steve1 Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Both my Sister and one of my mates had Nova Saloons like that. Sister's was red and mate's a nasty shade of brown. Would love to know what's under the bonnet of that Escort! steve 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnlambert Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 On 19/06/2020 at 23:34, monkeysarefun said: I bet the engine is a bit of an upgrade from hers - 2 cylinder 500cc 10HP. I hated the car at the time, especially as Mad Max had just come out and all my mate were getting their licences in their parents V8's.. She traded it in October 1981 for a Suzuki Hatch, - that was 800cc and 3 cylinders - I remember the joy I felt when I could get to 100km/hr for the first time! Still, Suzuki hasn't brought out a retro model of the Suzuki Hatch and probably never will. Wasn't the quoted power output of the Fiat 500 something like 18.5hp? You know you're dealing with low power when 0.5hp is a significant part of the total. Just checked, the original 497cc version was 12.5hp According to Wikipedia there was a "Sport" with 499.5cc and 21.2hp. Wiki also lists the power for the 500 D as 17hp. The later Fiat 126 in either 594 or 650cc versions had 23hp according to Wikipedia but I'm positive the factory quoted 22.5. I had a 126 as my first car, great fun when it worked. I'd love an old-school Fiat 500 but they are so expensive to buy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted June 24, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) Found out the rattle from the exhaust is in fact a knackered catalytic converter, unfortunately it’s part of the exhaust manifold so it’s going to need one of those now! Slowly losing my will to live with the blue car but on the plus side I was looking at putting a racing manifold and cat on it within the next 6 months anyway, just can’t afford to bring it forward to this month thanks to the cutch cylinder so that’s that car parked up on the drive for another month until I can get it done thankfully the weather is just right for the convertible Edited June 24, 2020 by big jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, johnlambert said: Wasn't the quoted power output of the Fiat 500 something like 18.5hp? You know you're dealing with low power when 0.5hp is a significant part of the total. Just checked, the original 497cc version was 12.5hp According to Wikipedia there was a "Sport" with 499.5cc and 21.2hp. Wiki also lists the power for the 500 D as 17hp. The later Fiat 126 in either 594 or 650cc versions had 23hp according to Wikipedia but I'm positive the factory quoted 22.5. I had a 126 as my first car, great fun when it worked. I'd love an old-school Fiat 500 but they are so expensive to buy. Ours was a mid-60's model actually built in New Zealand and was called The Bambino I recall. According to Wiki that was the D model with 17HP but In the 15 years or so before we got it, I'd be surprised if one or two HP hadn't managed to escape. I think we paid about $600 dollars for it in 1980. Mum wanted a small car because her Honda 50 bike was too cold and wet in winter. She was thinking Mini, dad reckoned they were too hard to change the fanbelt on or something and arrived home with this instead. When traded in for the Suzuki 4 years later he get $750 for it! I do recall being embarrassed when learning to drive, going up a loooong steep hill, looking in the mirror and seeing a line of cars behind me as far as the eye could see, mum wouldn't let me pull over - "No, you have to get used to that in this!" We had a red setter, I remember driving around with it in the car, it sitting in the back seat with its head sticking out the sunroof ears flapping away.... For some reason that car combined with that dog was a brilliant, if inexplicable, chick magnet Edited June 24, 2020 by monkeysarefun 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classsix T Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 Just to clarify the Suzuki car bit from earlier, this is the Ignis: Which undoubtedly carries design cues from the much older SC100/Cervo: But much like the rehashed Beetle and Fiat 500, probably shares very little else in common with its very much older sibling... C6T. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted June 25, 2020 Share Posted June 25, 2020 think this may just belong in here interesting article about a rarity https://petrolicious.com/articles/the-citroën-bx-4tc-is-the-group-b-homologation-special-that-its-maker-tried-to-erase-from-history?fbclid=IwAR3Df3XzBhGDYW7e7Fui1H1un6irWZ9rAZe0S0fPymyUtJqitFJ9v5Yp-CI Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted July 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2020 Latest addition to my fleet 1.8VVC 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2020 Nice! my mum had the 2l T bar roof version in the same colour back in the mid 90s (is it T bar or removable glass panels I’m thinking of?) