1982 Fiat Panda 30

[Eddie Honda]

Cold start video from before I changed the leads/plugs

Hat-tip for the wee tin box on wheels.

Boot in the baws for filming in portrait.

It was for TikTok, it’s kinda how it works.

It's kinda how a kick in the bag is appropriate. TikTok. Pffft.

[Warren t claim]

I've somehow managed to own two Pandas.

The first was a super scabby 1.0l on a C plate. Replacing the clutch cable was a fucking nightmare due to the placement of the brake servo on RHD versions. It never managed to run properly after I ran out of fuel in it despite my best efforts at carb cleaning. It eventually got scrapped when it snapped the exhaust manifold due to an engine mount collapsing because of Fiat corrosion.

The second was an almost tidy H plate 750. Surprisingly solid for a nine year old Fiat, only the rotten door bottoms let it down. It's main quirk was that it would cut out at 28 miles for no reason and only restart after a ten minute rest. The only other problem is that it had suffered an attempted theft meaning that occasionally the steering lock would engage whilst negotiating a roundabout.

[SiC]

I've somehow managed to own two Pandas.

The first was a super scabby 1.0l on a C plate. Replacing the clutch cable was a fucking nightmare due to the placement of the brake servo on RHD versions. It never managed to run properly after I ran out of fuel in it despite my best efforts at carb cleaning. It eventually got scrapped when it snapped the exhaust manifold due to an engine mount collapsing because of Fiat corrosion.

The second was an almost tidy H plate 750. Surprisingly solid for a nine year old Fiat, only the rotten door bottoms let it down. It's main quirk was that it would cut out at 28 miles for no reason and only restart after a ten minute rest. The only other problem is that it had suffered an attempted theft meaning that occasionally the steering lock would engage whilst negotiating a roundabout.

Everytime I read about one of your car anecdote, I can fully understand why you buy brand new cars nowadays.

[Warren t claim]

I've somehow managed to own two Pandas.

The first was a super scabby 1.0l on a C plate. Replacing the clutch cable was a fucking nightmare due to the placement of the brake servo on RHD versions. It never managed to run properly after I ran out of fuel in it despite my best efforts at carb cleaning. It eventually got scrapped when it snapped the exhaust manifold due to an engine mount collapsing because of Fiat corrosion.

The second was an almost tidy H plate 750. Surprisingly solid for a nine year old Fiat, only the rotten door bottoms let it down. It's main quirk was that it would cut out at 28 miles for no reason and only restart after a ten minute rest. The only other problem is that it had suffered an attempted theft meaning that occasionally the steering lock would engage whilst negotiating a roundabout.

Everytime I read about one of your car anecdote, I can fully understand why you buy brand new cars nowadays.

Another Panda quirk was stripping the splines one the single wiper meaning either a tricky replacement or bodging it with Araldite. I did the latter, not due to being lazy, but because facelift Pandas were quite rare in the scrapyard at the time.

Remember this post I made a while ago?

sct1.PNG (188.19 KiB) Viewed 2496 times

Well, Mike the all night garage attendant/property magnate/used car dealer also loved trading Pandas due to them being easy to shift, certainly a lot easier to move on than the Lagonda! He bought a stolen recovered G plater from Universal Salvage back in 1996 for the princely sum of £180. After speaking to the last owner it turns out that her son stole it, drove it up to a wall and ran it through the gears. Somewhat surprisingly the poor Panda survived with only cosmetic damage!

[paulplom]

I had an H reg black 1 litre one that I bought of a work mate for £250 at five years old. He couldn't get it to run right and just wanted shot.
The little screw that held the points in had stripped on the distributer side and would become loose over time. I'd just adjust them back up every now and then when it would start to run rough.
Good little car with no rust. I can't remember what I did with it.

[DodgeRover]

Cor that is minging, was that the one Glover had? NHS psychiatric unit blue too.

He wants to be careful (especially as a journalist) that's a couple now where he's got confused and put the wrong logbook with the wrong car.....

[SiC]

Cor that is minging, was that the one Glover had? NHS psychiatric unit blue too.

He wants to be careful (especially as a journalist) that's a couple now where he's got confused and put the wrong logbook with the wrong car.....

I don't know if it was him who did that to this, but was the previous owner to him.

[Kiltox]

AFAIK SiC is correct, the small administrative error happened under a previous owner.

[8BAK465]

Love it! I remember there being a small family run fiat dealership near my childhood home and seeing one that very colour ready for launch day parked around back.

In a way I think they lost their charm when they did the facelift

The original was the best in peasant trim for the masses less was definitely more