"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
08/13/2019 at 12:42 • Filed to: Citroen 2CV, AK6, Chile
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"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
08/13/2019 at 12:42 • Filed to: Citroen 2CV, AK6, Chile | 1
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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Very cool! It’s a Chile-built 2CV van, so some minute differences from European models. Also means it’s a bit less expensive and it does look in good shape...
MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 12:48 |
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Do it
CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 12:52 |
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As soon as you cross into New Brunswick, the salt air will start to dissolve it.
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
08/13/2019 at 12:57 |
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Would love to! Thing is though, it would actually be cheaper importing a FIAT 126 from Poland, weirdly!
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
08/13/2019 at 12:57 |
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Probably...but it’s so damn cool! 2CVs are a close second for me behind small FIATs! :P
someassemblyrequired
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 13:25 |
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1400 or so kms in a 2CV seems like an act of self-harm
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> someassemblyrequired
08/13/2019 at 13:43 |
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Hubnut just drove to Croatia from Wales in his and back and he’s still with us! :P
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL54-PwTtwEP79y228YEMRIOwzrV8-qBwH
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MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 13:59 |
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You will regret telling me that (or I will). Is it particularly cheap because you’re on the east coast?
YOU SHOULD DO IT. Those 126s are a special kind of gorgeous boxy, and the idea of putting the engine in the back as a cost- saving measure excites the crap out of me. But then again I would love to own a LADA, one of the VAZ models, some day.
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someassemblyrequired
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 14:31 |
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Yeah I watched the whole series, it seemed to take a bit out of him at points. Not sure what I will do with my time now that I don’t have two hubnut videos to watch back to back!
Probably would be pretty fun if you kept it to 300-400 kms per day. Trying to do it in one go would be madness.
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> someassemblyrequired
08/13/2019 at 14:39 |
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Haha, yeah....I’ll miss his trip
videos! His other videos are awesome too, but the trip ones were a bit different, so it was a nice change of pace and
they gave me some nice downtime reasons to sit back and watch them on the La-Z-Boy recliner in front of the TV! :P
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
08/13/2019 at 14:45 |
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Haha, same! I have a thing for basic, cheap European and Eastern Bloc cars! :P
Cheap partially because I am on the East Coast only an hour away from Canada’s major Eastern port, so shipping would not be too costly for me and also because Polish-built 126s are really cheap to begin with with the exchange rate from Canadian ($1CAD = 2.93 Zloty atm, so almost 3-to-1!)! The 126p was built from 1972 until the early 80's by FIAT, themselves, but Poland built them under license all the way until 2000! That means there are a lot of them still in Poland and parts are still very easy to get and very inexpensive.
SO, in theory, you could pick up a later EL or ELX (1994+) in very good shape for like....$1700-1800 CAD, plus shipping and export / import fees, etc? :)
The downside is they do like to rust, so you have to be careful of the one you select....hard to tell if one has had bad repairs or is a rust bucket underneath from photos. There is a company called
Classic Cars Staniszewski
that I’ve contacted about finding and exporting the car for me when the time comes. It will end up being quite a bit more that way, but I’ll know I’ll be getting something in good shape and they handle all the export / shipping business as well. All I will have to do is get ahold of an import broker on this end to deal with the import forms, etc, etc. All and all, I’ve got a budget of around $7-8K CAD to get one here and I have a feeling it would end up being more like $5k CAD.
My dream garage would be a classic FIAT 500 (with 126 running gear because 126 engines are almost a straight bolt-in to 500s and had a bit more hp/torqe, plus 126 gearboxes had synchros while the 500 had none!), a FIAT 126p EL/ELX, a Trabant, a 2CV, a Skoda 105/120/130/Estelle, and then some sort of Japanese kei car :P
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MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/13/2019 at 15:23 |
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I cannot describe how awesome I think it is when auto manufacturers produce old designs under license, like the Tsuru and Japanese minis and the FIAT 126 I’m now just learning about, so frickin cool!!
That’s surprisingly reasonable for shipping a car from what I would have imagined . I feel like spending the extra money to not end up with a basket case would be well worth it as well.
And I would think a
drivetrain swap
for a FIAT 500 would be relatively easy.
everything would be small AND simple.