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted July 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2020 9 minutes ago, big jim said: Nice! my mum had the 2l T bar roof version in the same colour back in the mid 90s (is it T bar or removable glass panels I’m thinking of?) Cheers Jim They are removable and stow in a bag in the boot Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) Yeah that’s the one she had it started out with a rover engine but it got swapped out for a Honda one under warranty after it started using oil very early on in its life! my mate had a tuned up 220 turbo with, looking back now, a god awful ‘predator’ body kit on it with massive rear wing, it went like stink though but Retrospectively looked terrible. if me from now went back to 1996 in a time machine id be telling him to Think again about the kit that’s for sure Edited July 8, 2020 by big jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Didn't 99% of all body kits look bl**dy awful when they were added anyway? steve 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold russ p Posted July 9, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 9, 2020 9 hours ago, big jim said: Yeah that’s the one she had it started out with a rover engine but it got swapped out for a Honda one under warranty after it started using oil very early on in its life! my mate had a tuned up 220 turbo with, looking back now, a god awful ‘predator’ body kit on it with massive rear wing, it went like stink though but Retrospectively looked terrible. if me from now went back to 1996 in a time machine id be telling him to Think again about the kit that’s for sure I'd have loved a turbo but there are so few good ones and in the rare occasions good ones come up they are very expensive. The two litre T series engine is a very good engine if looked after , when rover were part of BMW the T series had the lowest warranty claims by percentage of any other engine across the whole BMW group. Austin rover didn't always get things wrong I think all the coupes had the T bar roof the racing ones would have had some kind of steel replacement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 15, 2020 The new Mini Cooper GP3 was released a few weeks back, only 3000 being produced with 575 coming to the UK, a 300 bhp, £30k supercar worrier it just got that little bit rarer, now there are only 2999 of them after this guy totalled his In his garden minutes after getting it, all for the sake of a few YouTube likes! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
43179 Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Modern classics/future classics - not sure where they fall , but the 159/Sportwagon/Brera are drop dead gorgeous looking little family of cars , with 'that' V6 too - i just never get tired of looking at these - though I'm not too keen on the styling of the back of the Brera. Conways , Avons and Alfas , pretty much all my favourite things are in that photo tfn Jon 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Phil Mc Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 15, 2020 1 hour ago, big jim said: The new Mini Cooper GP3 was released a few weeks back, only 3000 being produced with 575 coming to the UK, a 300 bhp, £30k supercar worrier it just got that little bit rarer, now there are only 2999 of them after this guy totalled his In his garden minutes after getting it, all for the sake of a few YouTube likes! The cars a tool.... .....and so is the driver. cheers, Pil. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 15, 2020 1 hour ago, big jim said: The new Mini Cooper GP3 was released a few weeks back, only 3000 being produced with 575 coming to the UK, a 300 bhp, £30k supercar worrier it just got that little bit rarer, now there are only 2999 of them after this guy totalled his In his garden minutes after getting it, all for the sake of a few YouTube likes! A friend of mine decided that he would much rather not have his new Lotus delivered by a factory driver. So he caught a train down from RAF Valley down to Hethel to pick up the car. It never got back to Valley. He wrote it off, as I recall, somewhere on the M1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 15, 2020 I woke up two days ago to find various vehicles invading my car park. After a short while, the mundane T5 and Land Rover Discoveries were joined by a 356 replica and a rather nice Series 1 Landie. It turned out to be a film company who thought that the car park of a closed pub would be useful as a base. The director was a bit embarrassed to find that the car park was also filling up with contractors' vehicles. Fortunately, I also have access to a large field and we were able to sort things out amicably. The 356 replica, a cabrio. was really rather nice. But careless research/casting as the J reg no gives it away as a replica rather than the real thing. I got caught up in Dorset with filming of "Wimbledon" which used a similar replica but that one had a non-suffix registration from an older Beetle. