I call her BiancaII not because of purple haze's beauty (although that would be a good enough reason) but because Bianca I was a car I drove round Europe in 1994 after I left school.. She died outside Paris in about 1998..

Anyway here she is:



The sills at the back by the rar wheel arches got patched up when I had lots of welding done last winter by a local guy in Dorset.. Took him 3 months and I'm not too sure about the quality.. Need to paint it white but not sure how really...

Anyway, apparently the rust was pretty bad back there.. all the mechanics I showed it too told me to scrap the car..

Here's some more pics:

Double sun roof...



Last photo for now...



The other bianca in Dorset has the original white plastic bumper.. I haven't switched it over yet.. This one was white when I bought it but I think I took too many trips to the car cleaner and the paints coming off..

All in all I would say this is a very nice survivor.. It was well looked after when I picked it up but had some rust problems... I broke down on the way down from Newcastle to Dorset the first when the exhaust collapsed and it overheated.. Rac relay to the rescue...

Then I had some carburettor problem so I put in the one from the other panda.. And discovered the clutch was finished too so swapped that in too.. Other than that I have put on 4 new (old stock?) Dunlop tyres that I found, I think the mechanic said that were from 1990 or something when he put them on.. I liked that..I also took the pneumatic back door thing and a sun roof catch off the other panda cos they were faulty/missing when I got the car..

It's been sorn for three months last winter, but now back on the road and better than ever.. I'd like to tidy up the interior roof lining and the odd rust patch but otherwise I think she's ok.. Tempted though to do a full rebuild now I've seen some of the cars on here.. Maybe do a restoration on the rusty one in the shed..

More photos later...
Matt

Nice! Cheers for the photos I'd love a Bianca and you have 2!!

I'm sure the Bianca's bumpers were not origionally painted, but injection moulded white, so paint shouldn't be coming off, looks like they've been replaced and painted at some point Kev may be able to confirm.

The previous owner must've replaced the front bumper and carefully painted it white. They did some other painting so would've made sense to do the bumper too I guess. (Except that paint doesn't stick to the bumper..)

The rear bumper is made of white plastic, and both the bumpers on the other panda are white plastic so ill swap them over one day..

Yep, as you proberly know they are white plastic. Although if correctly primed painting them should be fine. Nice to see you have the Bianca logo I had on my one in the 90's. There were three types used and the one I have is a hangover from the MK1 Bianca. I prefer yours though.. I also see you have the blue check cloth on the seats...not very hard wearing is it! More like thin felt.

Good to see the pics..

Ive got the genuine fiat 'Bianca' decals in a drawer at home.. And some magazine adverts and brochures.. The A4 one with the bikini girl I framed and gave to my mate, the other one is a bianca in a bed of pink flowers! The brochure is a4 and has some nice pics..
The spare sticker is nice, no idea what to do with it..
Ill see if I can dig them out.

The seat cloth seems to have survived ok...somehow! It's the roof fabric that has holes in it, and the carpet too..

The marks on the door are mud not rust.. There is a bit of rust but not too bad really..

Is there a good 'how to' thread to help me repaint over the welding?

More photos later, I can't really upload them on the train..

The roof lining can be re-covered. The carpet is available in Italy, albeit with the heel pad on the wrong side. Look on the rest of the forum home page for tip regarding prep and paint...or spend £800 and have it re-sprayed at a body shop.

I like that brochure... at the top of the Classic panda main page you will see a panda literature section...could you scan it and put it in that thread please..I've never seen it before!..

Ill try and scan it... It's an A5 dbl page magazine advert from America. It only arrived in December from Minneapolis...

I think I'm gonna frame it soon... Glad you like it!
I had the same thing with the bikini girl but I gave it away..

Matt

Fantastic, keep the photos coming! Pandas and makita power tools, 2 of my favourite things

The bikini girl is a MK1 brochure....your one is a real find..

JamieK said:

Fantastic, keep the photos coming! Pandas and makita power tools, 2 of my favourite things

Click to expand...

me too! but I got to stop using her as a builders van...

i like the way you can move timber about by ratcheting through the sunroof though...

purple haze said:

I like that brochure... at the top of the Classic panda main page you will see a panda literature section...could you scan it and put it in that thread please..I've never seen it before!..

Click to expand...

cant get my scanner to work at the mo.. will have to find another way..

here are some photos from somewhere on the way down from newcastle when i picked her up...

and in Dorset soon after she arrived in summer 2011