RobiNZ Personal Blog

Reserved for the manual Fiat Bravo

How to get valet park number one at the Airport? The valet part is courtesy of a work travel booking. Park No 01 because they didn't want to drive a manual far or reverse it! Read more →

A history of the first Fiat I drove: The 132

Cool to read the history of the Fiat 132; our family car when I was a kid and the first Fiat I ever drove. Under the Knife – Don’t mention the War | Driventowrite.com During its thirteen-year lifespan, Fiat’s D-segment saloon went under the knife on four different occasions, with varying degrees of success. The Fiat 132 was launched in 1972 to replace the 125 Berlina... [the article uses the acronym 'DLO' which is car design speak for 'Day Light Opening', or windows...) Although not the purest Fiat experience, thanks to soft suspension and slightly 'woolly' steering, the 1973 Fiat... Read more →

The Fiat Bravo HGT is finally out of lockdown and HubNut'ed!

Way back in March, just before its HubNut YouTube debut (embedded below), I was able to source a decent used air conditioning condenser for my Bravo 155 HGT. Given there are so few in NZ it was an opportunity not to be missed as, uneconomic to repair, cracks in the old one had taken out the system. Dropped it off at the mechanics to get it fitted, quite a task, and get the dodgy throttle response, as experienced by Hubnut, sorted. Then COVID-19 Lockdown one happened... After that I was happy (because not my daily) for it to go into... Read more →

Ridelabelz laundering instructions for an Abarth

When AHBART was detailed by Final Touch it included ceramic paint protection. That came with very specific hand wash instructions so, although I never use car washes, when I saw this amusing accessory on an Abarth Group had to get one. Seems appropriate for the car and summarises those car care instructions :) I ordered it a couple of months ago and had almost forgotten when, thanks to COVID-19 mail timelines, it arrived last Friday. It is printed on heavy duty vinyl and Velcro attached; take a look at ridelabelz.nl for details. Read more →

The evolution of the Fiat 500

While Frank Stephenson did design the production new generation Fiat 500 it is a pity he did not mention, credit, Roberto Giollito and his Fiat Trepiùno concept car (below) which served as the inspiration. It was named for a unique 1+2 seat configuration where the front passenger seat could be slid forward, under a recessed dashboard, to create two full size passenger spaces beside the driver. Pity that didn't make production! Still getting a concept to production largely intact, past the bean counter cuts and real-world requirements, is no mean feat. Love watching him draw too. I wondered if he'd... Read more →

Austin Maxi Vs Fiat 128, no contest

Love this driventowrite.com series comparing the design and life of the Austin Maxi and Fiat 128. Although they were not direct competitors (the 128 is more 1100 sized) the similarities, of both cars and design history, are remarkable. 128 v. Maxi Part 1 : Last Tango of the Titans 128 vs Maxi Part 2 : Function over Form 128 vs Maxi Part 3 : Spring Song 128 vs Maxi Part 4: The Racehorse and the Donkey Continuing our meditation on the Austin Maxi and Fiat 128 Every Day Is Judgement Day. If you drive a front wheel drive car today... Read more →

Where does the fuel go in? | COVID-19

Filled up AHBART yesterday, 60 days since last fill and could still only get 24 litres into the (35 litre) tank. Mind you have only driven 316km and half of that was before lockdown! Read more →

My Fiat Bravo 155 HGT the HubNut star!

Back in mid-January 2020 Ian (HubNut) Seabrook took my 2001 Fiat Bravo 155HGT for a drive. I'm glad to see the verdict was favourable, even though his drive was hampered by an intermittent sensor problem causing it to feel flat on acceleration. Ian must be stronger than me. He pulled the bonnet release lever out of its pivot, never seen do that before, but clipped back in now! Since this was filmed the air conditioning condenser has been repaired so it's even cooler now. The wobbly throttle sensor was being sorted when the COVID-19 virus lock down closed NZ. I... Read more →

The wheels on AHBART go round and round...

Probably didn't need to do a blog post about this but thought of the title and seemed a shame not to... AHBART had slight vibration at certain speeds (at least two multiples of 45 km/h) from the rear, felt like, L/H side. After getting the tyres/balance checked turned out to be a slightly buckled rear wheel. There was no rim damage (as in a dent) but it wasn't quite round anymore. May even have been a legacy of last year's 3000km road trip as did have to get the front one fixed after I hit a pot hole. Seems 40... Read more →

Ushuaia & Departure | Antarctic Mission Log 02

I got the hotel shuttle to Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport reasonably early; add to that efficient (again) airport processing and I was early to the (remote bus type) gate lounge. It proved to be a mistake as there was little in the way of food air-side, one overworked cafe, and the lounge was crowded with few seats free. This was the older terminal rather than the new international one I arrived at. After a bit of wandering I found a place to sit, on the floor against the wall. Wasn’t alone, killing time, and ended up chatting to a group... Read more →