December Practical Performance Car

[donw]

  6 pages (inc photos) on Steve Hinson's supercharged Monte.

Having read further there is a list of "the top ten cars you'd like to own but not fix" number one Lancia Delta Integrale!

What they say;

"It's hard to find a petrolhead who doesn't want an Integrale.  Finding a petrolhead who's got the balls to buy one is different.  Besides the suspension that needs bushes and ball joints every 15k miles, the gives cambelt worries and part time electrics, there's the bodywork, Lancia said the Delta didn't rust, they lied.  It rusts and it cracks in half.  No panel is safe.  It's not unusual to have to replace the roof.  Fully expect the A pillar to be cracked, sometimes so badly that the doors have half dropped off. Stick to the picture on the wall - much safer."  (the strange english in the middle is theirs not my typo!)

Strange isn't it that we have so many in the Club that are driven regularly!  Surely they must all pass the MOT.  I've never seen one in the sort of condition they have found. They must have seen ones that have been severly abused.

Perhaps all Integrale owners should write to the magazine.

Don

[DavidLaver]

I've never had one so no have no first hand experiance.  I also know as a Viva reader that a carefully bought and properly maintained car can be run on a fairly modest budget. 

However, having spent more time in the Barry Waterhouse Engineering yard that I care to remember, I do share their view and wouldn't chance my wallet with one.  When taken for a spin the dash creaks were not so much the low grade plastic but because the thing was being twisted as the shell distorted.  Maybe the bad ones don't go to the AGM, but many to be seen inside the M25 will have "the usual blisters" and, even based on what a Dedra Turbo took to maintain, I'd expect a typical Ebay bargain to take 5K to sort and to need perhaps 2K a year in bits and bobs.

For a Practical Performance Car reader I'd have to agree that the "bargain" cars would be more likely to sit and sulk than be delivering the goods.  I also think of them as being classic (as in typical) 1980s cars with wierdy electronics where a fuel tank temperature sensor earthing fault can result in the hazard lights not going off and a refusal to run cleanly in third gear and above.  It was the "Aston Martin Lagonda" era of check panels and multiplugs.

Its an interesting discussion - how a test of a bad example or memories of bad examples can colour your view of the type.  I've just put a post on the Fulvia section in that vain, and last week was chatting about how all the "Fulvia vs Alfa" tests depend so much on the exact condition and setup of the particular examples tested.

David

[inthedark]

Point is  however bad a day you've had  a quick drive in an Integrale and you smile for the rest of the week

'the colonel'

[DavidLaver]

To me they are "sailing boat" type cars where what you really want is a good friend to have one.  Practical Performance Cars are - to me - nuts and bolts not multimeters and laptops and cars where you've got some space to work.

I've no idea what else was on the list but similar cars might 1970s Ferraris, a Lotus Esprite Turbo, Porsche 928.  Love to have a go in a friend's one.

You've got to think about how you'd feel leaving one at a garage saying "give it what it needs".  Any of those could chew up 5K without you really noticing a benefit.

David