Panda (Classic) My white '88' 4x4.

Well Charmania has one, as does the blue clx and Barbara's 4x4, so I'm starting a thread for my white 4x4 in order to keep a record of the work in one place.



This was it when I first took ownership about 18 months ago. It had just come out of a five year period of storage and had no tax or mot, 54,000miles on the clock, but did look to be in pretty good condition.



After closer inspection at home I found it to be really really good . only one area of rust thanks to it being thoroughly waxed from new. This was the usual area at the back of the sill, only the o/s though, the n/s was fine. This had to be repaired for the mot but I can't remember much being needed.........









I soon had it all polished up and fitted some alloys........



About a year ago while I was servicing it disaster struck . When I removed one of the spark plugs a tiny piece of metal fell into the cyl. without me knowing, so when I started the engine it made one hell of a racket. I had to remove the head to get it out and renewed the cambelt and tensioner at the same time.
Unfortunately the big end bearing in that cyl. had suffered. I drove it like this till last November and then decided i would change the engine for a 40,000 miler I had spare. This engine change was an excuse to completely refurb the engine bay. I moved workshops while doing this so a month became three, then the front suspension was done too, so three months became six etc. etc.

Anyway, it was all done by April this year.............









More recently the fun stuff has started. Alloy wheels were changed for 127 Palio alloys I painted black and white. I also tracked down a wheel arch trim kit from Italy. New 4x4 decals were fitted to the rear wings, and a radio/cassette with four speakers were fitted to the interior.......



This is how it currently stands but further upgrades are in the pipeline. A sump guard is in the making and a pair of Boulder bars (I think that's what they're called) will follow.........









The bar in the last pics was just a test piece and is too short, the final bars will run the full length of the sill. They're made of 35mm tubing, a nice small size just right for Pandas but because they have a diamond pattern pressed into them they are as strong as much larger tubing



I'm trying to make all non original parts removable so that it can easily be returned to standard, I know some some people prefer this.

It's also been to a few car shows recently and gets a lot of positive feedback from the general public, especially with the Panda tent on the back. In fact six weeks ago at the Beaulieu Italian car day it was voted joint runner up by the attending public, tying will a Lamborghini Gallardo. The Lambo only managed it because it was a special edition they only made 250 of and named it after one of their test drivers .



Phew, that's pretty much up to date now so will post any future work from here.

Absolutely Love it.
Beautiful example of the Panda.

Top Marks!

Nice one vern....

Btw...they are called rock sliders

Thank you.

Would love to take it round NZ some day, perfect Panda play area I would imagine.



Thanks Kev, I was close then

IMO Boulder Bars sounds better

wow. looks amazing.

Cracking example bud, I hope its coming to some more shows this year? Would be good to see it in the flesh

Quit giving me ideas. i need to focus getting mine on the road first! :P:P

its looking fantastic man. you've done good work to it.

Oh that engine bay ... Very meticulous work, and the end result speaks for itself.
Well done, another panda with the Vern's Seal of Approval. Keep up the good work!

Vern
Never mind the Beaulieu Italian car day you should be entering the d'elegance class at Pebble Beach such is the class of your work.
It is a ***** pukka job.
Dave

Come on Dave.....get your finger out and follow Verns lead..

Amazingly clean look, great show-car, but I hope you have another one for fun offroad rides , because the whole work with white princess would be gone in the first muddy puddle. And having a 4 by 4 panda and not driving it offroad is... hmmmm

Mine often looks like this (also under the hood), and I even don't live in the countryside but in a big city.

Beaulieu's holding a 4x4 day in August, hope to have Barbara's 4x4 ready for that too, otherwise it's just a couple of shows local to me. Beaulieu is a good one though, maybe see you there?

I love driving my cars much more than working on them. This one has covered 3000km in the last five weeks and is my daily driver, no way to treat a 'princess'. I'd happily take it offroad too (within reason ), I wouldn't want to damage this one too much. Having one I can have some proper fun in is definitely a plan for the near future but I have a few to get rid of first.

Thanks for all the positive comments Guys, as most of the info had already been posted in other threads I wasn't expecting it.

If you guys want to play with your 4x4s Kev and I know a guy who could give you a run on the legal runs on the plains

Tell me more Trev.