PS... my Dad'd (Grandad's) FIAT 850...

Would you believe it sat 5 ? Rear engined 850cc good for (a measly) 32 HP...

Go ahead and have a good laugh !  




 

OK, Midnight Rider, point taken.
I promise I will PM you the moment I book my flights next time I fly over to visit.
I hope to god your fists are the size of hams because my feet are darn well practiced at kicking ass, holes or no holes.
Furthermore, my doc put me on a protein-rich, low carb diet, so I'm always hungry...   Pesi I expect no less from a man whose country use to put men in rings and have them kill each other for sport. Refresh my memory, it sux. What did I say about the automobile industry, I don't remember and you brought it up.. I think the Italians are the greatest designers in the world when it comes to cars and machines. But I think the Germans have the highest quality. The Asians are the best copiers and are masters at doing it cheaper with less waste, but I don't like their work ethics. I have a Suzuki Forenza. I bought it for an errand and work car. The reason I bought it was because it was $12000 new off the lot. When I was working my job was to keep a 2 million Italian cigararette machine running made by an Italian company called GD. I know you've heard of them. Their factory is right across the street from Ducati. The machine was very well designed for the most part, we did some mods to it and it run even better. It would spit out 425 packs of cigarettes a minute! It was a very sensitive machine and had to be set just right to produce a quality product. But like a Ferarri once you set her up like she was designed to run she was amazing. The German machines I worked on had better metal and were easier to keep running. There was one Italian machine I worked on everyone else hated but I loved it, a GDX500. It had a few flaws like the exit belts and the columbo filipetti was weak. I came up with a mod for the exit belts and after that she would set there and run for hours. I remember one night the Columbo Fillipetti broke. GD's headquarters in Richmond were out. The next night I had to go up on the roof and wait for a helicopter to come in with a new Fillepetti. GD flew it over here by plane overnight and delivered it by helicopter. Pretty good customer service. I've owned one Ducati, a 1986 650. Cagiva bought them out and they wrote Cagiva on the tanks for 2 years until they were sold again. If I ever won the lottery I would try to find a mint 96-99 Ducati 996, I think it was a 996. To me its the most beautiful production model ever built. I'd like to have one in my living room.I loved the handmade fiberglass bodies, I hate it when they went to plastic bodies like the Asians.I learned how to set the valves on a Ducati, no easy task. Future Ducati mechanics are sent to the Ducati Factory in Bolonga 2 weeks just to learn how to set the valves. Shops over here charge at least $600 just to set the valves. You can get a good deal on a Duc with 6000 miles on it because no one wants to pay to have the valves set. I couldn't afford it so it took me over a week but I finally learned and I set several more up for people. A Duc has a cam to open the valves and a cam to close them. Its a trial and error experience settng the valves. You have to have the right size shim and its almost impossible to measure the size shims you need. You guess, the more you do it the better you get. No valve springs. Years ago that was great technology because valve springs would float. Metalurgy has come a long ways and now any Jap sportbike bike will outrev a Duc so Ducati is concentrating now on torque and handling, that's why they're still winning races. On a short twisty track they have an advantage to the high revving bikes that takes a few seconds to get them wound up. Well that's about all the experience I've had with the Italians, to be honest it wasn't half bad.

Left to their own devices, without the impetus from foreign manufacturers, we'd all still be seeing 2 ton Ford Galaxy 500s, Chevy El Caminos, and Cadillac Sedan DeVilles coming out of Detroit.

And today's European manufacturers couldn't duplicate the cutting edge cars and motorcycles today that they did in the past. The tree huggers have a firmer grip on that side of the Pond than they do here on this side, which is too bad.

All of which makes Europe's decline all that much sadder.  They could no more duplicate their automotive success of days past than we could land at Normandy and liberate Europe.  :'(

Those days are gone for both of us I fear. Raise a glass tonight for days past fellas.

Web you been paying attention to whats coming out of Detroit or wherever we make them now. Mustangs, Camaro's, Chargers, Challengers. Corvettes are still on the production line. The Germans reintroduced the Bug. English, Mini Coopers again. Its all for old fart dreamers like us who miss the good ol days. The only real sportscar I ever had was a Miata which was great for a Asian attempt at a sportscar. I'd love to have another one. I thought the Pontiac Soltice was beautiful but it disappeared quickly. I spent most of my money on motorcycles and guitars. I had 5 motorcycles when my wife met me but talk about old fart dreamers look at the interest now in Café Bikes. I wish Mick would come back to talk about the real ones. Honda is again making 4 cyl air cooled engines selling them in Europe. And just to make Pesi happy Vespas. These machines are made only for dreamers. The future is my 250 Ninja, 70mpg,100mph, cruise all day at 75mph, 10,000 miles on a set of tires and its affordable.

Nice,,

Yep,, highway safety killt them I guess.. Used to see little 2 seaters all  the time when I was a kid,,

Do you know why English drink warm Beer? They have Lucas refrigerators