fiat500 said:

I put the rocker-gasket through its leak-free paces today with a 170 mile round-trip to Gairloch,......... a new personal best.

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Just want to double check... that 170 miles..
not 1.70 nor 17.0 miles?

Bigvtwin996 said:

Just want to double check... that 170 miles..
not 1.70 nor 17.0 miles?

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Let's just round it up to 274 kilometres; then it sounds like an achievement.

Great journey! So jealous of your trip and the cracking scenery

72.3 MPH ????

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED :slayer:

lazylobster said:

Great journey! So jealous of your trip and the cracking scenery

72.3 MPH ????

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED :slayer:

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I'll accept defeat in advance. Preserve your engine.

Why are people seem surprised that a 500 can do a decent mileage in a day? My wife and I had a holiday in Italy last year, and one of the high-lights of our holiday was the day I spent with my friend Joseph at a 'Raduno'. The whole round trip was 390km---in a 1963, suicide-door 500---Brugneta to Norchia, to Casteluccia, back to Norchia (for the meal) and then back home, and the little engine didn't miss a beat. When Ann and I were 'courting', we thought nothing of driving up to Edinburgh from South London---and that was 400 MILES.

the hobbler said:

Why are people seem surprised that a 500 can do a decent mileage in a day? My wife and I had a holiday in Italy last year, and one of the high-lights of our holiday was the day I spent with my friend Joseph at a 'Raduno'. The whole round trip was 390km---in a 1963, suicide-door 500---Brugneta to Norchia, to Casteluccia, back to Norchia (for the meal) and then back home, and the little engine didn't miss a beat. When Ann and I were 'courting', we thought nothing of driving up to Edinburgh from South London---and that was 400 MILES.

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Ahhh you hit the nail on the head there Tom.. of course in a Prototypi built to a far higher standard it's easy to do such miles... but the more modern 500s, with the rusty Chrome headlight trims, rusty bumper mounts.. and pressed steel everywhere..... built to a price rather than built with passione :devil::devil::devil: who would believe they were capable of lasting such a distance...

Bigvtwin996 said:

who would believe they were capable of lasting such a distance...

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.....or for such a long time... especially those early, experimental versions.[emoji3]

the hobbler said:

Why are people seem surprised that a 500 can do a decent mileage in a day?.

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I don't think they are.... I think the previous comments may have been a bit tongue in cheek. Obviously our achievement yesterday was no biggie....400km in a day is more usual for us. [emoji3]
High mileages are not unachievable but for many practical reasons they seem to be rarely achieved.

We are getting the rough end of winter weather now but you do get the occasional glimmer of sunshine. So after a shopping trip we diverting out into the wilds above Inverness and headed for a walk in the hills along Loch Ruthven. In order to get there, in reverse, I retraced the route of the recent LeJog rally which I followed in the middle of the night....it's a lot prettier in the sunshine and strangely,the twists and turns seem more extreme and challenging; maybe when you can't see the danger it's not as scary.

I've just cleared out a blocked ear which I have had for a week or so (lovely :yuck and it's amazing how much better the car sounds again now that I get the full range of it's tuneful notes; the boominess and rattles appear to have gone.

We've been getting a bit salty this week because the bright weather and slippery roads are too tempting to avoid.
It's really toasty inside the car with the heater on full-blast and because the new gearbox hasn't yet realised that it's supposed to leak, the air-quality is good.
We increased our top-speed record by 0.2mph to 73.5 but then hit a slight incline. Petrol consumption has definitely gone up recently since the new diff. ratio has encouraged faster speeds.
Murf's going to be ready for a really thorough rinse down at the end of the week but he's not alone. within the last few days I've seen a Morris Minor, an MG Midget and a 2CV enjoying the winter weather. Half the year will have gone before most Fiat 500's are roused from hibernation.

fiat500 said:

We've been getting a bit salty this week because the bright weather and slippery roads are too tempting to avoid.
It's really toasty inside the car with the heater on full-blast and because the new gearbox hasn't yet realised that it's supposed to leak, the air-quality is good.
.............

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your pics always make me jealous, no matter what the weather..
Have you not approach Visit Scotland and offered to do all their promotional work?
Or do you still want to keep it all for yourself...

