Panda (Classic) Amanda the Panda

I never finished this off , I forget and also this takes too long for everything to load up and I forget what I have already covered .
I will try to complete it soon enough .

The day before I am due to depart for Dover , I go out in the car for just a 10 mile round trip , it was lucky that I did do this because on my return , I park in the garage and there is a large pool of coolant under the car , it wasn't a small drip ,it was almost pouring out ,open the bonnet ,the radiator has failed big time .
I go online and order a rad and ask that they process the order ASAP , they do this and within 2 hours I have a Magnetti Marelli box with a shiny new rad in it .I had to refill the water and drive to collect it and then let it cool off a bit before starting work on it .
Big thanks to Ricambio of Wallington , a company many here should know of and use for Italian car parts .

Replacing a Panda rad isn't the most difficult task , the top mountings were seized and I snapped both of them but managed to put that right easily enough and within another 2 hours I had a water tight cooling system , I even went for a test drive on the M25 and M23 in traffic to make sure there was no overheating .

I actually drove the whole distance to Anchiano ,village north of Lucca , disembarked off ferry at Calais about 12.15am Thursday and after a couple of detours and petrol stops ,arrived at the village about 2.30am Friday and parked in the only available space , next to a Panda "Young" , a Gen 1 750 cc engine car .

A few days later the first failure occurred , very minor problem but needed to be fixed . I turned on the wiper to clear the overnight rain and the blade went all floppy ,the clip holding blade onto wiper arm had failed ,so only needed a new wiper blade . Where to buy one from ?....There's a FIAT dealer I pass every time I drive in to Lucca called Lunatici but I first of all looked for a spares shop . I find Arnaldo Rossi , it's like a British motor factors of the 1980s ,nothing wrong with that , long counter with blokes serving or on the phone . I don't have much Italian language skill but I manage to buy a wiper blade ,it helped that I took the old one in with me and it didn't fall off again .

It's lucky it didn't fail on the trip down as the rain was pretty heavy on arrival in Italy and driving down through Trento Aldo Adige region .

On my last day I am visiting 4 car museums in 1 day , all close to Modena , I wake at 3 am ,can't get back to sleep so I pack up and get on the road .
I am using the slower route on the SS12 road that stretches all the way from Lucca and passes Modena , Verona , all the way to Brennero where Italy ends but I am only using the bit up to Modena today . It's slow progress on the hills up to Abetone ,which is high enough to be a ski resort .
First stop is at Lamborghini , Sant Agata Bolognese , I have a pre booked ticket for their opening time of 9.30am . I get there far too early and wander about a bit , found a second factory on the industrial estate off the main road and notice the internal roads are named Aventador and Diablo .
Second museum is a private collection , also pre booked but they are very relaxed there and don't check you at the door , it's a Maserati collection on the west side of Modena in Via Corletto Sud , The Panini collection ,on a dairy cheese producer farm .
The display is all housed in one compact building but it is full of excellent , rare and some unique cars .
I chat with the very friendly proprietor Sr Panini , son of the now passed founder . I saw some of the cars on display at the Vernasca Silver flag event just a couple of weeks earlier .The red car in the pics to follow being one of them .
Next is the Cassa Enzo Ferrari museum in Modena itself by the railway , I have been to this at least 6 times now but there is always something different to see ,indeed the first time was to see a collection of very rare Maseratis ,in a Ferrari museum !
When I arrive the car park is full ,I park out in the street and after completing my museum visit I find the Panda has been broken into in broad daylight .
The passenger doorlock was forced and they have rummaged around my stuff but I believe that nothing was taken . The doorlock is still usable so it obviously didn't put up much of a fight in keeping them out .
4th museum of the day ids Galleria Ferrari Maranello , I have bought a combined ticket for Modena and Maranello which saves a bit of cash , you have 48 hours to use both parts . Glad I had a ticket as non ticket holders had to queue ,I could go straight in .
After the shock of having the car broken into and the excess June Italian heat I'm having a melt down ,again , I go around this museum quite quickly , taking pics and decide that I now want to go home . I wanted to go to Alfa Romeo the next day in Milan but that just got added to things I scheduled to do but didn't do .

