Fiat Experiences

Fiat Experiences

Sir,

I was interested to read Mr. R. J. Hardaker’s letter in the October issue concerning his experience with his Fiat 124 Special ‘I 160o. I have owned a 1400 c.c. Special 1 for fifteen months, during which time I have covered 17,000 trouble-free miles. My only problem has been the necessity to replace the cylinder head gasket after about 1,5oo miles, which was purely due to the inefficiency of the garage servicing the car, after the first soo miles, when they failed to tighten down the cylinder head. Other than that, to date I have nothing but praise for Fiats.

I consider the car to be a first-class family and sporting saloon, having excellent acceleration considering its capacity, and capable of cruising comfortably at 90 m.p.h.

I would, however, be interested to hear other owners’ experiences on the road holding. Since IleW the car has been shod with Pirelli Cinturatos. In dry conditions when driven hard the car tends to understeer, but in the wet I find the back-end very lively, with the result that it would be very easy to lose eontrol if driving without due care in such conditions.

Lichfield. R. S. KETTEL.