1973 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe 1800
Discussion
With me, you can never tell, but at present I think that this Fiat and its cousin the Lancia may be keepers. Ask me again when I have got the Lancia back on the road.
I take the point about the positive qualities of the Escorts, and was not suggesting that they are bad cars. I was just commenting on how the market now regards them. Lancia Betas have steering racks, IIRC, and I suspect that, when I try the Fiat versus the Lancia, the Lancia may win on handling, but the Fiat will win on rorty tortyness..
I take the point about the positive qualities of the Escorts, and was not suggesting that they are bad cars. I was just commenting on how the market now regards them. Lancia Betas have steering racks, IIRC, and I suspect that, when I try the Fiat versus the Lancia, the Lancia may win on handling, but the Fiat will win on rorty tortyness..
Loving the adverts, thanks!
I drove the Fiat at no more than 75mph indicated along the M40 into London. I got papped a lot by passing traffic. I followed two cool dudes in a very dark blue 1967 Pagoda Merc along the Westway. They had the top down, and we both made NOISE in the Hanger Lane underpass. Then down Baker Street, through Mayfair, St James', Trafalgar Square, along the Embankment, and across Blackfriars Bridge into Southwark, to meet Mrs BV and take a cab for a late lunch at The Ivy.
At traffic lights on the way in I treated the car as though it was all modern and eco. I switched it off because it does not idle reliably. Keeping it running using my foot to hold 1800 RPM at one set of lights induced banter when I complimented a bloke on his Kawasaki Monster and he complimented the car, and wondered if all the noise meant that I wanted a race.
London pics. That Armagnac is from 1962. So am I. Care to guess which has aged better?
I drove the Fiat at no more than 75mph indicated along the M40 into London. I got papped a lot by passing traffic. I followed two cool dudes in a very dark blue 1967 Pagoda Merc along the Westway. They had the top down, and we both made NOISE in the Hanger Lane underpass. Then down Baker Street, through Mayfair, St James', Trafalgar Square, along the Embankment, and across Blackfriars Bridge into Southwark, to meet Mrs BV and take a cab for a late lunch at The Ivy.
At traffic lights on the way in I treated the car as though it was all modern and eco. I switched it off because it does not idle reliably. Keeping it running using my foot to hold 1800 RPM at one set of lights induced banter when I complimented a bloke on his Kawasaki Monster and he complimented the car, and wondered if all the noise meant that I wanted a race.
London pics. That Armagnac is from 1962. So am I. Care to guess which has aged better?
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 4th July 20:05
Lowtimer said:
I did indeed like it and am very glad to see it properly embarned and scheduled for sympathetic improvement.
Many thanks again, Lowtimer, you very fine bloke. Your assessment of the car was very accurate based on what I have learned of it so far, but I would expert nothing less from a bloke of most excellent car knowage such as yourself. That Fiat 124 Sport badge in front of the gearstick is covering the place where what must have been a period or ish stereo with one central speaker used to be. I shall try to get something similar in there, as I do not want to put holes in the door cards.
The driving position in this car is a bit Italian gorilla, but not as much as it is in an Alfa, and the proximity of the gear stick to the steering wheel is great. The seats are comfortable, although they lack the lateral bolstering that the Lancia seats have, and the Fiat seats have Jack all lumbar support. They are also low backed and therefore Whiplash City Arizona, but the period headrests that you can get for them (the ones that sit over the top of the seat and are held in place by your back) are rather ugly.
The visibility all round is great. The heater and fan work. The demisters work. The lights work. The wipers work on intermittent, slow, and slightly less slow. The instrument lighting dimmer works, but only slightly. The dipped beams at night are meh, but the main beams are OK. The indicators self cancel some of the time, and some of the time they don't. The car has an after market starter button hidden underneath the steering wheel. There is one mysterious DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON button above the hand throttle. It says Made in England on it, but it does not say Kenlowe, or anything like that. It seems to be inop.
The oil is clean and bright. The car runs very cool on open roads, It sat in the middle of the gauge in moving London traffic, and started to get a tad hot when I hit some jams (not helped, I suspect, by a bit of unwilling hooligan revving to avoid cutting out), but the needle dropped quickly back to the middle when I gave the heater a blast on full fan.
I said that the brakes are fine, but it occurred to me today that they are maybe a tad soft. The local garagiste, who runs a modern MOT shop but likes an old car, says that he will charge me trade price to get the car up in the air and give it a fake MOT test that will help to generate a to do list for my mobile mech to deal with.
I have started a conversation with an eBay seller who has lots of BC and CC trim to sell. Some, not all, of the BC trim fits the CC.
The car already has a handbook and a workshop book. I have as I always do ordered from eBay 70s stylee key rings, period brochures, and am looking for some suitable mats, but there seem not to be any.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 5th July 07:45
Crikey. Someone with big muscles has tightened the caps on the clutch and brake fluid reservoirs [EDIT: front and rear brake fluid reservoirs - the clutch is a cable rig]. I cannot get the blooming things off. They are not translucent, or at least not in garage forecourt lighting, so I cannot determine the fluid levels without getting the lids off. I will have to try with some grips. The tool kit that I have in the car is from a Series Two Jag XJ6. It usually lives in my Landy. I was going to grab the Lancia's OE toolkit but the Lancia is boxed in by barn trash. Anyway, pliers but no grips in quite posh XJ6 toolkit.