I get on the A1 , leading straight onto the A22 at Modena and start the long trip home . I now notice the fuel gauge isn't moving much ,it seems to be stuck in the 2/3 to 3/4 section , so now I have to keep an eye on miles covered an fill up the tank more often . I think that might have fixed itself since returning as the needle has now dropped to 1/4 . The drive up to Brennero is slow as the car is most comfortable at 60-65 mph ,mixing with the HGVs ,it's only a 2 lane autostrada anyway so I venture into overtaking lane 2 only occasionally . The engine is also running a bit hotter than I am comfortable with but the fan working overtime keeps it out of the red .

I had no sleep on the trip from Calais 2 weeks earlier but this time I have to stop many times for sleep ,rest ,food and petrol . I also wanted to travel through Austria in the early hours so as not to hold up traffic on the difficult hills of Fernpass ,it's also raining again .

The rest of the trip is quite straight forward ,there were the people who wanted to talk to me about the rare Panda and there was a massive detour around a closed tunnel on the road between Landau and Pirmasens but I eventually arrived back at Calais for a Saturday ferry home , having left the Tuscany village early hours of Thursday .

If you have read all of that then thank you .

Pics are.......the day before the departure , Autogrill Italy service area somewhere en route , next to the Panda Young , one from each museum , the red Maserati coupe seen in 2 places , a Lamborghini LM 002 , Ligier Maserati , Ferrari 250 TdF , Ferrari 250 LM , then the journey home ,the scenery on the A22 motorway is stunning . You can see the car gained more stickers gradually throughout this trip .

Always when I was in Italy I stayed at a house in a village just north of Lucca Tuscany ,it's a lovely small city ,not nearly as touristy as nearby Pisa ,Florence or Siena .
Pontedera is an easy journey using just 1 road from Lucca . I almost managed to get there using my scribbled direction notes with just 1 little cockup due to missing a sign post ,I don't use a sat nav ,just my trusted 2006 road atlas .

Pontedera is the home of Piaggio Vespa ,the factory is there and naturally the museum is also there . It's free to enter ,although you are supposed to pre book .I didn't know this and just turned up but when asked if I had a reservation ,I said no but got let in anyway . It wasn't busy ,I think I was the only person there to begin with .

Scooters ,mopeds ,Apes ,motorbikes and 2 Vespa cars .

First pic is a scooter in legno ,wood ,frame and body entirely crafted in wood and it is in working condition too . Pinocchio is also quite big in these parts .
Pic 3 is one of the earliest prototype Vespas .
The grey Vespa car is a 4 seater prototype .

Thank you to all who has liked these posts ,not finished yet ,there are more museums to visit .

I forgot to add all the text to the last post.
You can see that Italian cars are the most numerous here but there are plenty of other makes too with Maserati a featured marque this year .

When all the cars have finished the 10KM run they all come back the same way escorted by police and marshals and park back in the paddock , they have lunch and do it all over again in the afternoon .

You can see that there are little "races" going on too ,there are chicanes on some of the straights to keep the speed down . The last 3 pics show some cars that did not come out in the morning all highly valuable cars . A Porsche 962 , Sierra RS500 and a Ferrari probably worth 8 figures .

This time I make sure I get out onto the more interesting bends on the hill to watch , the weather has also got much better and the road is dry ,which means that some cars that didn't want to risk it in the wet are now ready to give it some .

The Mille Miglia 2023 started on Tuesday 13th June , the Vernasca Silver flag was over the preceding weekend so it was a no brainer to combine the both as they are not a huge distance apart . Indeed , I saw 2 other people at both venues ,probably many more .

My only other time at Vernasca was 2018 , I went on Friday and Saturday then ,not much happens on the Friday except many of the participants arrive ,are given their spot in the paddock and they fettle their cars and just socialise . Some cars arrive on the road ,others are very not legal to drive on the road and come on trailers ,even artics with multiple cars .The paddock is in Castell Aquato ,the cars then set off on closed public road to Lugagnano and then up the hill with sharp bends to Vernasca .
I only went on the Saturday this year ,I needed a day off after the huge drive from England on the Thursday. It was wet in the morning , luckily not torrential but wet all the same and some cars have zero weather protection .
The road starts to get closed off about 10am and after many safety checks to ensure it really is closed and the public are not going to venture onto the course the cars set off from Castell Aquato .
I miss the road closure by mere seconds and have to spectate from near the start line in the morning .

