The Beard said:

Plates from Eire used to be pretty much the same as UK plates, in other words black plates with white or silver letters. When we went to reflective plates Ireland did as well but using a red rear plate instead of yellow. They also used letters Britain didn't such as I Q U & Z. More recently they've adopted the current style with the year followed by a locale followed by a number. So D would be Dublin and MH is Monaghan. Probably more logical than the British system but then they have far less vehicles us.

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The Irish got a bit superstitious about 2013 and were worried that they wouldn't sell many new cars so instead of having 13 on the numberplate, they split the registration to depict the two halves of the year and used 131 for the first half and 132 for the second half.

The Beard said:

My MJ is in a light blue metallic and despite never having been polished and only washed around once every two months is actually looking pretty good. A quick visit to the local hand wash to have it looking nice and bright. On the other hand, I recently had the bottom of the tailgate repaired after rust set in & the N/S sill is starting to go as well and the wheels have lost their finish so they need doing next. But apart from the odd stone chip the Panda is in pretty good nick.

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My wheels could also do with new lacquer applied. They're in quite good unscuffed condition but the top coat has flaked off in places. The only rust I've found on my car was under the bonnet close to the catch. It'll get done when I get around to sorting out my paint problem.

Wee Smurf , I wish I had rust like yours.. e.g. on an isolated mobile panel! Mines on the unibody, but I'm assured it's nothing but surface rust and shan't get worse even in the next 4 years or so..

SB1500 said:

Wee Smurf , I wish I had rust like yours.. e.g. on an isolated mobile panel! Mines on the unibody, but I'm assured it's nothing but surface rust and shan't get worse even in the next 4 years or so..

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I believe Fiat use zinc plated steel on the underbody so any rust has to be bad news. Don't believe the "it'll be ok mate" people. Get it properly jet cleaned and treated before its too late.

DaveMcT said:

IIRC Fiat use galvanised steel on the underbody so any rust has to be bad news. Get it properly jet cleaned and treated before its too late.

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Where and how will this help it rust less? (not being doubtful, because if I can do much to help it I will - we're scared of interfering and exposing even more / ruining the galvanised layer) :-/

The sheet steel is electroplated with a thin zinc layer, then painted and protected as they do with car bodies. If you are seeing rust the zinc has already gone and the underlying steel will rust rapidly.

The solution is to have the whole underbody jet blasted to remove all flaking paint and sealer. Then patch repair any rust damage that exposes and finally properly treat the bare metal. A dirty job and not low cost, but doing half a job is totally pointless as the rust will still be chewing away under the nice new paint.

Something like Frost.co.uk has all sorts of options.
http://www.frost.co.uk/how-to-remove-treat-prevent-rust-eastwood-por15

Alternatively ignore it and scrap the car when the bottom falls out.

All Pandas are awesome!!!

I've always fancied one of those, but I'd want it with the 100hp engine...

mo0kster said:

I've always fancied one of those, but I'd want it with the 100hp engine...

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Me and a friend were wondering this last night, why Fiat didn't do the typical thing and make the 1.4 and 1.3 MJ as the 4x4 options.

Then again, Fiat's upredictableness is perhaps on of their characteristics that keeps us surprised more and more as time goes on!

The 1.2 and 1.4 use the same gearbox so the 1.4 would probably fit in place of the 1.2. Research needed of course. The 4x4. It rides high and geared for off road. The 100HP is all about revs and power so would be pretty useless off road. The MJ is probably too heavy to suit a small car with an already heavy transmission.

The 1.2 can be tuned for more power. Cylinder head and exhaust work needed to do the job properly.

Fiat have produced the 4x4 with the 1.2 60hp, 1.2 69hp, Twinair, and the 1.3 diesel.

The engine I'd like in the Panda, is the Mk2 Punto 1.2 16v 80hp unit. Nice compromise between the 1.2 and 100hp.

I believe he TwinAir is used on the latest (larger) Panda but not the 169. TBH I prefer the look of the current 4x4 over the 169 version. But for normal 2 wheel drive I prefer the 169's simple looks.

I think the newest Panda stays true to the 169 shape as much as it can for a new model and I admire that Fiat kept it that way.

Hope the next model does the same, and that the range doesn't turn like the new Tipo (too German looking to be good)!

New cars have generally been spoiled by the nanny state gone mad. Most have become, padded cells - fat, blobby, worse handling, worse fuel consumption and almost all are pug ugly.

Just to be clear, I don't want to hark back to the bad old days of 1300 Escorts with live back axle on cart springs that dropped apart with rust in a year or two. But the safety brigade really have taken things too far the other way. People feel so safe in their padded cells they are playing video games and doing Facebook.

Another awesome Panda.

This one is my cars stunt double.

Someone else who has to park next to other Pandas and take pictures, I thought it was only me!
I caught my car twin recently so parked next to it and went to take a picture when the other owner appeared and gave me funny looks - which is why it's taken from quite a distance!

I also like to park next to bigger 4x4's and photo those for scale just to show how awesome my car is

And I feel I'm getting into train spotter territory here, but on holiday this summer I hired a rather uninspiring Kia Picanto - which I still routinely parked next to Pandas and took pictures of those too

Lol I spotted another Panda and parked next to it the other day. When I returned another Panda had joined us parking behind.

Saw a black Active fly by, and a silver Eleganza Multijet!!! (Body coloured bumper strips)

SB1500 said:

View attachment 171137

Another awesome Panda.

This one is my cars stunt double.

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Am I the only one who looked at this and thought "wait a minute that isn't a panda at all its a Peugeot/Citroen van" then realised ops car wasn't in shot?

Thought this was a good parking shot, a rose between two thorns!