http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/-/262887556577?

Nice & expensive!

Interested to see if it sells for that much, I just got one which was 'new old stock' for £30 inc. delivery from Ireland... so 'the Holy Grail' may be over selling it a little. No badge on mine though.

I thought the upgrade to a plastic grille was more a styling thing than pedestrian safety? I wonder where you really stand retro fitting them to later Pandas if that is the case.

Phiz said:

Interested to see if it sells for that much, I just got one which was 'new old stock' for £30 inc. delivery from Ireland... so 'the Holy Grail' may be over selling it a little. No badge on mine though.

I thought the upgrade to a plastic grille was more a styling thing than pedestrian safety? I wonder where you really stand retro fitting them to later Pandas if that is the case.

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It had nothing to do with safety, people do talk rubbish! The advert is rubbish.

The mk1 Pandas had metal grilles, apart from the upmarket versions which had plastic. These were the 4x4s and VIP etc. Plastic grilles were seen as upmarket, and the metal one was downmarket. The opposite of how we look at it now!

If it was pedestrian safety they would have all been changed at once.

Edit: You get hit by a brick shaped Panda you know about it - plastic grille won't save you!

Like the edit!

I guess when the plastic grille came out it must have looked modern and would have marked peoples new Panda's out as being just that... not quite the same attitude once they get classic!

Interesting to see if it sells...

My Mk1 Panda 4x4 had a metal grille.

The starting price is how much it cost me. Well done for the "new old stock" find. I guess they didn't know what they had.

Styling is subjective the main reasons Fiat opted for the plastic grilles were cost, and opening the front so the radiator would be more effective for the new FIRE engine. The European passenger vehicle regulations were revised in 1986 along with the UK's Construction and Use Regulations. This is also when the European Crash Test Program was introduced (renamed Euro-NCAP). The metal grille was not replaced exclusively due to these revisions and additions but they were on the pipeline at the time of the change.

The smaller Mk1 bumpers were replaced with bigger squishier ones for the Mk2 and the sharp edge leaving slam panel substructure metal grille replaced with a plastic one where the screw holes were more likely to give way and not impede the frontal area diffusion under impact.

If anyone has a couple of Pandas and would like to buy my grille for a comparative crash test "Metal vs Plastic" you are more than welcome to.


Edited to add; P.S I have bought two for £140 so one will be going a Panda soon.

May be true re cooling for the mk2, but we're talking about the mk1? Mk1 had a mixture of metal and plastic depending on the model. Considering both the metal and plastic mk1 grilled only have slats in one side, cooling is clearly not altered significantly between the two. Metal was cheaper than the plastic ones pre mk2 I believe.

The 4x4 mk1 had plastic as far as I know - certainly all the original ones I've seen in the last few years had them, as do brochure pictures.

It's usually wise to say if it's your listing - I also paid £30 for my spare by the way!

I think my mk1 grille came out to about £25 off eBay in the end, in primer ready for topcoat and badge. All in all about £40 for a good looking metal grille for my mk2, came out really nice! Sounds like both Pal and Phiz got for a similar price so I'd assume that's the going rate (or thereabouts anyway).

Palio is right with the mk1 4x4, it used the plastic grille. You can see standard mk1 4x4s on Google images all use the plastic one and my brochure pics of the Panda 4x4 mk1 have the plastic one as well, same as the pre-facelift mk2 one I believe.

Well the guy I got the grille off has some other bits, says he'll let me know tomorrow what, though I suspect they will all also be mk1 so probably no use to me, though might be handy for others on here.

Hope the reduced air flow isn't too much of an issue for my FIRE engine, though doubt I'll have it on before Spain and it'll be less of a worry on the Russia trip. One other consideration is the potential for stone chipping on a metal grille, I'd have thought even with spikes on the bonnet my Panda will still be as pedestrian friendly as most of the cars round here just because I look out of the windscreen and even indicate!

It's funny the Euro NCAP standards affected the look of the Panda, when you think of cars over the years that have been altered cosmetically for safety standards America tends to get the blame, leaving Pandas in the clear! Certainly in the case of MGBGT, Saab 900 and 80's/90's Volvo's America tends to take the blame.

Phiz said:

Hope the reduced air flow isn't too much of an issue for my FIRE engine, .

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Fresh coolant and a good thermostat and you wont have any issues, the FIRE engine is a very over-cooled engine IMO.

Phiz said:

Hope the reduced air flow isn't too much of an issue for my FIRE engine, though doubt I'll have it on before Spain and it'll be less of a worry on the Russia trip. One other consideration is the potential for stone chipping on a metal grille, I'd have thought even with spikes on the bonnet my Panda will still be as pedestrian friendly as most of the cars round here just because I look out of the windscreen and even indicate!

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No cooling issues have occurred with my injected 999cc, it'll be fine, as Didge says, the fire engine was quite over cooled anyway. Keeps to 70 or so degrees on the motorway and moving as normal, traffic allows it to 90 and the fan always keeps it from going too much above that.

Stone chipping is a problem though, I've got a few on mine already. I should have given it a bit more lacquer I think, so make sure you put on some coats when you do it!

Air flow is an non-issue. As we all know the FIRE engine range is pretty bombproof. When it was new Fiat didn't know that.

£10 off the starting price and don't forget free delivery. So I wasn't making anything to begin with.

Payday tomorrow and I'm feeling charitable.

Glad to hear the engine was over engineered re cooling in the first place. I've got a radiator on order and will be changing the coolant and thermostat so fingers crossed all will be well

Fingers crossed you find a buyer, at least if you have to relist it's only a matter of time. When I found mine it was the only one available so if someone wants one they'll have it .