LUL 678X - Where is it now...?

[kev131]

I came across this car in the South East of England around 2001/2 - It had been off the road for some years and had last been put to use as a race car tow car.

It wasn't for me as too much work to be done - Compared with some of the cars that are for sale nowadays though it is a good example for a project.

[Thotos]

I think this is the car I went to see in Southend with a view to buying it. It was on the first floor of a garage (ex-Fiat dealer I think) and I couldn't see an easy way of getting it to the ground floor although I was told that the car would fit in the goods lift. While it had a lot of shiny black paint (and a lot of dust) I decided the quality of restoration was extremely poor and walked away. On the way back, my Lancia Gamma decided to start filling the cabin with water from the heater matrix (turned out to be just a split hose but of course I found that out after I bought a new heater matrix!) so all in all not nice memories of going to see that car! And by the way, changing the heater matrix on a Lancia Gamma is easily the worst job I've ever had to do on a car! I think Lancia must have put the heater matrix in place and then built the car around it!

[kev131]

Same car Theo - And like you I could not see how the car could be easily brought down a floor.

I wish you hadn't mentioned about the heater problems. My car is in the garage having some work done, one job is to replace the heater control box as the existing one is cracked and providing no leverage for the heater controls, and there is a slight vibration from that area of the dash

I've just been speaking with the mechanic and we are trying to find a way to replace the box without taking the roof off the car! OK so that's an exaggeration but I'm nervous about extensive dismantling because I might have more rattles than I began with!!

If there is too much to be done I will live with the issue.

[Thotos]

That's why 131s should be RHD! The heater valve controls always break with the heater stuck on in the summer or off in the winter! But in a RHD car you can simply reach under the dash and turn the heater valve on or off manually!

The problem with the cable controls is the the small plastic clip (on Series 2 and presumably Series 3 cars; Series 1 cars had metal clips that lasted much longer) that holds the outer cable in place breaks off. They were available as spares years ago (I bet Fiat dealers made lots of money selling those) but I doubt you'll find any now. The best way to repair it is a large cable-tie to clamp the outer control cable in place and some Araldite  to stop the cable from sliding. 

[bellamacchina]

I like at least the registrationnumber. Anybody interested what means LUL in dutch language?

[Thotos]

what means LUL in dutch language?

Must be some sort of abbreviation as Babelfish doesn't translate it. Go on then, put us out of our misery and tell us...

[eugene]

Eugene here.Lul Stands for Dick in Dutch(luk between your legs)This is what my Dutch neighbour told me to do.She would love to translate more of these words!!!!!.Slan