Hello and welcome to First Gear! My name is Franco (for those of you who didn't read Roman's intro), unfortunately for you I was born with a genetic condition which makes my opinions biased towards all Italian cars.
I own a 1972 Fiat 500, and before you ask, no I cannot drive yet, but nor can the little Fiat as it too has a genetic condition affecting most of its Italian cousins, the R-word; rust. Nowadays people take test drives, discuss the handling and comment on the interior and optional extras, but when buying a classic Italian car you have to compromise those insignificant features and buy it on looks alone.
The truth is that it does not have the consecrated piece of paper that is an MOT. It seems that my original plan of it being fixed in a few months has turned into an endless journey of repairs. Factory fitted accessories on my Lusso (meaning luxury in Italiano) model include reclining seats, complete with matching plastic dashboard with an inbuilt ashtray for the disposal of used cancer sticks, and external chromework which has expired its useby date. It does lack a few things in terms of ICE, such as a radio, amplifier and speakers, but it does have a reading light which is very important for seeing things in the dark. My main aim is to get it working and enjoy the passion of driving around in my rear engined Italian classic. Although my school mates seem to choose to deafen themselves to the sound of Drum and Bass in their ghastly attempts to pimp out their cars with everything under the value of 50p in the Car Styling section of Halfords.
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