True. Space-frame chassis/lightweight body panels with very hot engines. In
the early days of the East African Safari, the cars had pretty standard
bodies with hot engines. At first there were no internal roll bars or even
seat belts. I did the 1965 Total Rally to Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) in a
standard 1200 VW Beetle and the 1967 one in a Toyota Corona Mk1 with a hot
2L bakkie engine. No roll bars but we had to wear standard seat belts. Most
entrants were amateurs in their family cars with only a few pros/"works"
teams. Today, "Rallying" has become pure off road racing on pre-published
routes. We only received the route maps at the off so the navigators had to
be wide awake.
Alan C
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Waller
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2016 12:16 AM
To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List
Subject: Re: GESO 2016 - scale models - GDG
Peugeot handling shouldn't have been that bad.
Handling isn't what wins the Dakar Rallye - its speed and durability.
And vehicles running in the Dakar are heavily modified from the street
versions.
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan C" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: GESO 2016 - scale models - GDG
Peugeot handling shouldn't have been that bad. After all, the East African
Safari Rally was won 4 times in a 404 & twice in a 504. Foskor, the
company where I worked, has a fleet of 20 404's in their car pool. They
were sold off after 5 years & some are still running around town! I had a
403 diesel bakkie when I lived in Rhodesia & later a diesel 404 bakkie
when I moved here (both bought S/H). They handled very well on dirt roads
but couldn't get over 70mph.
Alan C
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Colen
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 9:55 AM
To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List
Subject: Re: GESO 2016 - scale models - GDG
Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote:
Thanks for all the comments! It's been quite fun to read through them.
:-)
On Jan 18, 2016, at 8:13 PM, Alan C<[email protected]> wrote:
Very nostalgic. My brother had a 128, the same colour, when he lived in
Durban. Eventually rust got the better of it& the whole front end
collapsed. I had a metallic brown 504 (S/H) from 1976 to 1979. It is the
only can I have had which could do over 200kph!
FIAT 128 … I sent the photo of the model to my uncle. He responded, "I
remember that car. You gave me a ride to pick up my car at the dealership
(he had a Porsche at the time). That was the fastest, most terrifying
drive in a car I ever had. It's what made me realize that when it came to
speed insane, you and your brother were off the charts." The FIAT was an
wonderful little bastid to drive: no power, just leave your foot on the
floor all the time and slam the shifter around as needed. I ended up
giving it to a friend at some point, for some reason. He drove it until
the motor broke.
The thing I liked about FIATs is that they made my Sprite seem as
reliable as a Honda. I drove it to an Autocross in Sacramento one day
with several friends in X1/9s. I think we stopped about every 30-40
miles to fix one of the FIATs. On the way back, I was getting bored
waiting for FIAT repairs to finish so I tried fixing a very very minor
leak where my radiator hose clamped to the line to the heater, and ended
up tearing the hose in half. Fortunately we had stopped next to a parts
store and I was able to get a hose that would get me home.
Peugeot 504 … Mine was a 1976 diesel model, bought cheap ($600), old (in
1988), and very used (over 200,000 miles when I got it). I think it would
make it to 80 mph (128kph) with a tailwind, downhill on a good day. ;-)
It was delightful to drive anyway, but it broke the timing chain about a
year after I got it and was too expensive to fix.
I had a student one day at Sears Point in some turbocharged Peugot. It
was like driving a turbocharged living room bolted to the deck of a
small boat. It's not so much that the handling was nautical, but going
into a turn it was about as steady as a la-Z boy recliner balanced on
four innertubes int he water.
Good memories with both of them. Hmm. Broken motors was a theme for me
and my friends for a while there. ;-)
G
--
Larry Colen [email protected] (postbox on min4est)
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