Hi,

I'm new to the forum as I am considering buying a little diesel 500 for work and hope that I can be cheeky and jump right in for some h'advice. I'm an electrician and am downsizing considerably from a Mitsubishi Pick up truck and reckon, with the back seats removed and the rear boarded out, I can use a 500 as a tiny work van to hold my tools. Much better with fuel, parking and pretty stylish looking too!

Just wondering if anyone has any great advice on the following (some of which I am sure has been asked elsewhere, but I can't find answers anywhere)

- I can see that you can buy kits to ensure the back is fully carpetted once the rear seats are removed, but does anyone know of anyone lining the back with plywood as you would a van? I need at least a solid bulkhead to avoid getting tools in the back of my head when braking hard or in an accident. Perhaps someone makes a kit, he asks optimistically?

- Can you get decent chrome roof baskets, rather than the standard roof bars? I think the old ones used to have them?

- I thought it would be cool and make more room in the boot to remove the spacesaver and get a proper 5th wheel to attach to something like the metal luggage rack you get on the tailgate...any ideas if you can get something like that?

Thanks very much for any advice!

Tom

Anything’s possible given time and money. With respect to the spare on the tail gate, the gas strut won’t be able to lift it. If, however you look at VW T4 Syncro’s you will see that they have a swing out spare wheel carrier. You could get something similar fabricated.

I seriously doubt there’s any sort of off the shelf partition but again I’d expect it would be pretty easy to get one fabricated.

I use a MB G Wagen for work and have seriously thought about a Panda 4X4 and doing something similar to your idea (they are real giant killers off road and share the same Magna Steyr Puch genes as a G Wagen) and 15 to 20 mpg compared to maybe 40+ is appealing!

I would say that a 500 could be a really cool advertising/usp for you business

Hello and welcome to the forum :wave:.

T0MMYG said:

Thanks very much for any advice!

Tom

Click to expand...

Get a Panda. You'll be able to get almost twice as much in the back of it & if you take out the rear seats (a 5 minute job), it's practically a van already.

The steeply curving sides which give the 500 its eye candy appeal seriously restrict what you can get in the rear.

I've run one of each for the past four years, and moved house twice with them. You can get almost anything in the back of a Panda, and almost nothing in the rear of a 500.

To give you some idea of its versatility, the Panda will (just) take a standard sized pallet, or a full size domestic washing machine.

I dunno if you're looking at buying new or second hand but being a 'car' you won't have the same business benefits as if it was a 'van'

If buying new have you looked at the clubvan


I'm sure there is a company who could board the back out on a 500, would be worth getting the back windows wraped and if tools are going to be flying about then protect the windows from the inside

One thing you won't be able to do it carry 3metre lengths of conduit about

Thanks for your comments guys. The 500 is definitely not the best for carrying stuff, but it just has so much more style than the Panda (in my opinion). It fits better with my "brand"....I like to pretend I have a) a brand and b) style. Good point re: struts...I did wonder about that myself - I think you might be right. Thought it might beef up the car's appearance...which most of the people I have floated the idea to on Facepest think is driven my girls....not that I listen to Facebook!!

I was also looking at the mini clubman (a future classic? now they are no longer made - new one coming out in 2016 apparently). They are just a couple of grand more for the same spec/mileage as I am looking for a second hand car about 5 years old...trying to get maximum attention for minimum spend. I really like the idea of using such a small car when most people use a van, but only actually fill the bottom 1ft if that and carry around way more stuff than needed.

I will deffo just line the back myself if nothing or no-one offers the service - I can't imagine there is much demand for it for the 500 so would be a custom thing methinks!

I haven't worked out how to deal with the conduit...might be able to bend them a bit, but they'd be sticking out 20 odd cm each end...or just put them vertical like a massive aerial!!

Remember a chap on here who was a domestic bee keeper who ripped out the back seats of his Car and installed racking for his bee keeping bits.. One member suggested that he should check if his insurance will cover him as he has moddified the car by ripping the back seats out entirely and fitted the racking it turned out he wouldnt have been insured.,. so before you do anything ask your current insurerer if they will still cover you if you do what you are planning before you buy


see here:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/326629-flat-floor-instead-rear-seat-van-mode.html

jrkitching said:

Hello and welcome to the forum :wave:.



Get a Panda. You'll be able to get almost twice as much in the back of it & if you take out the rear seats (a 5 minute job), it's practically a van already.

The steeply curving sides which give the 500 its eye candy appeal seriously restrict what you can get in the rear.

I've run one of each for the past four years, and moved house twice with them. You can get almost anything in the back of a Panda, and almost nothing in the rear of a 500.

To give you some idea of its versatility, the Panda will (just) take a standard sized pallet.

Click to expand...

Having owned both as well, I would have to disagree with you slightly here. No doubting the 500 is less practical than a Panda, but you'd be surprised what can fit into a 500. I was always pleasantly surprised when our first child was born - the only real reason we swapped the 500 for a Panda was because of the issues my wife had getting the car seat in and out the back as she has hypermobile joints. Space wise, we always coped fine.

The good thing about the 500 being based on the Panda platform is that it is quite tall inside. Again, not anywhere near as spacious as the Panda, but it is better than you think. And assuming the rear seats are removed and a suitable floor put down, I can see this working just fine.

To the OP - I cannot offer any technical advice on how to fit out your 500, but I think it sounds like a really great idea. At the end of the day, you will soon know if all your tools etc will fit in. But I think it sounds brilliant and I hope you will keep us all posted!

I too was pleasantly surprised about what you can get inside a 500. I tried my bike (front wheel removed) in the back with the seats down and it fitted just as well as it did in our Clio.

The only small bit of a 500 is that the rear end sides slope in quite a bit, making the rear entrance a bit tight.

As for converting into a "van", I think this is a super idea.

Maybe a dog-guard fitted across side-to-side behind the front seats?
You can buy them as a "universal" fitting with telescopic ends with pads.

Good luck, and keep us posted,
Mick.

TommyG I'm not aware of anything like that for the new 500 - if you want to stand out the original 500 came as a van, but it's a bit expensive.

May I throw a curved (or straight really) Panda ball at you? Have you considered a mk2 Panda - even in standard form you can get huge amounts in there as it's square (much more than a new Panda, let alone a 500). With the rear seats folded it's a ready made van (one of my client's used one for a gardening business), and there are also Panda vans around (difficult to find) or conversion bits (I think I know who snapped up a couple of metal bulkhead panels for behind the back seats).

The classic Panda gets huge amounts of attention & is perfect for advertising your business - I have one being used for this (it's just about finished, but gets huge attention even without any overt advertising on it). Everybody looks at them, they don't cost a lot, and will gently appreciate (as an added bonus). They are also new enough to be used as a reliable "van" particularly if you get a later fuel injected one.

Panda Van



My advertising tool (great fun!)

Hi I too am a sparks I use my 500 with seats removed works fine for me ,mini trunking has to bent in the taken strait out when I reach job ,my normal steps fit between the seats .
Ps I mainly work in domestic jobs .so no tall steps
Regards colin

Thanks guys. Really useful. I'll post photos once completed...