Dippy

Foad took some excellent pictures...
 
 

 

 

 
I really love this car...

Superbly put. I face the same dilemma because I don't; 
- watch any reality TV. X Factor, ant and dec jungle wankerfest etc.
 
- know what twitter is. Seriously, I've only the vaguest notion.
 
- know any One Direction material.
 
The day any of the above changes, I know I have become lax in my viewing and listening choices.
 
Will this isolate me a little from normal* society? I do hope so because it allows me to enjoy what really matters.

I made it much to the amazement,bewilderment and general disbelief of everyone, including the seller...
 
Deal was done through the back door of Ebay..I've given them, and Paypal enough of my cash over the years and as much as it goes against the grain and the spirit of an auctin...fuck 'em, greedy bastards...
 
I enquired about a hoped for price for the wee car, and much to my surprise it was far FAR less than I expected to get hit with- so I agreed straight away without knowing much about the car at all or checking where it was...Anyway after a couple of emails the seller even chipped another 25 quid off, made several references to mad Scotsmen and came over as a very decent genuine fellow shite enthusiast.
 
I arranged to go down to Southam on Wednesday, as it was my day off. I was warned by my work that I HAD to be in on Thursday, and I think a book opened to lay bets on a 35 year old Fiat would manage up the road under it's own steam...especially as it had been laid up for 12 years and had only covered about 50 miles in the last year- on the upside it has a long MOT,some tax and was fully legal.
 
Train booked- just less than 50 quid...and I departed from Kirkcaldy station at 10:17 am, after leaving the Volvo at work, and picking up my X1/9 toolkit. A double ended screwdriver, an 8,10 and 13mm spanner. More warnings from work, a chuckle as to what good my expansive toolkit would do and an offer of a borrowed RAC card.
 


 
Train to Haymarket, then a change to the Penzance train..purchased a Practical Classics and an Autocar and settled down for the trip...a pair of lovesick teenagers opposite who decided to watch some crappy animated film on their laptop,saying the lines before they were said,and giggling like...well, lovesick teenagers. This was bad enough ,but even worse was the "businessman" who was "doing buisiness" very loudly on his mobile. The hard shoulder of the M6 would be bliss compared to this, anyway connections between trains were very short, so no pics of Wolverhampton,or Leamington Spa..
 
The seller picked me up at the station, and after worrying how I would find him, I spotted a bearded gentleman holding up an X1/9 Haynes manual.... After a short drive in his Daihatsu Charade, we parked behind his Scimitar  and looked over the X1/9. Looking a bit down at heel, but solid and honest I learned a bit about it's history..a genuine 1 lady owner from new retirement car from Eastbourne.
 
After talking shite for half an hour, and the insistence I took a gallon of fuel,a bottle of water for me and one for the car, a packet of cookies and directions to the M6 I departed, with a rather rough running,rough looking X1/9. Headed towards Coventry in search of fuel I hit the rush hour traffic... which is ever so slightly worse that we get up here. The X started getting tetchy, threataning to stall every time I let off the throttle and generally jumping around. After a cut out on a very busy roundabout and a restart which almost made me religious, I thought better of dicing with the traffic and pulled in at a fuel station, where it died about 20 yards from the pumps, and this time would not restart. I rolled it back and got out the tools.
 
Timing set with a little extra advance, points cleaned and regapped and the carb jets cleaned and blown through It started and idled beautifully., so I filled up at the pumps=40 quid of Asda's finest and took a fuel station shot.
 

 
Traffic was a bit lighter now, so I headed out of the city and towards the M6, slightly concerned about a sharp crack every time I hit a bump with the front left wheel. I stopped again at Lymm,and as the heater was ferocious, whipped off the roof, put on my jacket and motored on by the dull gloom that are X1/9 sealed beams...ignoring the shared dull glow of the charge light. A bit further up I needed a fuel stop, so had my usual road trip treat of an overpriced Burger King, an Amsterdam something or other,which was excellent!
 

 
Back on the M6, and after getting a headache straining to see, I switched to main beam, which was slightly better...never got flashed once. I even managed to get a station on the 1979, state of the art, AM/FM..
 

 
Motoring on, enjoying the tunes, the buzz of the Lampredi four and the wind in my hair, I lost all power. That horrible,sickening mind rush that is the realisation that you are hundreds of miles from home in a shed, and the racing thoughts of forming some sort of plan, I eased off, only to get a little surge. Back on the throttle and it started to die again...... Blocked second choke jet, Yeah!  A sign for the services had just been passed, 2 miles- so i nursed it along with a light throttle, at about 35 mph and made it, triumphantly, into the service station. Air filter top off, jet taken out, blown through and normal service was resumed. I grabbed a Costa, a Boost,a Wispa and a packet of out of date Jelly Babies for half price, popped the roof on for the cold bit and started off again.
 