Bigvtwin996 said:

Have you not approach Visit Scotland and offered to do all their promotional work?
Or do you still want to keep it all for yourself...

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Whilst it's quite nice that I do have a lot of the roads to myself for much of the time, it would be nicer to see them busier with classic cars...especially Fiat 500s of course. So I am hoping that my photos are a little push for Scotland's tourist industry (on which my income depends!). But more than that I want to encourage people to get out there and trust their cars.

I'm just updating the works mileage claim for the month of January and out of 650 miles so far I have covered just under 500 of them in the Fiat 500...not bad for a bloke who's 60 this year in a car that will turn 50.

Another of my repetitive series of cold starts...this morning at -2.....
[ame]https://youtu.be/C3tsfQ9J3TA[/ame]

Another fine afternoon's meandering (literally) with a diversion to the notorious Pass of Inverfarigaig. Nowadays this is an utterly pointless road which has much more sensible alternatives. It starts as a series of seven or eight, real hairpin bends and is narrow, even by Highlands standards. You can just see in the last shot how the road goes from bend to bend like steps .
Murf has done it in second gear but the momentum needed means you end up losing traction with wheels coming off the ground. We did it in a more sedate manner today in a noisy first gear.

fiat500 said:

Another fine afternoon's meandering (literally) with a diversion to the notorious Pass of Inverfarigaig. Nowadays this is an utterly pointless road which has much more sensible alternatives. It starts as a series of seven or eight, real hairpin bends and is narrow, even by Highlands standards. You can just see in the last shot how the road goes from bend to bend like steps .
Murf has done it in second gear but the momentum needed means you end up losing traction with wheels coming off the ground. We did it in a more sedate manner today in a noisy first gear.

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I have reread the saga of Murph from start to finish... but within the "Mods of Murph" I cannot find the article where you converted Murph to be a Driverless Car...

What a beautiful road! Almost made for a 500…

Bigvtwin996 said:

I have reread the saga of Murph from start to finish... but within the "Mods of Murph" I cannot find the article where you converted Murph to be a Driverless Car...

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He knows his way round Scotland by now; so I trusted him to drive himself up the hill and after walking behind for the photos I drove him back down again because the road after the pass is possibly the roughest length of public road I've ever been on...... I wouldn't want to get him dirty.

[ame]https://youtu.be/5VThk8FNp80[/ame]

fiat500 said:

He knows his way round Scotland by now; so I trusted him to drive himself up the hill and after walking behind for the photos I drove him back down again because the road after the pass is possibly the roughest length of public road I've ever been on...... I wouldn't want to get him dirty.

https://youtu.be/5VThk8FNp80

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Lots of arm twirling going on there Peter, practising for a rally by any chance???? What no seatbelt?? Royal family or what????
Ian.

Bleeding Knuckles said:

Lots of arm twirling going on there Peter, practising for a rally by any chance???? What no seatbelt?? Royal family or what????
Ian.

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I don't have the most accomplished driving style, but on this road there isn't much else you can do...see Google:

I read somewhere that even the locals avoid the pass; judged by the leaves and twigs all over the surface that's true and most likely the Police likewise. I was in and out of the car to get the pics so couldn't be arsed to belt-up. Anyway, although I am very much a commoner, Murf has blue-blood, he's a prince among cars and I think that exemption would work if I had to explain to the Police.

fiat500 said:

I don't have the most accomplished driving style, but on this road there isn't much else you can do...see Google:

I read somewhere that even the locals avoid the pass; judged by the leaves and twigs all over the surface that's true and most likely the Police likewise. I was in and out of the car to get the pics so couldn't be arsed to belt-up. Anyway, although I am very much a commoner, Murf has blue-blood, he's a prince among cars and I think that exemption would work if I had to explain to the Police.

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Ooooh I like that road, that’s a bit of me. Straight line driving is boring. Give me loads of twisties I would have been up and down that all day long seeing how quicker I could go. Until the inevitable probably happens!!!!!!!! Looks like a steep hill to roll down as well?

[ame]https://youtu.be/8e2snPTd7s4[/ame]