Someone talk me out of it....

Exactly - it wasn't just Italian cars which suffered. It's just that
Watchdog branded them all as 'potential death traps' and the reputation
stuck.

It's not as if even the Germans were much better at stopping the rust in
the mid to late 70s.

 

I got a reply.

Which isn't a good thing, really.

He gave me the MOT certificate number.

No advisories for rust on the current test.

This is what was noted:

'Offside Inner Front Track rod end ball joint has slight play (2.2.B.1f)
Offside Front rear Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not
resulting in excessive movement '

Which is sod-all, really.

Usable Alfa Spider, with MOT 'till September 2009. For £1750. Hmmmm.

 

That's fucking cheap. 1.6 or 2.0?

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

Ta. I didn't know that.

 

2lt Cloverleaf.

Argh!

 

There was a strong rumour in the late 70's that every ship bringing
Japanese cars into Europe went back laden with scrap cars destined to
be recycled into steel for new Jap cars. Considering the amount of
corrosion involved in the scrap cars, it's hardly surprising that the
new cars had the metal moth already in residence as they arrived in
European ports.

 

There's not that many X, W, Y, A, B or C either. TBH, I don't think it's
really any different to how its always been.

The age of bangers has come down but that's a factor of cars themselves
have become cheaper to buy, more expensive to keep running and more
disposable rather than any inherent improvement in steel quality.

 

The fact a few months back you could get £200ish off a scrap merchant for
your average car helped clear a few in need of repairs and / or an MOT, that
might have more normally been saved.

--
JackH

98 Yamaha Fazer FZS600
03 VW Passat TDI Sport (Resting)
00 VW Golf 1.9 TDI SE Estate

 

Hang on a sec, are we talking the classic Spider here, or the modern
one?

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

Classic. Series III. The fugly one with 75-esque bodykit.

 

I'd be more inclined to suspect the steel had been left outside to rot
rather than it being sub-standard at the point of manufacture.

 

I think there's been a massive improvement in corrosion resistance, mind
you, and that corrosion is the real car-killer.

I remember the Ford Escort (1972 L reg model) I ran in 1978-79: the tin
worm was already eating away at the front wings.

Plus there's been a big improvement in build quality and the engines and
drivetrains themselves. Time was when a lot of cars were shagged at
80-90k miles, or less. Now they're just nicely run in.

They're also cheaper to run. Service intervals are typically 10-12k
miles and the vehicles need less work anyway.

Also, in real terms, the price of cars has come down (as you say).

Where disposability comes in is with some of these new electronic
systems, which can easily write off a car when they go seriously
tits-up. I'm thinking of the fiendishly complicated system in my own
car.

I suppose the ideal cheapo banger would be something from the early to
mid-1990s, with as little electronics as possible.

 

So what's wrong with it? Apart from the usual Alfa ailments?

 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember (SteveH)
saying something like:

Yep. Old 'N' suffixes were the last of the good steel Ford Escorts Mk 2s
for example. P onwards fell apart fairly quickly.

Iirc, there was a Lancia cross-beam in the back of the engine bay which
was a water trap - that, combined with dodgy steel, was lethal to the
car inside of four years.

They did tend to have better rustproofing and zinc plating than many
others, with the exception of Volvo. A huge proportion of dealers of
German cars also offered Ziebarting or similar, which many private
buyers took up as an option.

The winners in the Kwik-Rot Stakes overall were the small Japanese cars
of the 70s - rusted away in front of your eyes and were tissue-thin to
start with.

 

Roof is tatty, so there's around £300-£500 to fix. If you can be
bothered.

Obviously it's not a top condition car, but without any rust advisories
on the MOT, it's probably a good purchase.

Not sure how to get it past the finance director, though.

 

Just buy the fucking thing.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

Same way as before - accidentally leave a zero off the cost.

 

Yep, or thereabouts. The SOJC (1989 Toyota Carina II) just goes and
goes, except when I block up the fuel filter with shit, of course.
Nothing fancy or sophisticated about it to go wrong and the corrosion
proofing shows they had really got their act together by then.

 

That's one thing I love about my Alfa 75.

Really simple Bosch L-Jet injection, no ABS, hydraulic PAS - the only
'electronics' in it, really, are the electric windows and mirrors.

Utterly bomb-proof, that car.

 

<VVBG>

Bad Man.