And yes synchros are a must, and more power doesn’t hurt. What kind of luxury accoutrement
s would the ELX have? Vanity mirrors? Hubcaps?
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
08/14/2019 at 00:06 |
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Yup, shouldn’t be too expensive, hopefully! And yeah, that’s the plan...hoping the extra money isn’t needed, but I would rather use it to get a car in better shape! And yes, the drivetrain swap of the 126p engine/trans into the 500 is bolt-in except for changing the rear engine mount - the 126's engine and trans were just an evolution of the 500's.
It’s not a HUGE power bump, but both cars are so small and light that even a slight bump makes a difference. The highest-power, latest FIAT 500 (the last version of it that was produced) was the FIAT 500R, which had, if memory serves, the 594cc 18hp I2...? Most 126Ps had a 652cc 23/24hp I2 (though the first 126s shared the same 594cc engine as the 500R).
POLISH 126 production had sortof 4 generations. ‘EL’ and ‘ELX’ actually refers to two of the generations of production, rather than trim levels. The first was the ‘ST’ which was exactly the same as the FIAT Italy-produced model and was built from ‘72 until ‘84. You could tell them apart easily as they have chrome bumpers, a different rear engine cover with slightly wider air vents
, used the older FIAT 500 wider-bolt-pattern hubs/rims and had an older more ‘70's’ style interior.
The ‘FL’ was the next generation from ‘84 until ‘94. They had narrower- bolt pattern 4x98 hubs/rims, plastic bumpers, plus a newer more ‘80's’ style interior. They also had a larger, slightly different air intake vents on the rear C-pillar. Fun fact, the FL was a sortof a weird generation as FIAT Poland also used the FL generation as a way to get rid of older ST parts that were still laying around, so it wasn’t uncommon to find an FL with ST chrome bumpers, older ST engine, ST interior parts, etc. The 126p BIS was introduced in ‘87, which was a model of the 126 with a water-cooled engine and rear hatch fitted in the rear for a bit more practicality - they weren’t bad, but I seem to recall I read somewhere that they often had head gasket issues, so most people still preferred the air-cooled cars.
The ‘EL’ was an evolution of the ‘FL’ in ‘94 and had a new interior that used a lot of FIAT Cinquecento parts (steering wheel, etc). The body panels were changed and the car lost it’s distinctive...I’ll call it an ’indent stripe’...down the side. ST and FL models had a indent that ran down the side of the car, but
this was removed on EL models other than the upper body line of that
design cue. The lights were changed a little bit...smaller, round, and lower side repeaters and clear front turn signal lenses on some cars. They used different rims (same 4x98 bolt pattern) with more modern hubcaps rather than the older plastic black rim-center hubcaps the FLs mostly used. The EL also brought along electronic ignition. The ‘ELX’ was just a slight upgrade on the EL with no real huge changes other than the addition of a catalytic converter. I found this pixel art diagram of the exterior changes a long time back and haven’t found anything better for visualizing the changes to the generations. :)
At least on the EL and ELX trims, there weren’t too many options...electric heated rear windshield, pop-out rear side windows...uh...an optional electric blower motor for helping defrost the front windshield. Cloth or vinyl interior. There was also an uncommon dealer-installed optional interior from a company called Inter Groclin that was pretty cool:
compared to...
/\ Stock vinyl interior /\
I THINK all EL/ELX 126Ps had driver and passenger side mirrors, but older FL cars might’ve had the passenger side mirror as an option...? Not 100% sure on that. There were no transmission options....all 126Ps came with a 4-speed manual with synchros on all gears except 1st and Reverse. It wasn’t an ‘option’ I don’t think, but I know some EL and ELX cars had non-laminated windshields and some did.
Whoops, went a little overboard there...XD! Sorry, I love the little things! :D
pip bip - choose Corrour
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/14/2019 at 04:45 |
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roadtrip!
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> pip bip - choose Corrour
08/14/2019 at 09:25 |
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It would be a pretty epic one! Not sure how it would do on the highways with 100kph speed limits though...
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pip bip - choose Corrour
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/14/2019 at 09:27 |
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that’s what backroads are for
:D
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> pip bip - choose Corrour
08/14/2019 at 09:51 |
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This is true!