Davide Cironi Drive

I have come to really love this guy's videos. I do not mind the subtitles one bit!

Fiat 131 Abarth Rally

It was okay. I'm just not into super polished stuff the euros typically put out. Plus I saw that the '85 Ulster rally with Dickie Davis commenting was queued so I watched that after a couple of minutes. Memories. 

I’m a fan. He loves the same kinds of cars I do. There was a good one with the Renault 5 GT Turbo versus the Fiat Uno Turbo. 

Grow a mustache and you can watch that without subs.

I’d rather listen to him and not understand anything  than understand everything Matt Farah is saying.

I just wanted to bump this to the top.  I was going to post about this guy but performed a search and it actually worked.  

For those who don't wish to click so may of missed what this is about.  He has a series of videos where he takes completely TRASHED barn find type primarily small Italian cars and puts LOTS of labor and money into them.  I have no idea how he funds this but it looks like the cars are always built by some smaller Italian family owned speedshop.  The cars are EXTENSIVELY modified while being rebuilt to make them track ready.   I have no idea what he's saying but the videos are amazing to watch and the subtitles at least tell a coherent story.  He just released the 2nd of a 2 part series about turning a X19 into one of those cars you would see on Hillclimb Monsters (Another good YouTube rabbit hole to fall down).  

I know nothing about Davide Cironi but his videos are entertaining.  

That was a fun watch!

I just found him recently myself.  That X1/9 is pretty wild.

I get a kick out of the subtitles, sometimes the conversion to English is a little fractured.

I have been following the drive experience builds for about a year now. I got sucked in (for obvious reasons) by the Fiat 850 Berlina project. I have been patiently waiting for the rest of the X1/9 silhouette car build and just made time to finish #2 this morning. 

So refreshing to see car projects that aren't big V8s.

The cars in the background are often as cool or cooler than what is being focused on in the videos. It is making me really want a hillclimb prepped Autobianchi A112.

stuart in mn said:

I get a kick out of the subtitles, sometimes the conversion to English is a little fractured.

I lived in Italy for a few years when I was a kid. I was never great at speaking Italian in the first place and its been over 30 years now, but I can still understand a bit.

Davide uses a LOT of slang when describing how the cars feel and handle. Not easy to follow; I'm sure it's tricky to translate. The subs aren't bad, but there's definitely something missing. Still, you can figure it out from how animated he is LOL.

I worked for a Fiat dealer when the 131 was introduced and I really liked the car - it had a similar flavor to the Datsun 510. Plenty of greenhouse, comfortable seats and driving position, a 5 speed (which wasn't real common then - only cars like a 911 or the newer 510 had them, even the 240Z was a 4 speed in the early days.) a willing rev happy engine. It was a real step above the 124 sedan it replaced.

The clutch was stiffer than it should have been, and no power steering of course so a little stiff at parking speeds but fine as you got rolling and really direct and positive feeling. all in all a delightful car to drive. I had a 5 speed wagon for my demo (I was parts manager at the time and convinced them I needed a wagon) that was really nicely balanced. My only real negative was the weird rubber band feeling in the drive train. Once you got used to it you could drive around it, but it was annoying till you did.

I would love to have one again, but I think they all pretty much have turned into iron oxide by now.