Fissarlo nuovamente, Tony.

[Cavcraft]

Before anything else I must credit this thread to Wuvvum (who spotted it and posted it on the ebay thread) and our old mate Mini_Mad who v.kindly turned up at mine today with about 30 mins notice and took me to get this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's nowhere near as clean as it looks, it's filthy dirt in fact. Located on some grot hole ind. est in Fleetwood with the usual shifty looking workforce hanging about. Anyhow the seller chucked me the keys and invited me to look round it, always a good sign I say. Nothing major noticeable, chucked him the cash and 'fifth gear takes some finding' was his penultimate parting shot.

Off we went, MM following me, and I'll just say that 5th not only 'took some finding' but they'll probably discovered Shergar quicker.

Fair play though, lobbed some fuel in (probably not needed) and threw myself into the absolute lane indisciplined horror of the M55 and M6. I can confirm the following things: It will do a decent motorway speed all the way home (75-80 miles) the sat nav kept coming out of the fag lighter, the blowers don't work and (tight) cornering fast is not for the feint hearted. Can I complain though? For £155 with a metric shit load of MOT and tax, can I bollocks as like.

 

I was going to punt it on but have decided to give it to my daughter as a first car and see if my lad wants to get insured on it in the meanwhile as his Alfa is broke.

 

Cheers Wuvvum, cheers Mini_Mad.

[Minimad5]

No problamo old fruit !
Thanks for the Deeezal pennies £££

[overrun]

I had a Sporting.

Good* cheap, fun cars.

 

As you say, you can't be robbed.

[wuvvum]

These really are an entertaining little car - if not always necessarily for the right reasons.  Gearboxes do have a tendency to be a bit rubbery, with gears not always where you expect them to be.  I remember reading a piece by the late Len Setright on how to change gears in a Fiat - apparently the secret is to always move the lever in a straight line, even when you're going across the gate.

 

Blower not working could be a bit of a PITA at this time of year, but then again I can't see it being too much hassle to fix - there's not a lot in the way of dashboard in a Cinq'.  Glad to hear she's a potential keeper.

[Micrashed]

Flockweed can be a bit of a desolate hole - glad you escaped unscathed.

Was it this industrial estate?

 

In other news the newer Panda is giving me the horn.

Sign in Fleetwood.

[Cavcraft]

It was right opposite the Fisherman's Friend factory, Marty. I didn't see a Marina on a stack, and if I had I would have bricked the bastard as I still hate them after all these years.

 

Funny gears, Wuvvum: first four are a doddle, but 5th was really hard work, sort of go right and up then as it's near the end of the travel hook it left slightly. The heater will be a mare (to live without) as you say, the little lever that's supposed to operate it is flapping around like a dick in a bucket.

[SambaS]

Bought one from my neighbour in Feb 2012 with short T&T.. punted it on two days later after a wash for an extra hundred quids. Did go for a few runs out in it, was a good little car. Buyer pointed out some rust in boot floor/ inner arch area but said was okay as he's weld it for the MOT in June.

 

Last week whilst delivering I spotted it on the road outside someone's house so must have gone through 2 MOTs since I sold it.

 

[HillmanImp]

Nice. When do you get the other half etc etc....

[cort16]

Good team effort there. Is this the 900cc push rod one?  I had a similiar problem with the gears on my Alfa and it was the wobbly linkage on the side of the gearbox jamming.

Have a look at the linkage while someone cycles through the gears and see if you can see if it's jamming on anything. I re-greased mine and it helped quite a bit.

[HillmanImp]

I do have to say the side graffix are pretty nice. Very 70's really, quite out of place with a car of that era.

[Volksy]

I think they're a reflection

[Cavcraft]

Bit cleaner now, I assumed the snazzy side decals were original and thought it may have been some half-arsed dealer special. The badge on the back also led me to think that, but a Google search reveals it is (or was) some tosspot tuning company.