I’ve Taken the Plunge

[zzr1200]

Oddly enough I’m aware of the 131 as a rally car

It was fast as rust is lighter than carbon fibre

There's only 2 places in the world where you might find a decent Fiat 131, Southern Italy in a barn high in the hills or the out back of zo if they survived the boat trip.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

Are you old enough to remember the fastest rusting Fiat,

" fix it today weld it again tomorrow".

Never had a Lancia Beta then? I did and it was unsafe after 2 years. Luckily Lancia did it all under warranty hen I sold it.

 

[Dell]

Welcome AKN
i have been gas welding for over 50 years , I didn’t think many people did it any more good on you.
I only gas weld aluminium nowadays, I still work part time for a coach company.
Dell

 

[AKN]

Welcome AKN
i have been gas welding for over 50 years , I didn’t think many people did it any more good on you.
I only gas weld aluminium nowadays, I still work part time for a coach company.
Dell

Thank You. I haven’t done much gas welding recently and have never welded any aluminium other than the odd over current fault!!

 

[KemppiFrog]

Thank You. I haven’t done much gas welding recently and have never welded any aluminium other than the odd over current fault!!

Hey, welcome!
Taught myself to gas weld by de-seaming a mini, so kudos to you.
As for the fastest rusting car, the Alfa Sud was built with Russian carp steel, so when used in N europe with icey roads and SALT, was not long lived. The Lancias were also victims. Son of German friends bought an Alfa Sud, failed it first TUF (MOT) on serious rust, so scrapped.

Around here, not much ice, and no salt used, so lots of cars that might have disappeared are still in daily use. Old 2CVs and R4s . Big plus, is if over 30 yrs, exemption from the CT(MOT) Funnily enough, her old Twingo, much loved, is close to that age, so might get away with it's 'slightly' sniffy exhaust.
Way back, our MD had a RR (not a classic then ..) and I got to drive it occasionally. Nice enough.. But, our chairman had a Ferrari 250 GTO, which, I unfortunately, did not get to drive. (I did ask..)

 

[Dcal]

Oddly enough I’m aware of the 131 as a rally car

It was fast as rust is lighter than carbon fibre

I had a 131 racing which was a later, less hard core version.
No independent rear suspension but it had the 2l twin cam engine, the Abarth 5 speed box and it was brilliant fun.

 

[stuvy]

I had a 131 racing which was a later, less hard core version.
No independent rear suspension but it had the 2l twin cam engine, the Abarth 5 speed box and it was brilliant fun.

Those twin cams fetch good money nowadays

 

[AKN]

Hey, welcome!
Taught myself to gas weld by de-seaming a mini, so kudos to you.
As for the fastest rusting car, the Alfa Sud was built with Russian carp steel, so when used in N europe with icey roads and SALT, was not long lived. The Lancias were also victims. Son of German friends bought an Alfa Sud, failed it first TUF (MOT) on serious rust, so scrapped.

Around here, not much ice, and no salt used, so lots of cars that might have disappeared are still in daily use. Old 2CVs and R4s . Big plus, is if over 30 yrs, exemption from the CT(MOT) Funnily enough, her old Twingo, much loved, is close to that age, so might get away with it's 'slightly' sniffy exhaust.
Way back, our MD had a RR (not a classic then ..) and I got to drive it occasionally. Nice enough.. But, our chairman had a Ferrari 250 GTO, which, I unfortunately, did not get to drive. (I did ask..)

Thank You. Oddly it was fixing up an Alfasud Sprint where I taught myself gas welding sadly it never got finished shame as it was the best handling front drive car you could get.

 

[Gwil]

Hey, welcome!
Taught myself to gas weld by de-seaming a mini, so kudos to you.
As for the fastest rusting car, the Alfa Sud was built with Russian carp steel, so when used in N europe with icey roads and SALT, was not long lived. The Lancias were also victims. Son of German friends bought an Alfa Sud, failed it first TUF (MOT) on serious rust, so scrapped.

Around here, not much ice, and no salt used, so lots of cars that might have disappeared are still in daily use. Old 2CVs and R4s . Big plus, is if over 30 yrs, exemption from the CT(MOT) Funnily enough, her old Twingo, much loved, is close to that age, so might get away with it's 'slightly' sniffy exhaust.
Way back, our MD had a RR (not a classic then ..) and I got to drive it occasionally. Nice enough.. But, our chairman had a Ferrari 250 GTO, which, I unfortunately, did not get to drive. (I did ask..)

Quite a few original Range Rovers looking immaculate here in the driest bit of Portugal, almost all diesel. They do all seem to sound like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin, but I imagine they sounded like that from new.......

 

[AKN]

Quite a few original Range Rovers looking immaculate here in the driest bit of Portugal, almost all diesel. They do all seem to sound like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin, but I imagine they sounded like that from new.......

The 4 cylinder diesels were not the quietest but my 200 Tdi does have a habit of giving me 50mpg so not all bad!

 

[GavJ]

My 65 plate Jaguar XF got an advisory last year for ecessive rust on the rear sub frame.... well done Jaguar for the backwards progress .......

 

[KemppiFrog]

Quite a few original Range Rovers looking immaculate here in the driest bit of Portugal, almost all diesel. They do all seem to sound like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin, but I imagine they sounded like that from new.......

A lot were bought in as two door two seaters to get round some tax, then seats fitted. The engines were italian and not so great, all diesels as nobody wanted a thirsty petrol one, though the top man in the GNR drove a V8 with the reg GNR 1
When Portugal officially entered the EU, there were queues of nice cars waiting at the borders for midnight, expecting to pay far less import dury under the new tax regime. Hopes were dashed by the authorities, who defied Brussels for years on this. They got fined on a yearly basis, never paid the fines, of course.
So, a lot of exotica had to be sent away again. I knew a couple of guys that were in the queue with top model RRs along with several Porsches.

Bit like it with automatics. When Mrs KF moved over from the US after we got hitched, I was looking round for an auto, as she had not used a stickshift. The only two cars I could find were a big old Merc or a little rough Daf. Just nothing. So got an R5 and did a bit of intensive training in the local (big) car park. She picked it up quite easily, but did avoid a junction locally that required a hill start...

Like the two skeletons bit... ;o)