So, the new year started optimistically - get out on the road, get a few more miles on the clock, enjoy getting my car out. I'm currently looking out the window at a rather lovely Christmas card scene with more snow falling from the sky and a good layer of ice on our street. As much as I love driving, now is probably not the time to go out unless it's a necessity.

To console myself, I've been having a quick dig through some photos of my Little Blue Fiat, dating back to the point he first arrived.

As you can see. he's come a long way - this is him when he first arrived (hanging out with a Stilo and a Punto Sporting - yes, it is a Punto Sporting. You can't see that clearly from the photo (other than the slight spoiler over the rear window), but trust me it is - it was my other half's car at the time!)

 Probably the first thing you'll notice (other than the lack of a bonnet catch and badly faded light clusters) is the paintwork - after the best part of 30 years driving round various parts of Italy and the UK, time and weather conditions had taken it's toll. Anyone that's owned an older Fiat or any older car will know all about this - my 1989 Fiat Uno which was, according to the manufacturers plate Rosso Corse, was as everyone else called it "Fiat Orange".

Some of the paintwork damage was superficial and with a bit of time and some careful polishing, would have been fine. Other bits - well, other bits had stopped being bits and had turned into holes. Again, anyone that's owned an older car (especially an Italian one) will know of their reputation for rust. My little car had succumbed too.

 The roof fixings, odd patches on the wheel arches and door sills, one or two blisters round the windows. It wasn't only on the outside...

 Yes, the bodywork needed some work, bits would need replacing, it would probalby need a resapray as a result, but nothing was impossible.

The front panel needed a bit of work as well:

Obvioulsy a new number plate was in order! There were also four small holes on the front, just above the bumper. These were where the original Italian Number plate would have been. It would have been lovely to find him with that still attached, but it was long gone. As he was a 500R, he had the later Fiat badge on the front (the sloping letters). Although the authentic badge for the age of car, we opted to swap this for an older version, purely on aesthetics.
And so onto the next part - the engine, gearbox and running gear.

 It needed work, there was no doubt about that. It's actually not that difficult to get a complete replacement engine and geabox, which is waht we did in the end. The beauty of the Fiat 500 is that it was designed to be easy to work on, so the engine is small, accessible and removable - it was intended as a car for the people, cheap, practical, city friendly. If you watch the shots of Turin in the Italian Job (the original and by far the best version), you can see that this was the case - the city is full of them. They were ideal for the hustle and bustle and narrow streets of the Italian town or city. The first time I saw the new engine and gearbox for mine, it was happily sitting on a workshop bench, not taking up surprisingly little room - a compact uncomplicated air cooled engine with equally compact gearbox. So, that was the engine sorted. We chose to go for a 5 speed gearbox to make the most out of a slightly larger engine than the original one would have been. As a result we also changed the brakes all round to disc brakes - if we were going quicker, we wanted to be able to stop quicker too. 


And so, the interior. Well, you've already seen the roof. Yes, that would need a bit of work. That wasn't the only bit.

 The door liners were on the loose side and were worn.

Most of it wasn't too bad - certainly nothing too serious.

The dashboard was in a reasonable state as well - yes, it's in kilometres and the writing is in Italian, but that's half the fun of it! And yes, that's pretty much it in the way of dashboard features. Lights, battery, petrol, oil. Nice and simple.  The steering wheel and associated swtiches and levers was fine - quick coat of paint on the metal work and it would be good as new.

There were also other things like wheels, petrol tank, window trims - all of which would need looking at and deciding whether they could be salvaged or would need replacing.

It was a longish list and it took some time to complete, but now it's done. It's nice to look back and see how far he's come and the improvements that have been made and a few little customisations.

All I need now is some decent weather and a free weekend...

Happy new year - time for some resolutions...

A quick hello to 2013! Those last few months flew by. One minute it was the Jubilee weekend, then all of a sudden Christmas was here! In between times, I've been busy with work, managed to spend two weeks in Korea (some work, some time to have a look round) and probably spent too much time watching sport (bit of football, the Olympics, quite a lot of F1). Christmas seemed to arrive out of nowhere!

It's the start of 2013 and time to look ahead. My car arrived back just before Christmas (my other half collected it - I was off to Norwich and Cambridge, but that's a story for another day!) so the plan is to get out and get a few more miles under our collective belt. I have been informed that he's driving like a dream, the gear box has bedded in nicely and he's got quite a turn of speed (in Fiat 500 terms). Here's hoping that the weather smiles on us!