 
I decided upon the 701, and threw the wee two seater around a bit on the deserted road, stopping only once more for another Costa at Ratho, before getting home at 2.30 am. I made it to work this morning much to the disbelief of my workmates, and milked it for all it was worth as I seem to spend my whole life defending Fiat. I've promised the wife we will go to Italy in it next year for her 40th. Time to get cracking with getting it fettled!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WTactualF? Is today international "Act like a bastard" day or some similar event that I and about six other people have not heard about because we dont use facebook?
 
Seriously, if I had easy access to firearms you would be hearing about me on the news this evening....Scottish man goes on killing spree in French city centre....
 
So I go to the hardware store which has eight parking spaces outside. Four of which are taken up by a Porsche Panamera.
 
Then I go to the supermarket and some guy is wandering around in a daze, bumping into people and getting in everyones way due to him holding his iphone horizontally eight inches in front of his face and talking to someone over the speakerphone. As if it wasnt bad enough hearing one side of someone elses tedious phone conversation this prick needs to make everyone listen to both sides! The temptation to slap it out of his hand was almost too great.
 
Then I get to the tills and as I am putting my stuff on the conveyor the woman in front exclaims that she has forgotten to get washing powder and just wanders off. The till dude kept ringing her stuff through and then had to sit and wait, while I stood waiting too until this woman eventually sauntered back with a box of Daz. She then has a huffy, stompy-foot temper tantrum because her shopping was all piled up at the end of the till.
 
I go to the pez station which is really busy with long queues for the pumps and everyone is too stupid to realise that the hoses are long enough to reach round to the other side of their car so they are all queueing up for a pump with the nozzle on the same side as their filler. I see an empty pump and drive past everyone and start filling up only to get an earfull from some fud for skipping the queue. Fuck you, man - its not complicated.
 
And there is a bit of dual carriageway which is busy because its lunchtime and French people are genetically programmed to spontaneously combust if they are not sitting down to eat at the stroke of midday and while everyone is rushing, one prick who is obviously more important than everyone else in his Porsche Cayenne was bullying his way past everyone, weaving in and out, overtaking and undertaking like a fucking video game.
 
I finally get home and my fucking neighbour is blocking my gates with his car again. 
 
 
gah....

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Book price $865
 
So you give $800 for one with a massive scrape on the rear quarter and bonnet damage, I like your style

Now bought a new bit of shite to bolt to my car so there will be no more static shocks for me.
 

Thats the car actually its a 2300S and not a VX4/90 and ive used it every day since I bought it for all my normal daily driving with the only exceptions being I parked it inside and took a van home when we had some strong storms earlier in the year and last week it was off the road for 2 days whilst a new exhaust was ordered and fitted.
 
I have now doubled the original 3200 miles and had no problems, I replaced a small piece of flexible fuel pipe that started leaking and changed the oil and filter after 1000 miles so I knew it had decent oil in it even though it had been changed prior to my buying the car. Apart from that ive changed a couple of bulbs and the exhaust went last week.
 
The car is a blast to drive and always brings a smile to my face, some people will not like what I am doing to the car but I don't really care. I have looked after the car and it is running better after having some regular use, any additions like the datamaster and bluetooth kit have been fitted with double sided sticky tape and no extra holes have been drilled so the car can be put back to its original condition should I decide to sell it.
This is not very likely though as the car is just too reliable, even the rubber components have not hardened with great wind and water seals through all doors and windows and the car does not use or leak any fluids. Some may think it was expensive but personally I think its an absolute bargain and will not depreciate like a new car with the added bonus I don't have to deal with a main dealer and "technicians" who can only do what the computer says.

Now bought a new bit of shite to bolt to my car so there will be no more static shocks for me.
 

Thats the car actually its a 2300S and not a VX4/90 and ive used it every day since I bought it for all my normal daily driving with the only exceptions being I parked it inside and took a van home when we had some strong storms earlier in the year and last week it was off the road for 2 days whilst a new exhaust was ordered and fitted.
 
I have now doubled the original 3200 miles and had no problems, I replaced a small piece of flexible fuel pipe that started leaking and changed the oil and filter after 1000 miles so I knew it had decent oil in it even though it had been changed prior to my buying the car. Apart from that ive changed a couple of bulbs and the exhaust went last week.
 
The car is a blast to drive and always brings a smile to my face, some people will not like what I am doing to the car but I don't really care. I have looked after the car and it is running better after having some regular use, any additions like the datamaster and bluetooth kit have been fitted with double sided sticky tape and no extra holes have been drilled so the car can be put back to its original condition should I decide to sell it.
This is not very likely though as the car is just too reliable, even the rubber components have not hardened with great wind and water seals through all doors and windows and the car does not use or leak any fluids. Some may think it was expensive but personally I think its an absolute bargain and will not depreciate like a new car with the added bonus I don't have to deal with a main dealer and "technicians" who can only do what the computer says.

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Now bought a new bit of shite to bolt to my car so there will be no more static shocks for me.
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Now bought a new bit of shite to bolt to my car so there will be no more static shocks for me.
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Now bought a new bit of shite to bolt to my car so there will be no more static shocks for me.
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory
 

Hope this works first image posted on here.
 
This is it in all it's orange glory