Dad's influence on cars

[Andyt]

My Dad was a mechanic all of his working life, from the Army days of WW2 right up to his retirement in 1988. His last 15 years were with the same garage and they were Fiat agents for much of that time. He bought two Fiats during that time - a 125 Special and later a 132, both of which used the Fiat/Lancia twin cam engine. Yes, they gave him rust issues (although not much with the 132), but engine-wise they never missed a beat. The Fiat thing wore off on both my brother and me, with my brother having a couple of HPEs and a 124 Coupe and me having a 128 Coupe, a couple of 500s, a 128 3P, a126, a Beta Spyder and then a more sensible Tipo. (fatherhood etc!). Although Dad isn't around any more, I'm determined that his special Fiat tools accrued over the years won't lie idle for too long.

It's worth noting that we never suffered anything other than the odd electrical gremlins with the cars, and other than a wheel bearing on Dad's 125, they never let us down mechanically. Dad's rule on all this though was a good one - If you don't know when the cambelt was changed, do it!