[YanTra Makto]

Excellent write up, loved the snaps of the toy museum, they even had a loco turntable.
Just WOW, no more words

[DieselWheels]

Wonderful write up jeroen, you literally made me delve into a virtual tour of Europe. Just one word, beautiful!! And a really good source of information for those who prefer touring Europe, the Motorista way. And the pics look like Heavens captured in the frame. The sunflower bed especially is Bellissimo. And don't mind me asking this, but why does the Spider start rumbling beyond the 130kmph mark, I mean it's a throaty peppy engine ain't it?. Keep having such tours and keep us posted

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

And don't mind me asking this, but why does the Spider start rumbling beyond the 130kmph mark, I mean it's a throaty peppy engine ain't it?. up

Especially with the top down the wind noise is just staggering at those speeds. It is just not comfortable. If you were to cruise for a few hours at 130 km/h you would go just about deaf.

Even at our motorway cruising speed of 110-115 km/h its a lot of noise. We try to avoid motorways. But in order to get somewhere nice quickly it is simply the best. So when we spend a week in Italy, we drove back in one day, nearly all motorway. When you go to bed you still have the noise ringing around in your ears.

Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

Hehe, so it's more of the top down syndrome. Never driven a convertible, but still the road noise alone at those speeds, is enough to give you a squeaky feeling at night. You use a QV Spider back home, what do you drive when you are here in India. Fiat is it?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

Hehe, so it's more of the top down syndrome. Never driven a convertible, but still the road noise alone at those speeds, is enough to give you a squeaky feeling at night. You use a QV Spider back home, what do you drive when you are here in India. Fiat is it?

No, I have a fully restored 1975 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 and a company provided, very boring but practical Innova.

Actually, I have just received my second Innova last week. Ordered it by sending an Email to our fascility team about what colour I wanted. (i dont care), which shows the level of enthusiasm I can rake up for these sort of vans.

At home I use the Spider strictly for fun. I also own a Mercedes W123, Jaguar XJR and for the weekly supermarket run and for my wife a Ford Fiesta. I don't really have a daily drive back in the Netherlands as we are hardly there and when we are any of these four would do. If and when we get back I would probably get another Jaguar as my daily drive.

Fiats are nice, but too small for my liking. My daughter want the new 500, but Im looking at maybe getting an original 500 and restore it
Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

You have some collection there sir, a XJR, a W123 and a Fiesta. Yeah Fiat's are small but exude the same confidence which big cars evoke. I would suggest you to get a new 500, especially if it's for your daughter. The old 500 is a classic and getting one in absolutely pink of its health, is difficult. Restoring one would require some really good time, but still if your daughter has no issues with it, a classic is always a classic. Incase you do have plans of restoring a 500, kindly host a thread depicting the same. Please do share your experiences with the cat and the Merc.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

I would suggest you to get a new 500, especially if it's for your daughter. The old 500 is a classic and getting one in absolutely pink of its health, is difficult. Restoring one would require some really good time, but still if your daughter has no issues with it, a classic is always a classic. Incase you do have plans of restoring a 500, kindly host a thread depicting the same. Please do share your experiences with the cat and the Merc.

Just to be clear, my daughter likes the new Fiat500, but if she wants one or any car for that matter, she will have to buy it herself. She is hoping I might buy one and then she can drive it. She loved the 1998 Jeep Cherokee we had. Called it her car and put it 'I love Nessie' sticker on the back. Because it was so monstrously big! But it was still my car, paid for, maintained and ensured by me.

The old 500 are very easy to work on with pretty good parts availability. As they are so small restoration is relative cheap.

If you want to see some of our road trips in the USA google Jeroen, Frances, Kansas. You find our homepage with lots of travel stories and photographs.

Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

You also had a jeep cherokee!! Hats off to you sir. You seem to be a die hard Enthusiast. Your collection is one to crave for. Do you still have it in the family?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

You also had a jeep cherokee!! Hats off to you sir. You seem to be a die hard Enthusiast. Your collection is one to crave for. Do you still have it in the family?