There appears to be an electric fan in the Fiat, so maybe the mystery switch is for that, but I am not sure that it is connected. The fan is not a Kenlowe as far as I can see in dim light. I cannot see a dial to set its on/off point in the engine bay, which some heaps have.
There appears to be an electric fan in the Fiat, so maybe the mystery switch is for that, but I am not sure that it is connected. The fan is not a Kenlowe as far as I can see in dim light. I cannot see a dial to set its on/off point in the engine bay, which some heaps have.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th July 06:39
Given a free choice I would have a blue one with a tan interior - to get the mini Ferrari thing. But these cars appear to be very rare in RHD, so grab and go!
My friend Lowtimer very sensibly declines to buy red cars, because they always crash, obvs, and if I had his resolve I would adopt his sensible policy, but in reality I am weak, and have had a red Triumph Vitesse (crashed it - minimal damage), a red Alfa Spider (let it fall to bits parked in sea air outside a dry garage, because reasons), a red Beta HPE (blew up its engine), and now this red Fiat (will be careful).
Anyway, the expected booze, blue lights, and broken glass armageddon of London's first night of PUB since March did not materialise in Southwark, and the little red Fiat has not been broken into or set on fire overnight.
My friend Lowtimer very sensibly declines to buy red cars, because they always crash, obvs, and if I had his resolve I would adopt his sensible policy, but in reality I am weak, and have had a red Triumph Vitesse (crashed it - minimal damage), a red Alfa Spider (let it fall to bits parked in sea air outside a dry garage, because reasons), a red Beta HPE (blew up its engine), and now this red Fiat (will be careful).
Anyway, the expected booze, blue lights, and broken glass armageddon of London's first night of PUB since March did not materialise in Southwark, and the little red Fiat has not been broken into or set on fire overnight.
Breadvan72 said:
My friend Lowtimer very sensibly declines to buy red cars, because they always crash, obvs
To be fair to redness, it's me who crashes them, but having had two significant nasties in 30 years, both in red* Escorts**, I am very strongly disinclined to push my luck again.- wine coloured plummy maroon-ness are okay, and orange is fine
- yes, yes, but it's not Escorts because I never crashed any of my other Escorts which were white and blue
Red red red:
I had for a fun year a 500 quid red 1990 Range Rover, which I sold for 500 quid after it failed its MOT for rust. No crashes, but it got me a speeding ticket.
Later I got given for free an early noughties BMW 540i, and that was maroony red. I did not crash it, but I did get LOADZA speeding tickets in it (yes, I know, I know) , so I chopped it in for a 2004 X Type Jag 3.0 estate found on a back lot in Luton, which is green and therefore non crashy or speedy tickety, and is now sat outside my wife's London flat with transmission fluid leaking all over the road.
I add that IF I can ever afford a Ferrari or a Maserati (this will never happen), it will be a blue one or a silver one. I LUST for the plum coloured Series Three Lamborghini Espada that is on for 125K at the moment, but the Lottery Gods do not favour me.
Lowtimer, we should have got another bloke in and syndicate-purchased that blue over tan Ferrari 456 that was on sale a month or two ago, but hey ho.
I had for a fun year a 500 quid red 1990 Range Rover, which I sold for 500 quid after it failed its MOT for rust. No crashes, but it got me a speeding ticket.
Later I got given for free an early noughties BMW 540i, and that was maroony red. I did not crash it, but I did get LOADZA speeding tickets in it (yes, I know, I know) , so I chopped it in for a 2004 X Type Jag 3.0 estate found on a back lot in Luton, which is green and therefore non crashy or speedy tickety, and is now sat outside my wife's London flat with transmission fluid leaking all over the road.
I add that IF I can ever afford a Ferrari or a Maserati (this will never happen), it will be a blue one or a silver one. I LUST for the plum coloured Series Three Lamborghini Espada that is on for 125K at the moment, but the Lottery Gods do not favour me.
Lowtimer, we should have got another bloke in and syndicate-purchased that blue over tan Ferrari 456 that was on sale a month or two ago, but hey ho.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 5th July 09:29
Breadvan72 said:
Crikey. Someone with big muscles has tightened the caps on the clutch and brake fluid reservoirs. I cannot get the blooming things off. They are not translucent, or at least not in garage forecourt lighting, so I cannot determine the fluid levels without getting the lids off. I will have to try with some grips.
Before resorting to more destructive methods dousing the caps with very hot water may help. Remember to thoroughly dry it immediately afterwards – and before trying to open it, of course.(Two charming ladies in red in the same frame. O lucky man!)
AW111 said:
Breadvan72 said:
Now we need a high-angle shot of the FIAT and the MR2 - I'm betting the MR2 is wider but about the same length.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff