General 1966 500F resto project - starting!

[dragonwagon]

This has been sitting in my shed untouched for at least 12 years after buying it as an abandoned project. It's essentially all there barring a few notable omissions - no seats or pedal assembly which I daresay I will get sooner or later. Surprisingly, the body is basically sound - someone has done a very good job of replacing the floor pan and sills, but other bits seem to have been done by that odd couple, Rodge the Bodge and Poly Filla judging by the front wings, front panel and corners of the scuttle panel. All is not lost, those bits or most of them anyway, can be sourced from the likes of Ricambio.
Good or bad, I'm undecided about the 650 engine (well stuck) and synchro box..... time will tell once I attack that aspect of the little car.
Next in the queue a Panda 141a 4x4 and 850 Sport series 3!

 

[dragonwagon]

Some pictures of what I found on removing the wings and front panel - these were only tack welded in place and not attached to the inner arches at all!!

 

[the hobbler]

Some pictures of what I found on removing the wings and front panel - these were only tack welded in place and not attached to the inner arches at all!!View attachment 400393View attachment 400394View attachment 400395

Ouch!

 

[Raukstern]

I feel you
I´m doing something similar ringt now aswell. Have a look here:

500 (Classic) - Raukstern's 500F -65 rebuild

First piece in place last night, finally on my way for real :thumb: I havn´t restored a car, doing body work, for about 15 years know, so be kind on the quality of the welds. It will get better in time as I get the settings on the MIG tuned... I hope :D .

www.fiatforum.com

Maybe we can help eachother out

 

[Bounding Bambino]

Wow that front end...

How is the rest of the car? more notably the rear half under the rear seat pan, and rear suspension?

Im slowly coming to the realization that F models really like to rust internal pans. The F's seems to have from the factory a vinyl/rubber flooring with a foam/fabirc insulator backing that really liked to hold onto moisture.

 

[dragonwagon]

Wow that front end...

How is the rest of the car? more notably the rear half under the rear seat pan, and rear suspension?

Im slowly coming to the realization that F models really like to rust internal pans. The F's seems to have from the factory a vinyl/rubber flooring with a foam/fabirc insulator backing that really liked to hold onto moisture.

The rear end and entire floorpan are seemingly in pretty good order. I have bashed the living daylights out of it with a small hammer and so far no holes have appeared. This was an abandoned project when bought and it looks to me that several different hands have had a go at it. Some parts appear to be well done - other bits are just plain atrocious. Either way, it's worse than anticipated at the front.

 

[Goldnrust]

Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you there! Still, there’s nothing there that others are not going through / have already done. It will be marvellous when it’s done I’m sure.

Great news if the rest of the car is more solid . Good luck with it and keep us updated as you go!