General Pandas in Italy

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General Pandas in Italy

PandaManPaul

Owner of Gemma the Panda
Joined
Dec 9, 2002
Messages
567
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Location
Worcs.
Hello :)

Just got back from a couple of days in Florence :) I wanted to tell you all that I saw loads and loads of Pandas, and pretty much all of them had immaculate doors.

It's no exaggeration to say that I saw about 140 in one weekend. They're everywhere! I couldn't resist looking at the doors, and of these, I'd say that 4 had iffy ones :eek: It must be the climate that helps them to live longer because no Italian I spoke to could understand why cars rust in Britain...

Anyway, I had a ride in a 4x4 model. At a guess from what I recognised (fuel filler cap for instance), I'd say it was a 1996 model. Well, it had electric windows, remote access door mirrors, height adjustable headlights, and a carpeted headlining (not a fabric one) :eek: Very un-Panda like with these gadgets.

And Pandas really are everywhere. They were even used by officials at Pisa airport! I'm now seriously considering driving over and picking up a couple of new doors..... ;)
 
Dunno Steve but I'd love to do it! ;)

I flew from Stansted to Pisa with Ryanair on works business, so couldn't ogle Pandas and bring back parts :(
 
PandaManPaul said:
Hello :)

Just got back from a couple of days in Florence :)

It's no exaggeration to say that I saw about 140 in one weekend. They're everywhere!

I understand there were about 4,500,000 built during the 20+ year life of the model, so there aught to be one or two left - as they only stopped selling them in Europe a couple of years ago.

Perhaps the ones you saw were less than the 10 years old the newest in the UK are.


Regards


John H
 
John H and Steve C - I know that they were sold until 2003 in Italy, and I can spot earlier ones from later models :)

Point I was trying - but failed to make ;) - was that late 80s and early 90s cars were free of rust. Or at least they didn't have anything like cars here do. They were still on the road because they hadn't succumbed to the dreaded tin worm as British registered cars do.
 
PandaManPaul said:
late 80s and early 90s cars were free of rust. Or at least they didn't have anything like cars here do. They were still on the road because they hadn't succumbed to the dreaded tin worm as British registered cars do.

I suspect it's down to climate, and no salt on the roads.


Regards


John H.
 
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