To introduce myself .....fiat 500R I think ....
Hi there, so after posting a couple of random questions and reading this forum for some time I thought I would introduce myself as I find other people's stories interesting.....

I am no car expert and being an office worker I am not used to dirty hands, but originally I was an aircraft engineer and have worked on a few Porsches. I thought it would be an idea to rebuild a car with my son, the next generation is an instant gratification technology obsessed bunch so I thought some proper frustrating long hours sorting out an old beast would be a good idea.

So after a little search we came accross an eBay listing for a 500 that had been bought from Italy for £9,000 as a perfectly restored car by a very nice lady. On getting it back she discovered in true Italian style that everything you could not see was an absolute mess. Holes in floor, brake pipes split, engine and gearbox dropping oil everywhere and so on, so after trying to get her money back she put it on eBay with an engineers report saying all that was wrong with it ........ so for 2k we got a good looking 500 that was hiding all its faults pretty badly.

Over the last six months we have stripped the whole car down, welded complete new floors in, taken engine and gearbox out, we didn't open the engine bar value clearance but did everything else ando stripped all ancillaries.

I am amazed at how well engineered and cleverly simple the design of everything is, they are really enjoyable beasts to work on, I have always stuck to air cooled Porsches thinking everything else was a bit poorly engineered but the 500 is really great to work on.

We have bought a few abarth upgrades, and found a very nice UK supplier on eBay (autobella) Abarth suspension, nice alloy wheels, seat belts and so on .... now the car is looking very nice (I will stick some pictures up when I am back in the UK in a weeks time) we just have some minor issues to sort out before the MOT. Lights (left hand so presumably we need to change), horn (only works if you short the negative to earth not from the steering wheel?), and a carb issue with the 28imb we have fitted. The car has a 650 126 engine and gearbox so should go well and the engine runs nicely on the old 24 carb.

So the plan is MOT, drive for a while and then taken the engine out for something like an abarth spec change over the winter.

I have to say a big thank you to all the people that post various stuff on here, I have found reading all the various treads very very useful. Pictures to follow.....

Welcome, ive just joined the forum and bought a car in Italy. Mine has also been restored and hope not as badly as yours!


I too have an aircooled 911... am getting to know the 500 and driving it back from italy in 3 days..

Hey well good luck, I think all the advice is pretty good, the lady that bought mine before me managed to get it back from Italy and she had no knowledge no experience and no reverse or second gear so you should be fine !!!

I think you will be surprised how much fun they are to drive. I guess you will be going through Gemany so you can make full use of the autobahns.....

Welcome to the forum, and look forward to seeing some pictures!

So a few pictures as promised .....

The only issues I have remaining apart from MOT ing and registering is the carb which I am sorting and also second gear. So a question the gearbox is fine going up the gears and fine coming down and with a new clutch and oil the change is very nice but second gear is still crunchy when coming down the gears. It does go into second gear from third but it's always a bit crunchy whereas the rest are smooth. Is it just like this or is there something I can do ?

Thanks indeed

These gearboxes seem to wear easily. All replacement parts are available - if not that simple to fit

Hi there, Thanks for your reply, so would you guess that it's just that second gear has worn and needs replacing, guess that would make sense as it probably a very well used gear ?

It's the first synchro gear in the box as first is not synchro'd.
First is often badly worn when the cover plate is removed because of people changing into first whilst car is still moving.
If Second is worn - I bet 1st is knackered too....