07-02-2017, 08:31 PM
One thing I have never done is to slag off any car without personal experience.
I suppose I am lucky having worked in a garage for about 5 years when a teenager and young twenty year odd lad. My first car a 1960 1200 Beetle was rubbish as was a 1302S that I got rid of in 2008. They were raved about..... German engineering and all that. The engines are far softer than you would believe, broken valve heads are common with major damage occurring, low oil pressure, regulator burn ups and the dreadful 6 volt system, in fact it's only recently that German cars had decent lights!
After an Anglia with severe corrosion on the floor, an Imp that had overheating problems even after a head skim, gasket, radiator and pump, I bought a Skoda 100MB in 1974 but you have no idea of the so called experts that told me they were rubbish, 24 years later on I still was buying Skoda's before they went too expensive. During that time I drove over 600,000 miles in them as far as Poland and the French Rivera, without a breakdown.
I firmly believe in proper servicing, not mollycoddling the engine, using revs without hammering the engine but not trying to drive up a 1 in 4 hill at 25mph in top gear.
Regarding the Fiat 500 of the 60's I'd like to ask the question, were these cars new or cheap bangers, were they driven like an Italian engine should be and were they looked after?
Doing some research the old 500 was reckoned to be as reliable as anything else available at the time but they were often overloaded and expected to do the work of a bigger car, 499cc is small as is 9bhp (from memory) so you cannot compare a tiny car to a Ford Consul.
I suppose I am lucky having worked in a garage for about 5 years when a teenager and young twenty year odd lad. My first car a 1960 1200 Beetle was rubbish as was a 1302S that I got rid of in 2008. They were raved about..... German engineering and all that. The engines are far softer than you would believe, broken valve heads are common with major damage occurring, low oil pressure, regulator burn ups and the dreadful 6 volt system, in fact it's only recently that German cars had decent lights!
After an Anglia with severe corrosion on the floor, an Imp that had overheating problems even after a head skim, gasket, radiator and pump, I bought a Skoda 100MB in 1974 but you have no idea of the so called experts that told me they were rubbish, 24 years later on I still was buying Skoda's before they went too expensive. During that time I drove over 600,000 miles in them as far as Poland and the French Rivera, without a breakdown.
I firmly believe in proper servicing, not mollycoddling the engine, using revs without hammering the engine but not trying to drive up a 1 in 4 hill at 25mph in top gear.
Regarding the Fiat 500 of the 60's I'd like to ask the question, were these cars new or cheap bangers, were they driven like an Italian engine should be and were they looked after?
Doing some research the old 500 was reckoned to be as reliable as anything else available at the time but they were often overloaded and expected to do the work of a bigger car, 499cc is small as is 9bhp (from memory) so you cannot compare a tiny car to a Ford Consul.