This post isn't about my Panda at all ,I just want to show the Mille Miglia experience , I have been 6 times to Italy for this since 2013 ,so 6 out of the last 11 years .
Pictures in order .
I just cannot help myself , if I can shoehorn my car into a pic it's going to happen , the cars drive to and from the MM museum all morning for lunch or go to the petrol station to fill up .
2,3 ....Inside the scrutineering and VIP area , the Porsche is approaching this from the city .
4,5....After being checked over and "sealed" as they describe it ,some park in the streets for a bit . In previous years the streets and piazzas were stuffed with cars ,not his year ,bit sparse .
6...This looks like an old Aston Martin ,it's actually a Ghia bodied Ferrari ,parked a bit further out of the centre with some other team cars .
7...lunch at the pizzeria for an Ermini
8,9....More cars randomly found before the start .
10 ,11 . Before the start the airforce fly over and leave a Tricolore of smoke behind , it's a magical experience seeing this .
12.....This was the first car to leave ,a new Maserati MC20 being driven by an AI from the passenger seat ,bloke in drivers seat for safety .
13......One of the blokes in the back of this is one of few survivors from drivers who drove the MM in race period ,1927-57 .
14 on.....and then the cars start to leave the start in Via Venezia ,about 400 cars in total numbered up to 443 with some gaps .
Last 3 are a FIAT Ballila , 750 Zagato sport "double bubble" and a 600 .

I'll add more pics and words soon . thanks for looking .
I cannot stress how good this event is ,get along to it before it's banned by the green movement !

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This post is all about the people who wanted to talk about the car with me and other positive reactions .

The very first conversation was at the Dover BP garage where I always stop to fill up before going into the port , a Jaguar XK8 is at the pump next to me and what looks like a father and son pair , the father asks if I'm going to Le Mans as it as the Wednesday before the 24 hours and I saw other stickered up travellers to the LM24 on the motorways .

I said no I'm going to Italy in this and we chatted about the potential foolhardiness of it .
Now in Italy , I get compliments for the car from 2 different petrol station attendants , when I as unable to swerve "Servito" , I believe they both said "Bella Panda" .
That would mainly be because the classic Panda to most Italian owners is still just an A to B cheap small car ,throw your tools and the dog in the back and go off to your job for the day , car has flat paint , bit scruffy and most don't seem to have any hubcaps .Mine is far from perfect but at least the paint is shiny and the panels are straight , also have 4 correct hubcaps ,not something from Italian Halfords .

Next, I'm plodding along a motorway , this is not a fast car and my mechanical sympathy prevents me from thrashing the engine and there isn't a rev counter to see how much the engine is being thrashed , and a car overtakes , the passenger hangs out the window with a massive smile and wave at me , he was just happy to see a clean car being driven by a Brit ,or something .
Maybe the silly stickers and stripes attracted attention too , again few in Italy are jazzing up these cars . I did see a presumably white car that had been painted with a large orange and yellow band around the whole of the bottom half of the car .

I was in the village fiddling with the car once and a 12-14 yo boy comes past ,says something I didn't understand so I give my usual " I am English ,don't understand " ,it gets used a lot ,my language skills are poor but I try . He stops for a second then says in English , "I like your car ,it's good" which is a better effort than I could have done at his age .

Also in the village the awkward non Italian English conversation took place with a bloke gave his name as Massimo , he asked about the car and we chatted for 5 minutes .
By the way ,there are some other British people in the village , a UK reg Panda was there and also a Skoda and my sister is friends with a Scots woman who has lived in Italy for many years is resident

and has Italian registered cars , she used to have a FIAT 126 but I didn't see that this year .

Now on the way home , I get a wave from a UK plate Mercedes van driver ,as we head towards the North and Brennero into Austria , maybe it was just a British solidarity thing or he liked my car too .

Into Germany , I have to stop many times for rests on the way home ,I just didn't have the stamina to drive for hours and hours . A couple with a small boy are walking round my car smiling so I get out and chat with them for 10 minutes plus ,they are Austrian ,speak perfect English and they loved the car ,they also just don't see them that much ,although the 4x4 is also popular in the south Tyrol , close to Italy and very useful to have on snow tyres which are a requirement November to April .

Couple of hours later ,stopped again and a VW Transporter van full of German men stops next to me and one of them asks to take a picture of the car , I get out the car first and once again chat with him about it , as I reverse out of the space all his mate stood at the back of the van make good comments and like my "Police aware this car is awesome " sticker .
And finally , if you've read this far , I get a beep beep in Luxembourg and the bloke in the car next to me as we separate at a motorway fork gives a big thumbs up and smile which I return .

