This is the first car that I ever bought.
After the little black FIAT was unceremoniously denied access to public roads, it was necessary to replace it.
I wanted something a bit unusual, and came across this FIAT - which to be perfectly honest, I knew nothing about. But when I asked my Dad about it, the vehicle he described was definitely interesting to me.
It was a 1968 FIAT 2300 Saloon - something like this:
Ours was very much like this one - same colour, same wheels.... I think it was exactly this model in fact.
It was sitting in some guy's garage, where it had stopped and wouldn't start again.
It turns out that this guy knew nothing about cars, and when the oil pressure light came on he figured it was low on oil and put more in - and did that a few times, until it just stopped running.
What he didn't know was that it had developed a head gasket leak and the oil pressure light was coming on not because it was low on oil, but because the oil was contaminated with water.
My dad had a good look around the thing and decided that we could fix it up with a bit of work, but not much real trouble.
I think the guy wanted $500 for it, and we might have offered him $400 - which he accepted.
But because it was a non-runner, we had to go and get a trailer. When we came back with it the guy wouldn't take more than $200.
Anyway, back at home my dad got to work getting it up and running - I think we got about 8ltrs of grey sludgy goop out of the motor,but the rings were totally shot.
We could get it to fire if we put some oil into each cylinder and then put the plugs in. It was enough to tell us that the motor was basically a goer, if we could fix the gasket leak and put in some new rings.
I should probably say at this stage that when I say "we" what I actually mean is my dad - I would stand around and try to look useful, but the reality is that my dad is a talented farm mechanic, and I can follow basic fix it book instructions.........
The long and short of it is that he got it running with the help of some Citroen rings which were a perfect fit and more easily available than the FIAT ones.
I can tell you right now that that vehicle was a beautiful way to travel.
Big, wide, comfy leather lounge type seats - or maybe they were really good mock leather - I am not sure.
An auto box that was so smooth you could barely feel the changes.
A 2.3 ltr straight six engine that was lovely and silky, and had a nice growl to it when you put the boot in.
It was a medium sized four door saloon car that was used as a limousine in Italy, or so I am led to believe.
In any case, it felt luxury, from the smooth way of travelling, to the interior appointments.
I loved it - it just made you want to relax and enjoy the trip.
Unfortunately, due the age and lack of care before we got it, and probably the amount of time that it sat with that goop inside it, it was never really reliable.
What it needed was a full restoration, but I was a young guy with other things on my mind, and didn't have the time or money for such a task.
But this car took myself and my girlfriend (now wife) on many long drives.
Probably the most memorable was a trip from Perth to Augusta and back one day - about 400km each way.
We hit a bird - didn't do any damage.
Shredded a tyre - the tread just peeled off of it. It was funny because we had this tapping noise that got slowly louder. When I stopped on the side of the road to check it, I rubbed my hand around the tyre that I thought the noise was coming from, and couldn't feel anything. Got back in and drove a bit more, and the tapping turned into banging and then stopped, but a vibration from that corner got really bad.
Fearing something had gone seriously wrong, we stopped for another look and found the tread missing a great section. when I stopped the first time, that part must have been right on the bottom...
Changed the tyre, and continued on our way. Had a nice lunch in Augusta, and then turned for home in the middle of the afternoon.
About 100 km into the return trip the car started blowing smoke - just a small amount at first, but it quickly grew to be a smokescreen of James Bond proportions.
Of course I stopped as soon as it started, and initially couldn't see anything.
As we approached Busselton, we passed a police car going in the other direction - they both craned their necks around as we passed each other, and although I couldn't see what they were doing, I just pulled straight over to the side of the road and waited. 2 or 3 mins later the police car pulled up behind us.
They asked us about it, I explained what had happened and that we were trying to get to Busselton to get it looked at. They very kindly told me to drive carefully to Busselton and then stop there until it was fixed.
I didn't tell them, but that was just not possible - we were not married, and as Christians it was just not going to happen that we would stay somewhere alone together overnight.
The mechanic who had a quick look said we had blown a plug to an oil channel in the back of the motor, and it was spraying oil onto the exhaust. He couldn't fix it, but he sold us some oil and said drive slowly and you might be OK.
So we drove from Busselton back home - about 300 km at about 45 mph (70kph). A long trip to be sure, but if we kept it below 50mph (the speedo was in mph) then it didn't blow much smoke - you could see it, but it was a shadow.
Over 50mph and I could see nothing but grey in the mirror.
I truly loved that car, and if we could have made it reliable I would never have sold it - and now of course I wish I hadn't sold it.
But it was no use to a young, soon to be married guy to have a car that couldn't be trusted.
But I still miss it.
So nice, so smooth, so comfy.... and that motor had a sound and an urge to it that was just magical.
No comments:
Post a Comment