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1 hour ago, Viv said:

I find that the current Abarth 595 is an interesting car ...

I would like to try one.

My wife had one of them for 9 years. It is a fun car to drive, if only they had remembered to put some suspension in. It made my old Mini Cooper S 1340 feel like a limousine. She has just replaced it four weeks ago, when I bought her a new Suzuki Swift Sport Hybrid (her choice). 

Wilson

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3 hours ago, NigelG said:

Yes Wilson has it exactly right......that's why the louvres were "important" as they are not sitting at their usual "500" angle in the photo....

Back in my days with a 1959 Beetle I used to attend many of the VW festivals including those which took place at the Santa Pod Raceway (1/4 mile drag strip for those not familiar with the place).

It was common practice in the 'Modified' class for owners to have the engine-lid popped open several inches to aid cooling but, unlike the 500, the lid was fixed at the lower end and opened-up at the top; the reason being that if the lid was opened in the 'Fiat fashion' there would be a very strong tendency for HOT air/gasses from the exhaust system to be sucked into the engine compartment which would have defeated the whole idea...

Philip.

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AFAIK the 595  bootlid is held open permanently on struts because the modified engine doesn’t actually fit the bay…rather than being for any cooling purposes.

A cute Italian alternative to the front bonnet “power bulge” 😀

Edited by NigelG
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Am I correct in thinking that the Steyr Puch 650TR uses a completely different engine - a flat twin rather than the vertical twin of the Nuova 500 (180º or 360º - not sure)?

Wilson

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Maybe - would have to look it up.

Certainly the 595 (actually 594cc) is a rebore/recarb/recam/re-exhaust of the 500 (that was only 479cc!) but i think the SP 650 was their own flat twin not a Fiat engine.

(Even if that’s based partly on the fact that 

a) they could shut the engine cover

b) I think the cover hinges the other way…

 

Edited by NigelG
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4 hours ago, NigelG said:

AFAIK the 595  bootlid is held open permanently on struts because the modified engine doesn’t actually fit the bay…rather than being for any cooling purposes...

Hmm....

Not according to this (official?) photograph from 1966;

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Philip.

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5 hours ago, NigelG said:

Maybe - would have to look it up.

Certainly the 595 (actually 594cc) is a rebore/recarb/recam/re-exhaust of the 500 (that was only 479cc!) but i think the SP 650 was their own flat twin not a Fiat engine.

(Even if that’s based partly on the fact that 

a) they could shut the engine cover

b) I think the cover hinges the other way…

 

Maybe for the Steyr-Puch it would be the engine they used in the Mini-Haflinger, the one that used DAF 66 transmission. My mother had a DAF 66, which was not a good starter, not improved by my mother furiously pumping on the accelerator while trying to start the car. She ended up with so much petrol in the sump that it flashed off and blew the dipstick right through the bonnet, never to be seen again. 😁

Wilson

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My Cambridge Uni friend had a DAF 66 he inherited from a distant aunt  - tolerable over short distances only as a “mechanical horse” but a long cross-country jaunt on a shooting match was excruciating with the combined lack of power and whine from the belt transmission 😬

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1 hour ago, wlaidlaw said:

Maybe for the Steyr-Puch it would be the engine they used in the Mini-Haflinger, the one that used DAF 66 transmission. My mother had a DAF 66, which was not a good starter, not improved by my mother furiously pumping on the accelerator while trying to start the car. She ended up with so much petrol in the sump that it flashed off and blew the dipstick right through the bonnet, never to be seen again. 😁

Wilson

 

3 hours ago, pippy said:

Hmm....

Not according to this (official?) photograph from 1966;

Philip.

Pippy

I’m in no way an expert on these lovely machines though the chap who looks after my Bristol races one…and it’s lid is on struts and won’t possibly close over the engine AFAIK.

I note the 695 bonnet (boot) hatch is hinged the opposite direction to the normal 500 in the graphic and none of them have the much more exaggerated flared arches I would have expected.

But yes I agree - as per the illustration the 595SS - can be “strutless” though I’ve never seen one on the road  in that configuration. 🤔

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Let's try this one.  All the usuals, please.

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My father was very fond of giving distorted names to cars. For example, a Sunbeam Rapier became a Sunshine Reaper. He had his name for this car and Christoph got part of it above. It seemed a strange car for Camus to buy (and die in), given he was an anarcho-syndicalist and marxist, although Lenin had a weakness for Rolls Royces. 

Wilson

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