I remember posting about the Ital a long time ago on HJ...
My ex-father-in-law had an Ital and after I gained his trust with his daughter, he used to let me use it (the car, I mean). Would have been around 1990. She's a Scouse, I'm a Manc and there were times when we needed to flit from Manchester to Birkenhead. Probably Christmas.
At that time I knew absolutely nothing about car handling and I'd driven various Peugeots, Fords and Rovers and that kind of thing. But driving that '83 Ital on the motorway was truly awful. Bad enough to drive it in a straight line, but to have to press the brake at speed, surrounded by other cars was truly frightening. Weaving, lurching and rolling. That was the day I learned about the chasis, the brakes, the suspension and the geometry and how it was actually quite important. And probably the tyres, too. All in 90 minutes.
I remember in '87 I'd had my first car, the 1979 Peugeot 505, I'd driven it all over the country with just a year on my license at well over 100 on motorways. Nothing phased it, or me. Then to drive a car that was four years younger but with embarrassingly appalling handling made me realise what BL really meant. Utterly shank.
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