On 11/23/09 17:46 , Brenda Ann wrote:
"D. Peter wrote in message
...
Thanks. The car always started with just a click of the key. Never a
problem. It was the
undercarriage that failed.


Really. In what way?

If you recall the design it had a trunk in the front as well as the rear.
What happened to
mine was that moisture up under the front apparently rotted out the area
that supported the
front struts.




No kidding. Damn. You're lucky something didn't let go on the road.

I've only encountered dramatic rust like that once. On a Renault R-5.


Fiat must have had a real issue with rust. I had a 128, cute little car.
Was driving it to work one day when it just stopped moving, but the engine
was still running. Pushed it the rest of the way to work (only 4 blocks or
so) and had a look at it. The front behind the bumper had rusted out and the
strut that held the engine up and fallen, allowing the engine to drop,
disengaging the transaxle from the wheels..

Fortunately, we had a metal shop where I worked at the time, and I was able
to fabricate a fix and got to drive home.




Well, that sounds like a bad day. I've not had anything like
THAT much fun. I did strip the splines off the input receiver on the
torque converter of a '71 Torino, and went freewheeling through
South St Louis one afternoon. But nothing like that kind of rust
failure.

There for awhile, I guess FIAT was getting their engineers and
manufacturing techniques from Peugeot: The cars showed rust on the
showroom floor.

Sure saved a lot of time.

My uncle sold Peugeots and Renaults in the 50's and 60's. So, he
always had one in the driveway. Fun little cars. Not exactly
quality, but seriously fun little cars. One of the reasons I've
always wanted a Dauphine. Pre rusted, or not.