Italian Lakes

[JohntheBike]

Stopped somewhere on Lake Como when we drove to Venice via France, Switzerland and Austria when I was about 7. Don't remember much about Como itself but went up the Grossglockner pass on the way there which was pretty impressive. Not as impressive as the car that got us there and back though. A 1969 Fiat 124 1200 cc with 4 of us plus an old canvas frame tent and the kitchen sink on the roof rack. They don't make 'em like that anymore...

"They don't make 'em like that anymore"

one of its derivatives lasted until 2012 according to Wiki.

[Big Blue Plymouth]

"They don't make 'em like that anymore"

one of its derivatives lasted until 2012 according to Wiki.

The later ones were rust buckets though. Don't know what happened to Italian cars in the 70s/80s. I had a Fiat Strada and the body work literally disintegrated.

[JohntheBike]

The later ones were rust buckets though. Don't know what happened to Italian cars in the 70s/80s. I had a Fiat Strada and the body work literally disintegrated.

"body work literally disintegrated"

Same here. I bought a Lancia Beta 1600 sedan in 1978. The paint finish was excellent (they were already using base coat and lacquer, when UK manufacturers were still using solid metallic paints), the build quality was excellent and they went better and handled better than any equivalent UK car did at the time. The Austin Maxi was virtually the same price, but looked like something from a previous age. However, it ended its days in a scrap yard after just 7 years. The root cause has been variously attributed to poor Russian steel. Perhaps a wake up call for those using Chinese steel now.

[kaiser78]

Avoid driving as much of the route through France as you can. Especially during the 2 week summer shut down. We did this a couple of years back and was a total nightmare...