General 750L As First Car

[whitestripe]

Evening all, I'm a newbie to the forum and as yet I don't own a car, let alone a classic Panda.

However! I am going to start learning to drive after Christmas and am looking at a 750L as my first car-main reasons being that the insurance is cheap (comparatively), they seem simple to work on and a good starter to learn mechanics as I'd be doing maintenance myself and fits the bill of being a 'modern classic' (something interesting and different-unlike the endless Clios and Corsas people my age drive). I do know of one locally that is on SORN and once I've saved enough money, I'll leave a note on the windscreen and cross my fingers, otherwise I'll be keeping my eye on eBay, Gumtree etc.

The main point of this post, other than to introduce myself, is to ask what are the main points to look at when buying and owning a Panda? Obviously they rust, but where are they most likely to go? Are there any common mechanical issues that I should be looking out for?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to you replies.

 

[dragonwagon]

Look at the rear end of the sills on the inside - from under the car. Most will have repairs in this area - just ahead of the rear wheels.

 

[Pandadee]

Inner sill to floor pan, rear end of the sill, overheating, head gasket etc

 

[lightweightmick]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

If it's on SORN it may be a test failure - you could be cheeky - put note on windscreen now - explain your plight - you just might get to know if and what it failed on..?

Hey, the note on screen worked for me, well, in reverse - this is what I found on my windscreen:
'Hi my name is ****, my sister has got one just like this and it's got to go to the scrapyard. Her no. is ***' - that got me on the phone pretty damn quick!

Welding does present a challenge, but most else is pretty doable and you'll get lots of free advice here!

 

[Didge3]

As people have said, sills are a main point, good to check boot floor for rust too.
750 is a good engine, my 750 is my second car and you are correct about the very cheap insurance
Don't be afraid to use lots of revs to get anywhere in a hurry though, the engines are pretty bullet proof though and very easy to service
Oh and the best bit, very cheap on petrol, £35 ish fills up the tank

 

[Dragon Man]

Greetings whitestripe

everyone seems to have missed the main thing that rusts on fiat pandas.. the doors!

rusty doors are no uncommon thing on the classic panda's. thankfully just some tape and the MOT guy will pass them fine.

another place is rust around the windscreen. next to the 2 air vents. its a quite common thing and a windscreen out job to fix. you can do this job yourself and save the rubber and glass but only those who have "the knack" can do it.. thankfully i am one of those people.

brake lines can also rust through but that happens to all cars when they get old.

i was much like you. i wanted something different for my first car. i wanted a fiat panda 4x4.. ended up with a old corsa 1.5 diesel that would have cost £4k to insure. in the end i got a cinquecento that cost £1645 to insure. just a bit more than a panda.

while i had the cinq i found Talon, the panda 4x4 sisley i have now. did a restoration on all structure and mechanics (the cosmetics are still not fully restored yet) to a road worthy state and now its my main car. £850 to insure 2nd year of driving with no claims.

my brother has a Seat Marbella (a re-branded mk 1 panda) for his first car. i rescued that from our local scrap yard, fixed it up and gave it to him. check it out here

if you want to have a good look through all the common faults with the panda, check out Talons thread (picture in my sig) it has some videos showing all the common rust places. dont bother with the fuel tank or any of the 4x4 system though, they are different/missing on the 750


where are you from anyway? maybe some one on here is local to you and can take a look at the car with you. tell you if its a good'un

 

[whitestripe]

Evening again,

Thanks for all your replies-I'll put all the points mentioned on a checklist to take with me when/if I view any Pandas.

As for leaving a note, I'd love to do it sooner rather than later so the owner knows of my interest and I'm afraid if I leave it too long it'll disappear-however, I think it'd be best to wait until I have (at least) some of the money available.

I'm in Teesside/Cleveland-which leads me into my next question, does anyone know of any garages in the area which are good for the older car?

Once again, thanks for all your helpful replies and for the warm welcome to the forum.