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) 41 minutes ago, 43179 said: Modern classics/future classics - not sure where they fall , but the 159/Sportwagon/Brera are drop dead gorgeous looking little family of cars , with 'that' V6 too - i just never get tired of looking at these - though I'm not too keen on the styling of the back of the Brera. Conways , Avons and Alfas , pretty much all my favourite things are in that photo tfn Jon Totally agree. I am very tempted by a Brera even if it has the power at the wrong end. Edited July 15, 2020 by Joseph_Pestell Typo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted July 15, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 15, 2020 My boss has a 3l V6 Alfa hatch with 4WD. Not sure what the model is but even though I am shortish my head hits the roof. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium boxbrownie Posted July 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 16, 2020 10 hours ago, Phil Mc said: The cars a tool.... .....and so is the driver. cheers, Pil. And it was because of the ground......nothing to do with the fact the Pratt holding the wheel....... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kickstart Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 11 hours ago, 43179 said: Modern classics/future classics - not sure where they fall , but the 159/Sportwagon/Brera are drop dead gorgeous looking little family of cars , with 'that' V6 too - i just never get tired of looking at these - though I'm not too keen on the styling of the back of the Brera. Conways , Avons and Alfas , pretty much all my favourite things are in that photo tfn Jon It isn’t “that” v6, rather a GM derived engine. My father had a 2.2 L Berra (another GM derived engine) Which I drove once or twice. Can’t say I particularly liked it. Engine was nothing special and the car was a very heavy lump. The platform was a joint venture between Alfa and Saab. If I wanted a Saab I would have bought one! The engines also managed to wear out their cam chains quite quickly , and around 40~50 k miles it could wear enough that the cam sensors detected things were out . So it landed up with cam chains that lasted as little time as belts but cost more to replace. Looked good though, and build quality generally seems to have been very good. I would massively prefer a 156 over a 159, and for a coupe the GT might not have had the looks but had less weight and a far more entertaining engine. All the best Katy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 16, 2020 There is a scrappy in Wolverhampton near the railway that also sells cheap cars and I noticed when I passed on the train the other day there is an Alfa GTV convertible in the lot, I found the website As I’ve bought an exhaust from them in the past but it’s not advertised on there yet, tempted to go and have a closer look I’ve got to drive to coseley later to collect some new wheels for the cooper S so may come off the motorway a junction early and have a look 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted July 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) duplicate post Edited July 16, 2020 by big jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MJI Posted July 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 16, 2020 2 hours ago, Kickstart said: It isn’t “that” v6, rather a GM derived engine. My father had a 2.2 L Berra (another GM derived engine) Which I drove once or twice. Can’t say I particularly liked it. Engine was nothing special and the car was a very heavy lump. The platform was a joint venture between Alfa and Saab. If I wanted a Saab I would have bought one! The engines also managed to wear out their cam chains quite quickly , and around 40~50 k miles it could wear enough that the cam sensors detected things were out . So it landed up with cam chains that lasted as little time as belts but cost more to replace. Looked good though, and build quality generally seems to have been very good. I would massively prefer a 156 over a 159, and for a coupe the GT might not have had the looks but had less weight and a far more entertaining engine. All the best Katy I don't think the GM V6 reached Alfa. That said it was an excellent engine. The only flaws were. Older - coil pack location, EGR. Newer - poor valve seals, lower compression. All - location of thermostat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kickstart Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 9 minutes ago, MJI said: I don't think the GM V6 reached Alfa. That said it was an excellent engine. The only flaws were. Older - coil pack location, EGR. Newer - poor valve seals, lower compression. All - location of thermostat. In the 159 and Berra it was a derivative of the GM High Feature engine Few details of the various versions here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_High_Feature_engine The V6 used in the GT was the traditional Alfa V6 Fiat and GM had a stock swap in the 1990s are did various bits of collaboration. But one of the conditions of the agreement was a put option, where Fiat could obligate GM to buy Fiat Auto. Cost GM a lot of money to get out of that put option. All the best Katy 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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