Faults:

Where to start? Everything went wrong on this car, but I'll give you a few of the highlights.

The carburettor had some nasty faults on it in that the petrol intakes kept blocking up. This would cause the car to stall any time you took your foot off the accelerator, which was lethal when you were in traffic.

The back struts totally rusted through, leaving the suspension hanging by a thread and a clattering like a machine gun every time you drove the car.

The starter motor jammed time and again, so much so we took to carrying a claw hammer in the car in a vain attempt to remove the siezure it by force. Didn't always work, but made us feel better.

Refused to start in any form of damp or cold weather.

Chronic rusting. What was once a nice metallic blue descended into a horrible canvas of jagged rusty metal.

Rear brakes used to lock up with absolutely no warning and no apparent cause.

The sunroof leaked like a sieve, which nearly caused a pile up on the A303 when it deposited a load of water on my face causing me to swerve across the carriageway outside Andover.

The gas struts on the boot wore out, which meant it wouldn't stay up under its own power. Quite a few distinguished people lent into the tailgate to retrieve goods, and came out again nursing an injured skull.

General Comments:

An really horrible car. I can't think of one time when it ran reliably. It turned slower than milk, would struggle to win a drag race with a John Deere, and coupled with a crashing ride and vestigial boot it made for an interesting experience.

It had so much potential in that is was quite spacious and was one of the better early 80's supermini's, but was just too unreliable. I spent more time underneath it and with the bonnet up than actually driving the thing.

Still, it provided hours of great mechanical experience for me, even if it was a brut to repair.

Faults:

Carburation problems, new alternator, new points.

General Comments:

Rather rusty and tatty, but underneath the bonnet lies a cracking engine with masses of low-end grunt - it is far superior to the likes of Novas etc. Very reliable too.