I’m not talking about Cuba territory, just the old daily drivers I see regularly in Spain.
Today I parked up in Llíber, the Jalon valley if you’re interested, a 6 mile walk/limp with a pal before the heat of the day. Parked next to a Seat 127 Especial 5 door hatch.yes. 5 door.. A gold metallic, probably not the original paintwork, badly peeling lacquer, but as is the case with these things, tiny next to my C3. It was gone when I returned ...I’ve happy memories of the 127. Circa 1975 myself and friends, in four cars, drove from Bradford to St Trop for a summer holiday. One of them was a Fiat 127..3 door hatch. I don’t remember a 5 door Fiat 127, but my memory ain’t what it was.
Splashing out on expensive €4.99 Lidl Alborino from Lidl hasn’t helped matters...we normally set a €4 limit on our wine purchases. Profligate Thursday.
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Years ago I had a red 3 door saloon 127 (odd it wasn't a hatchback, although it looked like it would be) and it was a great if very basic car. I remember that the washers for the front screen were operated by pressing a rubber button on the dash and the water for this was in what looked like a hot water bottle under the bonnet hung from two hooks. No motor there..
No radio as standard either. Loved that car though...
A few years later in a case of bangernomics I bought another one. This time in green. Cost me £100 and ran it for a year before getting £25 for it at the scrap yard. Proper budget motoring!
We were on a Greek island in June and I was astonished to see a white one parked off road next to a shed. Could not tell if it was road worthy, but brought back some happy memories....
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>> Years ago I had a red 3 door saloon 127 (odd it wasn't a hatchback,
>> although it looked like it would be) and it was a great if very basic
>> car. I remember that the washers for the front screen were operated by pressing a
>> rubber button on the dash and the water for this was in what looked like
>> a hot water bottle under the bonnet hung from two hooks. No motor there..
>>
>>
>>
When washers first became mandatory for all cars (Whether already fitted or not) that was the standard upgrade kit. I remember helping a mate fit one to a Mk1 Cortina.
I had a few cars with manual pump washers, back then only the more expensive ones came with electric units. The first car I travelled in with an electric pump was a funeral car when the old man popped his clogs in '77. I thought it was ever so posh.
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Sat 1 Oct 22 at 17:06
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Lots of my early cars had a rubber bulb on the floor with a switch ring round it, Mash your foot on it to squirt stuff feebly on the screen and operate the wipers.
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I updated my 1600E to a dual system plus a control unit.
So with the electric system had the option of a four jet system
With the control system I could adjust the timing between wipes or washes or both.
Just one of several rare or very rare non performance enhancements I made to the 1600E.
It was rare to begin with as from new it had seats from a two door 1600E
It was a challenge to keep it going but I had loads of problems to sort all its life.
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I like the Fiat 127, purely because Mrs Brooks had one. She was my teacher in '77. I had a major crush on her. I've no idea how I managed it but I found her number and I used to call her. I was 10.
A bit of googling tells she's still lives in the same town and still with the same husband. I doubt she has the same Fiat though... She'll be 70 now (and I still would).
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My fav Fiat of the times was the 128 3p
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Blimey....I’d totally forgotten I once owned a bright yellow 128 estate. It was a boxy shaped 3 door. Engine 1200cc ?
Back in the day I used my holidays following rallies...Scottish in June, Mintex in February (?), Manx International Tarmac in September. Then the Lombard RAC in November.
Pretty sure one year 3 of us used the 128 to follow most of them, grabbing a few hours sleep in the car or a tent. Great memories from several decades ago.
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Similar era, my gf at the time often used her mother’s Opel Kadett Coupe...in my eye they were both smoking hot in the looks department.
My gf never found out.
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>> Lots of my early cars had a rubber bulb on the floor with a switch
>> ring round it, Mash your foot on it to squirt stuff feebly on the screen
>> and operate the wipers.
Ford?
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>>back then only the more expensive ones came with electric units.
I had an A35 in the late sixties with electric washer. Smiths unit IIRC, had a great big rectangular, glass jar water container that looked like a sweet jar.
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>>Years ago I had a red 3 door saloon 127 (odd it wasn't a hatchback, although it looked like it >>would be)
Are you sure it was a 127? I recall seeing a 127 lookalike based on the 850, complete with rear engine, but obviously no hatch.
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Early 127s didn’t have a hatch - like early Peugeot 104s ( of which I had one - great car) even though they looked like they should have.
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Yep, the boot was hinged below the glass rear window, but still looked like a hatchback. I think that the later green one had a conventional hatch hinged above the glass screen.
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Old cars overseas - Slightlyfatdirector
