1980s Fiats, and also on the rallying and other motorsport of those decades. This has led me off to reading about various rally drivers of that era. I thought that I knew a bit about 70s motorsport, but I realise that I really only knew a bit about 70s Formula 1. This means that until this morning I had never heard of Michele Mouton, who only narrowly missed becoming World Rally Champion in a year when the eventual winner was Walter Roehlr. My bad!
Fiat connection: not much, but she did drive for Fiat France for a while. She was evidently a hugely talented driver, and it's a real shame that since her day it seems that few other women drivers have been able to get good team drives in rallying. Motorsport is still so blokey.
Fiat connection: not much, but she did drive for Fiat France for a while. She was evidently a hugely talented driver, and it's a real shame that since her day it seems that few other women drivers have been able to get good team drives in rallying. Motorsport is still so blokey.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 11th July 07:40
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