Seeing HJ's photo in the News section about a Ro80 sold at auction reminded me of my holiday at Port St Charles in Barbados earlier this year where I saw a tidy Ro80 sitting under a car port, I guess waiting for its owner to arrive on their next holiday.
The last time I saw one of these cars was at RAF Greenwood back in 1975 or 1976, and the last place I expected to see one next, if at all, was Barbados! I can but imagine the climate to be kind.
Writing of cars and Barbados, I was also amazed at just how many ?koda Fabias abound on the island, too, given zip colonial or other connections with either Germany (VAG) or the Czech Republic.
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In around 1981 our next door neigbour found one of these in germany I think with a blown engine.
They put a 1600cc Cortina engine in it hoping to get some reasonable performance. Apparently absolute top speed was 70mph, and it struggled embarressingly on hills, such that the less powerful small hatches of the time were queuing to overtake!
H
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Writing of cars and Barbados....
Last time i was in Barbados, there were quite a few Felicia's, as it was before the Fabia was launched. I think that Skoda saw an opening and got in there, especially as there is no baggage with the pre VW Skoda reputation.
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The swear filter thinks otherwise.
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Adam
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if you close you eyes and squint it looks like an RX8?
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"if you close you eyes and squint it looks like an RX8?"
If I close my eyes & squint I can't see owt... :¬)
Regards,
John R @ Home
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Looks more like an RX-7 to me - that's with squinted eyes
;-)
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Adam
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if I close my eyes it all goes dark
Dan
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So I couldn't post about driving to a fancy dress ball as Widow Twanky?
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dark and ank all in one thread? LOL
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Computer says no....
::cough::
No Do$h - Alfa-driving Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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The German engined Ro80 could certainly go; I once sat on the M6 in my RX4 (my second rotary, "First the Motor Car, now the Rotor Car") with the pedal clamped to the metal while one of them slowly but inexorably eased past.
The trouble with the RX4 was that the engine was bombproof, but the rest of the device became a victim of the tinworm far too soon. As to the Ro80 I don't know about the shell, but the engines were notoriously fragile; however, it was a car in advance of its time.
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Conversions done in the 70s were usually Corsair V4 engines (1500 / 1700) I'm not sure an in-line 4 would fit? There are plenty of people who claim to have cured the tip seal problem on these engines nowadays, although of course you still need to drive them in the appropriate manner!
Very advanced bodyshell, aerodynamic with windscreen glass that curves in 2 directions, even their original alloy wheels look pretty. The semi-auto gearbox was fitted to mask the lack of torque at low speeds but it was a pretty good package all in all. Some say it was down to dealer inexperience for the engine replacements (when it was often spark plugs that needed replacing) which killed its image due to unreliability.
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In the late 1970s my father (who was in business in reasonably big way at the time) owned five Ro80s. Two (one after the other) were for him, one was for his transport manager and all these has the rotary engine. A fourth had the Corsair V4 engine and the fifth was cannibalised.
Spurb cars excpet for fragile engines. Huge amount of room, very very quiet and comfortable with a vey good ride. Dad sent his in-house mechanic - used to working on HGV engines - on a dealer course to save the cost of engine rebuilds which were frequent.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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