Project Gamma Coupe: fix-up mini-meet progress

[RobT]

On the bright side, if they flat bed you home that's 50 quid or so in pez saved.

[beko1987]

I miss Fifi and the Flowertots and Peppa Pig.

We are due a dvd clear out soon, ill pop some in!

[JeeExEll]

Still, it's a stylish as fuck way to be broken down.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That ass though.

[Skizzer]

My new friend Darius G. Flag traced the fault to the ignition commutator. Bloody Italian electrics... oh hang on, it's a Bosch part.

 

Getting recovered to a garage. Might have another go at driving home tomorrow if they can source the part.

 

Interior shot at last:

 

[alf892]

Alternator i think.IMG_7411.JPG

Looks like a nice spot for a maintenance pause though..........

 

Surely you could have come up with some material for the Cars and Girls thread ?

[Squire_Dawson]

That'll teach you for not buying British. Nice stylish car, good luck with it.

[Squire_Dawson]

 

 

 It was the Japanese British who invented reliable car electrics.    

 

EFA

[Timewaster]

My kids have library books where there is a little duck hidden on each page and the bags reminded me of that a little bit.

Apple Tree Farm.

 

Loving the Lancia.

Belissimo.

[Skizzer]

Right, so what have we learned this from this episode, children?

 

Puffed up with pride after driving a shonky-looking (but actually very well cared-for) Granada up and down the country, young Skizarus thought he could fly as high as ever he liked. So he bought a Lancia Gamma that had just been awarded its first MOT since 2012 and decided to drive it across London and onward 200 miles to Wales, on the Friday night before a bank holiday. (Young Skizarus is in fact quite old so forgot that 2012 is actually several years ago now.)

 

In other words, young Skizarus thought he could fly with the gods of shite. But he flew too close to the sun, and his ignition commutator melted, and fell back down to earth with a bump.

 

 

Still, it was fun while it lasted. And it did make it all the way from Tower Hill to Regents Park in horrid jams without overheating, so that's sort of a win, isn't it?

 

So anyway, now I'm back on a train, which is where we came in.

[Skizzer]

Looks like a nice spot for a maintenance pause though..........

Surely you could have come up with some material for the Cars and Girls thread ?

I broke down outside the most expensive house on the planet I think, and they were having a children's birthday party so there was a continuous stream of rather extraordinary milfs. But no photos because that would have been weird plus they had small children and I don't want to spend the rest of my life getting shanked with a broken fork at Her Majesty's pleasure.

 

Actually the house owner was very nice and came out to offer sympathy and refreshments. It turns out he has some cars of his own, several of which are Italian, so he knows how that goes. I don't think any of them were shonky Gammas, Betas or Dedras, mind.

 

 

Edit: big lol at 'maintenance pause', I shall nick that.

[EssDeeWon]

Worse parts of London to break down in.  

 

When  I was a kid in the good old 80s we took my dads old Rover 2600 into Central London, funny you mention Tower Hill as that was one of the few places it boiled over big time that day before being abandoned at Aldgate.  No Breakdown cover.  It was a slam door ride home to Southend. Don't tell anyone, but we bunked it too. Sept 1987.

[Asimo]

Last time I was in London in a car, stationary for a long time near Regents Park because of a poorly Maserati.

 

A "Bermuda Triangle" for Italian class?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

How did prestige go from this:

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

To this?

 

 

 

[320touring]

^^easy credit m9

[HMC]

Suited, and in a Gamma coupe, in Regent's Park.

 

In the history of FTP'ing in style this has never and will never be bettered. Unlucky skizz, but 5000/10 at the same time.

[JeeExEll]

Romans. What did they ever do for us..

[carlo]

Back to the Gamma:  The interior is lush.  Pale velour cloth with Ls on it.  You sit in a low and very Italian driving position, looking over the impressive dashboard which has MANYS dials, lights, buttons, switches and WTF is thats.  The gearstick is a thing of design and manufacturing beauty.   So too are the interior door handles.  The build quality feels good - the car doesn't feel at all flimsy. The car has an understated elegance to match that of its owner.  It manages to be simultaneously angular and mildly curvy (I am talking of the car now, not of Skizzer).  It has presence, but it isn't aggressive.  It is like a really good bespoke suit, hand made by a slightly mad but very talented Italian tailor.  It is in all respects simply fabulous.  

 

Wonderful thread, really enjoying it.  I would slightly quibble though at your description of those Lancias' gearsticks, I remember it from a Beta saloon I had many years ago and the thing is a disaster to actually use for its primary purpose i.e. changing gear.

[Guest Hooli]

That doesn't matter though, it breaks down before you change gear trice. It's there to admire whilst you await the AA.

[Guest Breadvan72]

If we time things correctly today, I could be broken down on the eastbound hard shoulder of the M4 whilst you are broken down on the westbound hard shoulder of the M4.   Shall we say about five miles east of Membury Services?  

 

 

 

 

Ffffffuuuuuuuccccckkkkk!  I put a curse on the Skizzergammakooop!  V sorry, chap.  You can beat me up with the fancy gearstick.

[Guest Breadvan72]

... It was a slam door ride home to Southend. Don't tell anyone, but we bunked it too. Sept 1987.

 

I can haz totez dobbed you in to the Feds.  Expect the TfL knock any minute now. 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I can haz totez dobbed you in to the Feds.  Expect the TfL knock any minute now. 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Beautiful car and a superb thread.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I AM SKIZYMANDIAS, KING OF SHITE

 

LOOK UPON MY FLEET YE LOSERS, AND DESPAIR

[Skizzer]

I AM SKIZYMANDIAS, KING OF SHITE

LOOK UPON MY FLEET YE LOSERS, AND DESPAIR

I think the next line is more to the point: "Nothing besides remains round the colossal wreck..."

 

Wendy from the garage phoned today - new ignition module is inbound on Monday (which I expect means Tuesday with it being a bank holiday even in Croydon).

[pompei]

Walter de la Mare, Shelley, a step up from Haynes

[uk_senator]

Such a pretty thing.. Your making me want to make room to rescue this poor thing (along with the Dedra & a Fiat 130 Coupe it shares a driveway with).

 

Top work.

[alcyonecorporation]

To this?

Simple, the Audi was never class to begin to with. The Lancia still is, nowt's changed. You have to keep the grunters busy somehow. 

[captain_70s]

The good thing about these is that when they break down you can just sit them outside your house and look at them, thus restoring your faith in life.