Nearly finally that was , last of all a young British woman says my car is cool as we wait in line to board the ferry home in Calais .

Here's another picture .

Dammit ,picture posted in the wrong place don't see how to move it ,

Outside the Lamborghini factory offices museum , got there way too early ,had a walk around , saw another factory unit on the estate and waited for the museum to open at 9.30am . Have a pic from inside .Original Periscopio Countach .

I chatted to a museum attendant about any similarities with the Bertone Carabo , designed also by Gandini before the Countach ,also painted the same colour as this car .

In pic order......

Vernasca Silver flag , wet in the morning , some owners didn't ant to risk their valuable cars on wet roads with possibly unsuitable and aging rubber .
Would you have the balls to drive your Porsche 962 in the wet on slicks ?.......nope !

AM.....Lancia rally 037 , it didn't look like this in the afternoon ,so someone had an off ,this is at the startline .
PM ......Lancia Stratos , out in the bends leading up to Vernasca town itself , most of the drivers were really giving it everything .
Passo delle Abetone ,day 3 of the Mille Miglia , a red Ferrari climbs up the many hairpin hill .
Panda out

side the gates of Fiorano ,the secret test track that isn't secret at all with peoples homes overlooking it .

As promised in the opening post of this ,I said this car had 1 purpose ,to go on a road trip and about an hour ago I got back from that.
It wasn't all plain sailing , after all who'd have expected a lightly used 31yo small basic car would be totally reliable when made to go over 3000 miles in 18 days .
It wasn't totally reliable ,it did NOT break down but faults cropped up ,some needed fixing straightaway ,some could be ignored and some just live with for a bit .
I wasn't totally reliable either as a meltdown on the way there meant I binned off lots of what I had intended to do but luckily I had enough composure to go to the 2 best events I wanted to attend ,the Mille Miglia , my 6th time there and the Vernasca Silver flag ,my 2nd time there , 2 of my very favourite events .

I almost had a crash when a dopey Dacia decided to change course from the right fork to the left fork in the road at the very last moment and wanted the piece of road I was about to occupy, braking and swerving avoided contact ,sodding tourists !....It was Italian registered but obviously didn't know the area like I do as I have travelled that road ,the SS12 north of Marlia , dozens of times ,it's near where I stay in a Tuscan village .

Car also got broken into in Modena ,in broad daylight but so far I can't think of a single thing that's been taken . The passenger door lock was forced with a screwdriver into the barrel to get door open .

A positive note is the number of people who wanted to talk to me about my cool car ,also thumbs up and waves from people not in Pandas ,they just appreciated what they saw .

That will do for now ,there are 100s of pics not uploaded yet and to sort through the good ones and there will be more words too ,but not much about my problems ,that's not for a car forum .

I also took lots of pics of Amanda the Panda outside places ,for the internet BS conspiracy detectives , just to prove it really did happen .
I will be back soon as I have regained my sanity and had some sleep , that has been very lacking the last few days .

I am going to list all the different positive reactions I received when I next update .

My windscreen washers stopped spraying .
I could hear the motor still buzzing ,so I thought the washer jet might be blocked .Nope !
I pulled off the hose at the motor and operated the switch ,just a few spits of fluid .
I then swapped the hose and cable to the rear wash motor that's just a few inches away ,the same few spits .
I look at the fluid in the bottle ,it looks very foamy ,like a bubble bath .
I remove the spare wheel ,which if you didn't know rests on top of the washer bottle under the bonnet and then remove the one nut that holds it to the inner wing .
I pour the washer fluid into a clean container and peer into the bottle ,there appears to be "goo" on the motor inlet ,I pull the motor out of the bottle side and clean the goo out .
I refit the motor and bottle ,and put some different pure water in and hey presto there is a proper wash spurt .
Seems all I need is less gooey washer fluid rather than any replacement parts .
I haven't yet binned the gooey washer fluid ,perhaps I should use some of it just watered down a whole lot more .

That's as exciting this car gets . Pic of the short queue for Brooklands yesterday at 8.15am .

Biggest modification so far , after 1 day I fitted orange indicators to the front ,so much better than clears and cost all of £12 in total .

Before and after ,I even managed to do this without breaking anything ,or injuring myself .
Ricambio ,the parts shop is local ,they are really going to come in handy .

The only other planned mods are stickers and stripes ,cos they're cheap .