suzuki whizzkid want and question

[hairnet]

everytime i do a particular round at work - i see a sc100 in someones front garden

 

it doesnt look too bad and ive worked here for 12 months now and it not moved from between the front fence and the conifer

 

it shows on the uk.gov site as sorn but the mot part says records not held - does that mean its on a previous style v5 (the blue one)

 

half tempted as its mile and half from here

[Station]

Looks like it hasn't had MOT for a while!!

I had one, they are really great cars, but very 'specialist'.

There's a reason why there aren't many left - If it needs welding, it'll be past saving. They rust! Mine was lovingly restored, but it had started to rust again so I had to sell. They go on the rear inner arches, outer arches, rear screen, sills, front of the floors, chassis rails, roof, everywhere!

The engines are the same as a Bedford Rascal.

You can't get parts for them anymore. Balljoints, exhaust, panels, glass are NLA anywhere, so you'll have to rely on the rare occasion second hand stuff appears on ebay or from Holland or Japan. Suzuki dealer didn't even have the SC100 on their parts system and had to check on microfiche.

Your back will not thank you, the ride is very harsh with limited travel in the suspension. Fuel starvation on cornering drove me mad.

 

They are fun cars though.

 

 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

They're one of the few small cars I like. I like them a lot to make up for this.

[Ghosty]

There used to be a black one on a drive in Rusholme a couple of years ago that didn't seem to move but last time I went past it wasn't there. Was a little bit rusty but it'd had the numberplates replaced so it seems someone might have cared about it. Cool little things, wouldn't mind one.

[Inspector Morose]

I had two. They are the most fun micro(ish) cars you can get! As station said, if you can see the rust, they are past help I'm afraid. They can rust for fun and when you see ror around the rear wheel arch, it's bad news.

 

Parts are a pain but can be found - the engine is early sj410/rascal but for everything you're on your own I'm afraid. I had the front stoves in on mine but I was very lucky and found a scrapper with a new front end at a Suzuki specialist for £80 many years ago.

 

They are amazingly spacious. My mate used to regularly ride in mine and he was 6ft 4. They are strictly two seaters though!

 

They are not slow. The published top speed was 78mph but this was obtainable in third. I had mine over 100 but it becomes very light and skittish at that speed (brown chords advised)

 

If another I came available at the right price. I defiantly would!

[Timewaster]

I love Whizz kids

Never owned one or driven one bit I still want one.

 

The best time to buy one?

 

1987.

 

 

Bugger.

[UmBongo]

Looks like it hasn't had MOT for a while!!

I had one, they are really great cars, but very 'specialist'.

There's a reason why there aren't many left - If it needs welding, it'll be past saving. They rust! Mine was lovingly restored, but it had started to rust again so I had to sell. They go on the rear inner arches, outer arches, rear screen, sills, front of the floors, chassis rails, roof, everywhere!

The engines are the same as a Bedford Rascal.

You can't get parts for them anymore. Balljoints, exhaust, panels, glass are NLA anywhere, so you'll have to rely on the rare occasion second hand stuff appears on ebay or from Holland or Japan. Suzuki dealer didn't even have the SC100 on their parts system and had to check on microfiche.

Your back will not thank you, the ride is very harsh with limited travel in the suspension. Fuel starvation on cornering drove me mad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what are the bad points, then?

[New POD]

The PROPER NAME is FLYING ZIT.

 

My wife (before we got married) was given one in 1989 by her sister, when she passed her test, and her sister was about to have a baby. Back then people saw the wife's car as a luxury they could only afford if they worked full time, and so they decided they couldn't afford to run it.

 

I remember servicing it and you had to undo 1000 screws from behind the back seat to get to the back of the engine. And it was a very hot day, and I almost fainted.

 

It would use 1 litre of oil every 2000 miles, it would hit 95 mph.

 

It started leaking coolant on a trip to North Wales. I had barely any tools, and no breakdown insurance, but it was a rubber hose in coming from the front radiator. WE taped it up with masking tape, and drove to the nearest Suzuki dealer on Ynys Mon, (100 yrd from where my sister now lives) only to be told the 9 inch rubber hose was £65 (in 1989) and would take 4 weeks to come from Japan.

 

WE drove to Banger, and bought 2 morris minor hoses, 4 hose clips, and a Stanley knife in a back street motor factors, and then bought a 2 meter length of copper tube and a hacksaw in a plumbers merchants, and back in the camp site bodged it back together. It was fine until the gearbox went, about 2 weeks before we got married, so we bought a mini 850.

[garethj]

I've had two, they're wonderful things to drive.  That hoary old cliché about "this car drives like a go-kart" is pushed on everything from a MINI to an Oldsmobile 98, but the closest I've come to kart driving is the Whizzkid.  The steering is urgent like a Mini and the suspension travel is similar, but the way you can drift it through greasy corners with tiny corrections on the steering wheel is awesome.

 

I also seem to remember fuel economy was incredible; regularly beating 50mpg even when thrashed.  I'm 6'1" tall and fitted with no problems, but rust and a weak gearbox seem to be the biggest problem.

 

I loved my first one so much that I bought another a couple of years later, and enjoyed it so much I bought a newish Suzuki Cappuccino after it.

[PiperCub]

I always wanted one of these too, tried to buy a couple of examples about 15 years ago, those that were available were really rusty/ropey so I never did. The SC100 is about the only 'Microcar' (for want of a better cliche) I'd want, still like them.