a.j.z Posted July 6, 2020 Share #13241 Posted July 6, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) After closer consideration I opt for Fiat 130, ca 1970. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 6, 2020 Posted July 6, 2020 Hi a.j.z, Take a look here Name this car..... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
hektor Posted July 6, 2020 Share #13242 Posted July 6, 2020 11 hours ago, NigelG said: My initial thought was also Fiat 128 quattroporte saloon. In the early eighties I was looking for a small car to commute between our house and work. At the same time I visited Maranello with a client and while he was conferring with Mr Ferrari asked the executives what the great man drove as his everyday car. They took me out the back and showed me a dark blue Fiat 128 Berline to which a Fiat X1/9 engine had been fitted and with the suspension subtly modified. On return to Australia I bought exactly that car, and one made in Italy not assembled in South Africa. In due course it was similarly modified although I did retain the single throat carburettor to maintain high gas speed and thus mid-range torque. A delightful car which I drove until rust got the better of it. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! 5 Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=4005060'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 7, 2020 Share #13243 Posted July 7, 2020 (edited) Rust got the better of my X1/9 within 6 months of it being "new", with holes right through the bodywork. After some investigation, we found it had been built 2 years before purchase, as a LHD car and sat in a damp field near the Bertone assembly line, until it was stripped and run back through the line as a RHD car. It was horrible and compared with my then brother-in-law's X1/9 the handling was dreadful. As you came into any corner, you never knew which end was going to have the greater slip angle. After a lot of wrangling, Fiat agreed to buy it back at new price less 5%. The worst car I ever owned. The quality of construction of the Saab 99 Turbo I replaced it with, was a revelation. I did 90,000 miles over the next three and a bit years and the only replacements required were a front exhaust section, a water pump and front shock absorbers (plus of course a lot of front tyres 😀) Wilson Edited July 7, 2020 by wlaidlaw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted July 7, 2020 Share #13244 Posted July 7, 2020 Wilson - Worse than your Morgan 3-wheeler? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 7, 2020 Share #13245 Posted July 7, 2020 Stuart, My Morgan 3 Wheeler is now grandfather's axe, with a new head and two new handles It was totally remanufactured by Morgan themselves 18 months ago, with yet another new chassis, plus lots of mods done by me to the engine, transmission, suspension, springs, shock absorbers, air intake, fuel injection, exhausts, ECU, drive sprockets, steering geometry, tyres (now running on Excelsior Competition H 4.00 x 19" racing tyres made for Bugatti 37 cars at the front and a Yokohama all weather rally 195/50 x 15 tyre at the back, it is finally what it should have been from day one, now 8 years ago. I was on a rally with it last year and on a narrow twisty road, I could stay with a well driven 2.7 RS 911. It gets more smiles from bystanders than any other car I have owned. Collecting it from its winter hibernation near St Tropez on Thusday. Wilson 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 7, 2020 Share #13246 Posted July 7, 2020 I also had a Fiat X1-9 - my first “proper” car after a couple of parental cast-offs - which began to disassemble itself gradually, starting internally with random plastic fittings then progressing via tin-worm to more serious issues.... A great handling car in the sunny parts of France when I was doing a chateau project as a youngster but plagued by the the often-remarked fact that they styled the outside and then some poor sod had to fit the “car” stuff in. I remember any maintenance through the narrow engine cover seeming to require extra long tools, bits that went round corners and long arms/small hands with skinned knuckles. I think there was also a fan and duct arrangement to keep the carburettor etc cooled - necessitated by it being mounted over the exhaust manifold. Mine died in a ball of fire (and me nearly with it) on the Autoroute from Paris when petrol started leaking onto said exhaust. As I slowed due to poor engine performance the rear view mirror lit up as the flames that had been emerging horizontally from the back of the car at speed became more vertical - right behind my head! The contstrictions of the design meant that the spare was mounted inside the cabin behind the drivers seat and the petrol tank behind the passenger (or maybe vice versa) shielded by a Fiat-standard firewall. I believe the spare was beginning to smoke inside the car when I bailed out.... I have a challenge pic to post tomorrow 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 8, 2020 Share #13247 Posted July 8, 2020 Advertisement (gone after registration) A new neighbour here in the Cotswolds was exercising a couple of his many and varied cars from storage so I finally have a pic to post. Nothing particularly hard but maybe not so easy if you have to correctly name both vehicles exactly.... Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/119687-name-this-car/?do=findComment&comment=4005862'>More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 8, 2020 Share #13248 Posted July 8, 2020 A Mk.2 Land Rover and a Bristol 403 with the continental touring kit (external spare wheel). Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 8, 2020 Share #13249 Posted July 8, 2020 Nearly and nearly.... A guess at years would also be good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted July 8, 2020 Share #13250 Posted July 8, 2020 Bristol 400, not a 403 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim J Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13251 Posted July 9, 2020 8 hours ago, hektor said: Bristol 400, not a 403 And I would add that the Land Rover is more likely a Series IIA. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13252 Posted July 9, 2020 LR is not a IIA... The Bristol is a 400 - there are clues to an approx year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13253 Posted July 9, 2020 I believe they made the 400 from 1947 to 1950. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hektor Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13254 Posted July 9, 2020 33 minutes ago, NigelG said: The Bristol is a 400 - there are clues to an approx year. Dear Nigel, the opening rear window was an option in every year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim J Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13255 Posted July 9, 2020 Bristols aren't my area of expertise, but does the downward pointing bootlid handle indicate a Series II 400 from 1949 or 1950? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13256 Posted July 9, 2020 I think those handles were always fitted with the continental touring kit, external spare wheel, as that covered the original handle, lower down on the boot lid but that may be with later cars 401/2/3. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13257 Posted July 9, 2020 1 hour ago, hektor said: Dear Nigel, the opening rear window was an option in every year. But a boot mounted spare wasn’t...need to check my Bristol books re the window - I don’t think it was originally an option 🤔 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham (G4FUJ) Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13258 Posted July 9, 2020 Think the Land Rover is a late S1, but I couldn't give you a year. Don't think those chrome headlamp rings featured on S11 or 11a IIRC. Don't have a clue about the other car Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13259 Posted July 9, 2020 1 minute ago, Graham (G4FUJ) said: Think the Land Rover is a late S1, but I couldn't give you a year. Don't think those chrome headlamp rings featured on S11 or 11a IIRC. Don't have a clue about the other car The side and flasher lights are later Lucas proprietary units as well, commonly used on farm trailers (inevitably broken and non-functional). I wonder if the Continental Touring Kit on the later Bristols, 401/2/3 was basically just a 400 boot lid, together with removing the false boot floor which covered the spare in its normal position. I have never driven a 6 cylinder Bristol and it is one of the cars I would like to try. I am very familiar with the 2 litre Bristol engine, where we currently have one of the original 1947 prototype engines in a 1939 BMW 328 (fitted for the 1948 Monte Carlo Rally, after the original BMW unit failed at Le Mans earlier that year) and have also had them in an AC and a Frazer-Nash LMR. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelG Posted July 9, 2020 Share #13260 Posted July 9, 2020 (edited) Graham has the LR spot on - late Series 1 (1955 - not sure when the Series II production started (LRs aren't my thing...) Re the Bristol I would take a decent stab at the year as "winning". I haven't been able to get a final answer from factory sheets etc re the boot. As far as I can ascertain it was not initially available - launch documents and early road tests comment on the fitment of the spare within the boot housing "ensuring that it is kept clean". I guess it took a few years for everyone to re - realise that it took up a lot of space and meant taking everything out...My 408 has the famous Bristol wing bay mounted spare. I can't find any of the later models 401/2/3 having this option as the aerodynamics were more considered (there are great pics of cars being driven on runways with tufts of wool on them) and the spare was housed under the boot in a rear accessed tray so no additional space would be liberated.I will look through some club lists to see whether I can find any cars like this - the earlier models are not really my area. The opening window was not originally offered but added later for customers "in sunnier climes". In order to maximise interior space in the narrow body shell Bristol curved the doors to the extent that only sliding windows were fitted with an obvious impact on the interior temperatures. Edited July 9, 2020 by NigelG 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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