Return to Lingus' garage

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Published on 06 March 2019

[quote]The Iso Fidia has been on my dream list ever since it was released. Renzo Rivolta was an Italian engineer who designed the Isetta micro car which BMW made under licence and which saved BMW from extinction. His first serious car was the Iso Rivolta with a Chev Corvette motor which was a successful challenger to established Italian cars like the Maserati Mexico and later the mighty Grifo. After he died his son produced the Fidia as a replacement for the Rivolta and later the Lele neither of which were successful which lead to the demise of the company in the mid 70s.[/quote] I experienced an Iso Fidia (or S4) in the mid-80s, but didn't realise at the time what was the significance of the car ... it belonged to a nearing retirement Service Station (remember them?) mechanic who also owned an immaculate Nissan Silvia CSP311, which I also failed to recognise as being a distinctly significant car ... anyway, the oddball thing I remember about this Iso is that somebody had restored the car utilising a set of Datsun 120Y taillights ... they actually didn't look out of place, but they did look like, well, 120Y taillights! For the edification of "john192" and for others too, I'd like to reference here the work and videos relating to "An Italian Garage" ... and never mind any language barriers ... the visuals and mechanical sounds make up for the words ...