I am now 66 and every time I crawl out from under a car I swear I say Im getting too old for this xxxx.

I have worked on my own Motorbikes and cars for over 50 years and the finest I owned was a 7 seat Kia Carens the worse but many a mile was the Morris Marina, a parts box special from a dying British car industry, the suspension and steering were Morris Minor, the whole car rusted like it had drowned in the sea and the number of times I did the head gasket (underpowered 1.3 Mini Engine with warped head) I hate to say, I have also owned and driven a Reliant Regal Supervan 3 (trotter mobile), Noisy interior, terrible ventilation and heating yet nippy and handled well as long as you did not try to turn from speed too quickly, you had to learn to DRIVE the reliant and the later Robin.

Fiat 127 lovely car but rusted around the windscreen, owned 2 of them 900 and 1050cc drove just like a Mini around corners on rails!

Fords not many Fords Mum and my Late Wife had the Mk1 Escorts, rusted like crazy around the Turret tops and scuttles, helped a buddy turn a Mk 2 Escort in to a Faux 'Mexico' with jacked up rear end, Cortina 1600 Engine and Capri Front legs.

Mk3 Escorts rusted more around the Front corners, the infamous VV carburetor wasn't as bad as they made out as long as you replace the so called Auto choke, the last Carb car i worked on was Mums Proton a 1.3 with a lovely Mitsubishi Engine the carb was a masterpiece in fuel management and that little darling did 50mpg all day long, the rest of the proton was a let down with rust and thin tearing tin breaking down and a Clutch auto adjuster that ate 3 clutches before I thread locked it.

Another good car was my Suzuki Alto, the seats wore out and you sit low to the ground but they give you 50mpg on the work run but get underneath and PAINT EVERYTHING, tin worm kills them.

Daewoo Matiz, nice little runabout but not very good on tax or mileage, one daughter had two of them.

Loads of Peugeot Citroens 106, 206, 207 Saxo another daughter and the wife had those, diesel killed by daughter not using anti freeze, rust blocked rad and blown engine.........You cant tell them!!

Best Peugeot ever was my 306 1.9 TD Estate, one common fault door electrics kill these cars but never rust ever. and the 405 before that. (towing blew the peaky 1.8TD Engine)

2 Renaults a 21 1.7 Petrol Saloon, Exhaust cooks the Carbs and starter motors on these and they are thirsty, Renault 21 2.1 Savanna naturally aspirated Diesel, (the chassis rusts inside out), Citroen ZX (same rust problems) and a lovely little Vauxhall Chevette, beautifully balanced to drive but woefully underpowered.

And if I had the money I WOULD HAVE HAD THEM DONE IN THE GARAGE!

I would say Amateur but Enthusiastic, nah, worked on too many!!

Hi welcome

40 minutes ago, tonyholbury said:

Fiat 127 lovely car but rusted around the windscreen, owned 2 of them 900 and 1050cc drove just like a Mini around corners on rails!

....and now you have a Fiat 500 🤣

Didn't realise this was a horticultural forum.