There is a slightly tongue in cheek debate elsewhere regarding the correct (factory) angle that the alloy door handle should be at. Opinions?

DSC_6057 by peterthompson, on Flickr

You are opening a whole world of pedantic pain ...

I'm just happy that mine work

Chris

To anyone who is interested,

I've looked through the books, magazines and articles that I have in my (messy) library at home and tried to find original period articles that had images of the interior showing the orientation of the door handles. It seems that the doors are infrequently photographed or if so, the handles are obscured by things like the steering wheel. Nevertheless, I've found a couple of examples which I've attached.

The first is as described by Joe and is from the manual (page 6). Orientation angled.

The second is a line drawing from a 1966 Autocar road test. Orientation flat.

The third is a photograph of the (new) car tested in the above road test. Orientation angled, though not as steep as in picture 1.

The fourth is from a 1977 Autocar road test of a secondhand car. One up and one flat(ish).

The fifth is my car as delivered to me. The handles looked to be in their original positions and the door cards were certainly original though I can't be absolutely sure that someone hasn't shifted both of them over the years. Orientation flat.

The weight of reliable evidence is with an angled door handle and I'm happy to adjust mine to match. Far from it for me to upset some sort of historical karma.

Angling the handles certainly makes them easier to use - now all I need to know is the angle from horizontal, degrees or radians, I don't care.

Any other opinions on this topic are both encouraged and welcomed.

Your faithful servant, with tongue in cheek,
Chris

Did I mention what position the window winder should end up when the window was fully wound up........

Joe

tjmra said:

Did I mention what position the window winder should end up when the window was fully wound up........

Joe

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No - but I was expecting it ....

Is this OK ??

Chris

PS: The switches are all parallel when turned off, all of the bolt heads on the car have the 'FIAT' logo facing the same way and when I park, the 145/70R12 script on the tyres is always upright on each wheel.

Im glad i have a 500L and therefore dont have such major things to worry about!

My biggest worry is having panels solid enough to attach such things to.

Heres a couple more examples to help those having a breakdown at the moment.

Here is my first placement that started this whole debate off. Looking a little droopy.



I prefer them to be in a position where they are at about 10 mins past the hour on the passenger door and 10 to on the drivers door. If you have a RHD. So the end of the handle is just inside the door card area. I believe the correct position is for the ends to be just poking over the top of the door card. Peter's drivers door has it just right for me but his passengers door is two minutes slow.

Vitesse said:

Peter's drivers door has it just right for me but his passengers door is two minutes slow.

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So horizontal on the drivers door puts me about 12 minutes slow - not bad for an Australian. I'll take it.

Chris

Franko500 said:

Im glad i have a 500L and therefore dont have such major things to worry about!

My biggest worry is having panels solid enough to attach such things to.

Heres a couple more examples to help those having a breakdown at the moment.

Click to expand...

Franko,

Not sure if we can take your input seriously until you get the steering wheel in the right (see what I did there?) side of the car.....

Joe R

Nice one Joe,


Now that is another debate!
What side should a steering wheel be on Fiat 500?
Originally designed for Italy/Europe hence on the left, and export vehicles have what could only be classed as mobility modifications (after thoughts) to adapt for the right.


Should I modify for the right or stay on the left for originality?:shrug:


Sean

Most LH drive-specific components are much cheaper and more plentiful.
Keep it original I would say

On the door handle question even the non-pedants do seem to care more than I expected.
The winders should probably always lean over-centre in the direction of winding when in the uppermost position.

fiat500 said:

The winders should probably always lean over-centre in the direction of winding when in the uppermost position.

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So is that facing a little bit down or up. When you answer, please remember that I'm in the Southern Hemisphere ...

Chris

This is how I'll be doing it...

the man's brilliant.

the man's brilliant.

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A legend in my own lunchtime

If need be I'll interrupt my busy Sunday morning and attend to my misdirected door handles - after all, I'd hate to be a pariah in this community

So, did we get an answer?

Chris

I think we should move on to something even more important such as "Should the screws on the engine air I ntake grile be painted body colour?"

Should the screws on the engine air I ntake grile be painted body colour?

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Yes

No :devil:

Maybe

Caffienne..

The problem you have with painting them, as you know Peter might aren't, is you need the grill to be off to spray underneath. Then spray the grill off the car to make sure you get all of it covered properly. Put the grill back on and screw it in, then give it another spray of paint to cover the screw heads. I didn't have the luxury of doing this as I didn't paint it.

I believe they are meant to be painted though. I quite like my stainless steel ones.