Just Aircooled
New member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Messages
- 9
- Points
- 2
G'day, As the title says, I am from Australia, I have just bought 2 fiat 500s to satisfy my wife's dream of one day owing a Bambino, one is a '61 500D that is registered and on the road, this car is a little rough around the edges, the paint is sad but it has no rust and it drives quiet well once you get used to it!!.
The other is a '70 ish 500F that has been stored in a shed since 1984, it is complete, still runs but has some rust in the sills and the bottom of the guards, cars also came with boxes of spare parts, including engines, gearboxes, panels and electrical items, some new.
I bought both cars off and old gentleman who lives about 1/2 an hour from me, he is moving away and cleaning out his garage, he has owned them for years.
Being an avid enthusiast of the other very popular rear engined air cooled car I always do my own maintenance, so I have spent the last couple of days going over the '61 D to make sure everything is working as it should and it is safe to drive.
I checked all the brakes and found the rears to be new, all the king pins also appear to have been done not long ago, there was a nasty bumping noise in the suspension, that turned out to be the front shock rubbers, so I replaced those, the dynamo light is always on so I tested the generator and it is not working, will need to have that rebuilt and the clutch has a nasty shudder, I found the clutch cable and flexible tube are worn so will need to replace those.
Other than that it seems to be fine, this thing is a lot of fun to drive and brings a smile to a lot of people as you pass buy, I'm not sure if its the car or my scrunched up 6'3 frame sitting in the passenger seat................................no, its definitely the car!!.
I will put up some photos when I work out how too and I will probably need to ask a lot questions the more I work on it.
Thanks.
Dave
Oh and I have a very happy wife
The other is a '70 ish 500F that has been stored in a shed since 1984, it is complete, still runs but has some rust in the sills and the bottom of the guards, cars also came with boxes of spare parts, including engines, gearboxes, panels and electrical items, some new.
Being an avid enthusiast of the other very popular rear engined air cooled car I always do my own maintenance, so I have spent the last couple of days going over the '61 D to make sure everything is working as it should and it is safe to drive.
I checked all the brakes and found the rears to be new, all the king pins also appear to have been done not long ago, there was a nasty bumping noise in the suspension, that turned out to be the front shock rubbers, so I replaced those, the dynamo light is always on so I tested the generator and it is not working, will need to have that rebuilt and the clutch has a nasty shudder, I found the clutch cable and flexible tube are worn so will need to replace those.
Other than that it seems to be fine, this thing is a lot of fun to drive and brings a smile to a lot of people as you pass buy, I'm not sure if its the car or my scrunched up 6'3 frame sitting in the passenger seat................................no, its definitely the car!!.
I will put up some photos when I work out how too and I will probably need to ask a lot questions the more I work on it.
Thanks.
Dave
Oh and I have a very happy wife