No, we sold it. But as soon as I get the chance I'm buying another one! I have already been looking at some and found a Jeep Cherokee specialist back home:

http://jeep.cherokee4me.nl/?s=~&tfseekfid=main_search

Note, I'm only interested in what I would consider the original Cherokee, All the new models are crap.


Check my garage I still keep a picture there for sentimental reasons

Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

But are the jeep diesels good beyond the 100k mark, I mean that too without engine refurbishment. I especially, Like the Red one with killer alloys. Looks fiesty and menacing

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

But are the jeep diesels good beyond the 100k mark, I mean that too without engine refurbishment.

I don't know. I'm not sure Jeep had a diesel version for these original Jeep Cherokees. Nearly all of them (including mine) came with a 4.0L six cylinder in line petrol engine. Totally bomb proof. These engines easily clock 300K without any problems and many have by now. I wouldn't think twice of buying a Cherokee with 200.000 km on the clock. Barely run in.

Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I don't know. I'm not sure Jeep had a diesel version for these original Jeep Cherokees. Nearly all of them (including mine) came with a 4.0L six cylinder in line petrol engine. Totally bomb proof. These engines easily clock 300K without any problems and many have by now. I wouldn't think twice of buying a Cherokee with 200.000 km on the clock. Barely run in.

Jeroen

Jeroen they did I believe, they used to provide the 2.5L Turbo Diesel, or may be it was introduced in Grand Cherokees. 200k and running in, hehe. Yeah those jeeps are damn robust, I remember those good old days, when I was barely 10, I was driven around in a KAISER by one of my fathers' friend. Have fallen for those mighty beasts ever since

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by DieselWheels

Jeroen they did I believe, they used to provide the 2.5L Turbo Diesel, or may be it was introduced in Grand Cherokees. 200k and running in, hehe. Yeah those jeeps are damn robust, I remember those good old days, when I was barely 10, I was driven around in a KAISER by one of my fathers' friend. Have fallen for those mighty beasts ever since

The grand Cherokee was a real dog compared to the original Cherokee. Endless problems. Again, I have no experience with their diesels, but the petrol V8 of the Grand Cherokee has had numerous problems.

I think the old petrol engine in the Cherokee is so good because it is basicly a very big engine producing not that much power. Only 190BHP or so. So the engine doesnt get stressed ever really. Evrything else is pretty simple and very easily accessible. One of the best cars to do DIY on. You can easily crawl under it too, dont need a lift. Pretty basic setup with drum brakes at the rear, fixed rear axle and springleave at the back.

Even so, the ride wasnt that bad at all. We took our Jeep on many tours all over the USA. It braked very poorly in wet conditions. I experimented with various tires, in the end I just run on the winter tires all year long. But when the roads got wet, you needed to be very careful.

Bought it for around $4000-- from a Jeep dealer and sold it three years later for $2500 to a friend of mine. Must have done about 15-20.000 miles.

Never had any problems. I did my usual work on it when I had just bought it, new distributor, filters, HT cables etc. And ended up replacing the radiator as it was leaking. Once on the way back from Colorado to Kansas City, the AC clutch bearing started packing up. Still made it home, just with a lot of racket from under the hood. Once I managed to get the parts, it was a few hours work replacing everything.

I had to replace the fuelpump as well. These engines did suffer from poor starting after a while (say after 150K miles or so). Typically it was either the crank shaft position or the check valve inside the fuel pump assembly. In my case the latter, which meant dropping the fuel tank and replacing the whole fuel assembly.
Bit of an awkard job, because I did it on my own and handling a huge fuel tank by yourself isn't that easy. Took me the better part of a whole Saturday.

Nice cars to work on, and it the USA phenomenal parts availibility. I could walk into any car part shops, such as Autozone and they would have just about any part in stock. Very different from my Jaguar!
Jeroen

[DieselWheels]

I wish I get the chance to own one such beast jeroen. Here in India, maybe Fiat would bring in the Jeep. But till then it's a long long wait. So you are more of a petrolhead, I presume.