Cheap? and easy to maintain

[LDB]

sports cars.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enth...d45a588e&ei=49

[JockoT]

The FIAT may be easy to maintain (not my experience of them) but FIAT stands for Fix It Again Tomorrow so I doubt their reliability.

[LDB]

I've no direct experience but have heard British cars of that period are sometimes maintenance intensive. I'd like to have the 280Z along with 2-3 others among the suspects list.

[JockoT]

All cars of that era were maintenance intensive. Before electronic ignition and long-life spark plugs, you had to keep on top of the ignition system. Mechanical maintenance was never a real issue, it was the bodywork rusting away that was the biggest worry. Positive Earth electrical systems, which gave a better spark, meant that the car bodywork became a Sacrificial Anode and it caused it to rust away very quickly. British manufacturers (BMC/BL actually), were slow to convert to Negative Earth systems. Not until the widespread introduction of electronic ignition did the change come about.