Greetings,
Just want to say hello. I finally succumbed to the little Fiat 500's charms, with a little help from my better half. Imagine my surprise when I started looking for Fiat 500, I found one not 45 minutes away in a Citroen garage (I live in France by the way). Price looked low, so thought it was probably in a bad state. But what a surprise befell me..... Here was a 50+ year old car without any rust or dents. Underneath is as good as the day she was built. The engine looked like it hadn't been touched for decades, but burst into life at the touch of the starter lever. Someone had replaced the interior, but the mechanics were largely untouched, and very original. Indeed, I drove her home, and was very pleased to see no blue smoke or dripping oil.
Since this first journey, she has done more in the last six months than for decades. I use her to go to work, and she always puts a smile on my face. Double de-clutching is just second nature now. Had fun finding all the little idiosyncrasies of my new acquisition. Never heard of a manual throttle being fitted to any car, let alone a people's car like the Fiat 500. Also, I was impressed with all the extras compared with other cars from a similar era (I am also an avid Triumph TR fan and owner). There's a long list of "extras" in my book: Sunshine roof, wind-up windows, adjustable seat backs, steering lock, and yes an interior light. The lack of a fuel gauge is rather quaint, but a wooden dip stick works fine. The hot air valve behind the seats has disappeared for now on my car, but this Spring, the valve will return to its rightful place....
I will leave you with a picture of my acquisition. She is slowly getting new bits added on. The biggest changes so far were the fitting of "new boots" and soft top.
Hope to meet up with more classic Fiat 500 owners as we get out an about.
Cheers,
Stephen Wolf
Just want to say hello. I finally succumbed to the little Fiat 500's charms, with a little help from my better half. Imagine my surprise when I started looking for Fiat 500, I found one not 45 minutes away in a Citroen garage (I live in France by the way). Price looked low, so thought it was probably in a bad state. But what a surprise befell me..... Here was a 50+ year old car without any rust or dents. Underneath is as good as the day she was built. The engine looked like it hadn't been touched for decades, but burst into life at the touch of the starter lever. Someone had replaced the interior, but the mechanics were largely untouched, and very original. Indeed, I drove her home, and was very pleased to see no blue smoke or dripping oil.
Since this first journey, she has done more in the last six months than for decades. I use her to go to work, and she always puts a smile on my face. Double de-clutching is just second nature now. Had fun finding all the little idiosyncrasies of my new acquisition. Never heard of a manual throttle being fitted to any car, let alone a people's car like the Fiat 500. Also, I was impressed with all the extras compared with other cars from a similar era (I am also an avid Triumph TR fan and owner). There's a long list of "extras" in my book: Sunshine roof, wind-up windows, adjustable seat backs, steering lock, and yes an interior light. The lack of a fuel gauge is rather quaint, but a wooden dip stick works fine. The hot air valve behind the seats has disappeared for now on my car, but this Spring, the valve will return to its rightful place....
I will leave you with a picture of my acquisition. She is slowly getting new bits added on. The biggest changes so far were the fitting of "new boots" and soft top.
Hope to meet up with more classic Fiat 500 owners as we get out an about.
Cheers,
Stephen Wolf
hope you enjoy it!
