Scottish Alfa Club Italian Car Day

[thepuddlejumper]

Hi all the ALFA car day will be held on the 29th May its a great day out with lots of italian marks to see and things to do, see link http://alfascot.com/sicd.htm it would be good to see a few 500's.

Ralph

[kitten75]

Hi Ralph

I was totally up for going to this one but just last night have offered to do a friend's house viewing that day whilst she's on holiday - aaagghhh!

I'm still to take the car on a longer journey - farthest i've been is about 60 miles round trip...need to just be brave and go for it!  got to get to East Kilbride on Sunday so may attempt that, alternatively another trip to Stonehaven is on the cards on Monday so may attempt that...I'm just so paranoid about breaking down even with RAC cover!!

If you go to St Andrews please post some pics...

Mhairi

[Rusty's Uncle]

I know where you are coming from there Mhairi as a few breakdowns do tend to dent dent your confidence and we face that problem all of the time but cars were designed for driving & not to break down. In fact unless a car is worn out you are probably more likely to suffer a problem on repeated short runs rather than a long haul.

From Wikipedia :

In May 2007 a 1969 Fiat 500 ("Bambino" in Australia) driven by Lang Kidby and his wife Bev started their Fiat 500 World Expedition from Australia. Driving from Vladivostok through Russia they arrived in Garlenda, Italy in time for the car's 50th anniversary celebration. Shipping from Belgium the car set out from New York to travel all the way to Anchorage, Alaska before returning to Australia—32,000 road kilometers in just 99 days. It is believed to be the smallest car to complete a world circumnavigation.
 

[thepuddlejumper]

Mhairi, Rusty I met Lang and his wife in Belgium when they joined the 500 tour europa for the 2007 launch of the new 500.  I covered 3000+ miles on that trip in my gamine fitted with a 126 650 with panda head. If you look up you tube-Tour Europa:St Gottard Pass my gamine is I think four cars in. See links below, tried and tried the button then  realised use the long link and it worked I get there in the end

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqyo_ImTB3s[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgNGwhcd-Tw[/youtube]

[K666STW]

Me and the other half are  going to this, unfortunately we will be attending in her Panda Parade. 126 was there last year and the Marea the year before so it's the old Pandas turn I'm told.

[Eklipze3k]

Take both, it's not like it's far for you to go

[thepuddlejumper]

The brakes are seized on the 126, will try to free off on Saturday, but if unsuccessful I will take the Gamine, not started it in a few months so hope it fires up. See you there.

Ralph

[K666STW]

Take both, it's not like it's far for you to go

Is when only one of us has a license. 

[kitten75]

Well, took the car to East Kilbride Sunday and it ran beautifully , especially on the motorway - i think he likes to think he can compete with the big cars!  Engine sounded great at 65 mph, no shudders, noises etc but on taking him out monday he's now once again only running on a full choke and when you push the choke in he cuts out!  Last time it was a dent in the fuel pipe - am wondering if this may have resurrected itself?!

Mhairi

[thepuddlejumper]

Got up this morning to see howling winds and torrential rain, had second thoughts on going in the gamine.  The brakes are still locked on the 126 so the gamine it was. I took her to work on Friday and all went well, little did I know what was in store.  Any way topped the tank up, had fuel in the garage for the lawn mower, checked all was well and set off.  About 1 mile out the roof decided to part company. Fortunately I managed to catch it with one hand and bring the car to a stop quickly.  Returned to my garage check what had broken and found the rivets that hold on the spring clip which locks the roof in place had broken. Thought this as an easy fix just drill out and use pop rivets as a temporary repair.  First thing was to find the spring clip, no where to be found I even went back to the place the incident occurred but to no avail.  After tearing what hair I have left out I found it lurking under the carpet under the passenger seat, how did it get there?  Checked the hole size looked for a drill bit couldn't find any searched high and low took me about 30mins then the bit broke spent ages trying to find another.  Eventually Angela found more drills in a kitchen drawer so back to the repair or so I thought.  None of the drills were the correct size, I had to enlarge the holes to fit the nearest size pop rivet.  Angela said everything is against you today perhaps someone is trying to tell you something. The rain came on hard, I threw the towel in and pushed the beastie in the garage locked up and walked away.  I may venture into the garage tomorrow and repair it. But for today I give up. If you managed to get to the meet I hope you had a great time.  Maybe next year.

Ralph