Faults:

The only real issue was replacing the 2 front doors that had rust coming through. Hard to locate parts.

Everything else listed was only necessary for RWC.

Timing belt service.

4 new tyres and spare had to also be replaced.

The carby needed a recondition.

The rocker gasket seal was replaced.

Ignition coil.

All filters replaced

Rear shocks.

* The condenser is one electrical part to always replace straight away after picking one of these up; they’re really unpredictable in hot weather.

The front brakes needed replacing, rear disc pads too.

And the tie rod ends replaced.

Repco helped me out with parts, they had old stock on their shelves; I think I spent like $290 for everything.

Once the car had these minor things done, the car ran extremely well; had a quick service, and it passed RWC.

General Comments:

Now because my mother owned one new and also my great grandmother back in 84/86, I wanted a reliable cheap little run around I thought, Gemini? Then Colt sprang to mind. $300. The car had sat for at least 10 years in a garage and the carby needed a recon to make it run without stalling. Spent $300 on that. Realised a great change in the car after that as I had been driving it on a permit for a month to get parts and work done on it, what a fuel miser, and boy it can move for a 1.6 engine; it surely flies without much effort, it’s quite surprising.

The interior is quite nice for its age, velour trimmed seats, thick plush carpet, it has all the basics you need for a run around; mine even has air con. It’s a 4 speed manual with a super shift meaning an extra gear shifter low and high so you have 8 gears in total.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about the Colt. If you have time and patience with finding spare parts and the new mechanical parts that are pretty much $2-100 at Repco, yep... got all the parts and seals from them and most of the seals were on $1.50-$6 on sale. It was a cheap fix; new water pump was $10, bought 2 just for a back up. Timing kit was $15. I will hold onto the little Colt as they’re rare now and it’s a really fun comfortable car to get round in. Do not buy though if you are over 5ft 9.

Top speed 140. It really had no problem going faster if you let it.

Faults:

Well, there were no real problems when I got the car. It had been in an old ladies garage for most of its life, and all it needed was a tune up.

Although, later in its life, someone in a parking lot decided to do a hit and run on my boot. Was cheapish to repair, bought a new boot from a wrecker and took to the rest with a hammer.

Its idle is pretty low, and it likes to stall a bit just after starting it.

General Comments:

The car is slow, its top speed is 140km/h, going down hill, and that that speed, it feels as though the car is going to fall apart.

The stock stereo is crap, a radio, and 2 small 4 inch front speakers.

It has air conditioning, which was surprising.

The interior was as new, and still is, but the seats after a while can become rather uncomfortable. The font seat also don't go back far enough, so I feel cramped while driving.

It does OK burn outs, and it use to do good 180's, but that was before I put some new tyres on it.

It can take off fairly well, and you can beat almost anything on the road, as long as they don't know your racing them, other wise your screwed.

It has OK steering, not power, but it is a light car, so it doesn't matter too much. You really wish it had power steering when parking though.

It doesn't use too much petrol (if I'm not thrashing it), if I'm just cruising on the freeways, I get about 12km/L, in the city I get about 8.

I like to joke around by calling it "THE BEAST", but its not. Its a fairly good car, it gets me around. For a first car, I would recommend it.