General Convert classic Panda 4x4 to RHD?

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General Convert classic Panda 4x4 to RHD?

Rockdad

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How easy is it to convert a classic Panda 4x4 LHD to RHD? Anyone done it?
 
I've never seen this done and would be amazed if anyone has...would love to be amazed though!
Can I ask why you would want to do it?

Lots of late model, galvanised, high quality classic Panda 4x4s available abroad. Thought about importing one and converting to RHD. But no idea how easy or difficult or impossible this might be.
 
Lots of late model, galvanised, high quality classic Panda 4x4s available abroad. Thought about importing one and converting to RHD. But no idea how easy or difficult or impossible this might be.

As plug says....I would just leave it.....plus pandas were galvanised for the uk too and there are good ones out there....it's just a waiting game.
Where was you thinking of importing one from?
Buying a donor rhd car would push the cost up.
One more nosey question...why a 4x4?.......2wd is just as good..(y)
 
As plug says....I would just leave it.....plus pandas were galvanised for the uk too and there are good ones out there....it's just a waiting game.
Where was you thinking of importing one from?
Buying a donor rhd car would push the cost up.
One more nosey question...why a 4x4?.......2wd is just as good..(y)

Import source? Germany, though it costs for shipping.

Why a 4x4? My old Volvo 740 estate had all kinds of trouble getting me to work in the snow. + Always liked the classic Panda.

Some reasonably well preserved ones in Germany but all LHD of course.
 
Hardest part would be re routing and probably needing to extend the wiring and also sorting the dash as they are different in later LHD ones are they not? Swapping all the mechanical bits would probably be quite straight forward, aslong as the LHD shells had all the mounting points and holes for the RHD bits.
 
Hardest part would be re routing and probably needing to extend the wiring and also sorting the dash as they are different in later LHD ones are they not? Swapping all the mechanical bits would probably be quite straight forward, aslong as the LHD shells had all the mounting points and holes for the RHD bits.

My bet is that the LHD shells have the mounting points and holes for the RHD bits, Fiat were good at that sort of thing, unlike say Renault who couldn't sell the original Twingo here as they didn't plan for that. For example, I've heard that the Fiat 124 Spider has those things sorted even though it was never sold in the UK. As for the dash, it looks like you could just slide the whole pod across the shelf!
 
I have a LHD 4x4 Trekking with all the mashings elec window lift, elec level adjust head lamps, elec door locks. spi fire engine. Mine is a 2000 mod with
35K and I still needed to have bumpers off to kill spots of rust off were the paint had not adheared to the spot welds. Its perfect now but is took time to get to this stage.

My advice to you is buy a LHD in the UK if you can I did but it cost me 3K and then the rest to get it up to my standard. They bring a hefty price well above what I paid in europe, the Germans and Italians love these cars so hence the high price they ask for them.
 
Hello.
Sorry to disappoint everyone but, the LHD and RHD bodyshells were handed at time of manufacture, so the one does not have the mounting points for the other.

That is not to say that the mountings could not be fabricated but you will find that such a conversion is not as simple as it might at first appear.

Regards.
 
Lots of late model, galvanised, high quality classic Panda 4x4s available abroad. Thought about importing one and converting to RHD. But no idea how easy or difficult or impossible this might be.

Talking about galvanised - what year did Fiat start rust-proofing Panda 4x4s?
 
Hello.
Sorry to disappoint everyone but, the LHD and RHD bodyshells were handed at time of manufacture, so the one does not have the mounting points for the other.

That is not to say that the mountings could not be fabricated but you will find that such a conversion is not as simple as it might at first appear.

Regards.

Thanks for this. Looks like Plug had the right idea - if going for a LHD, get used to it. Or sit and wait for a good RHD one to appear.
 
Hello.
Understand that the last 4x4 imported to UK was in September 1991.
Regards.
 
If you do buy one in LHD let me know. I have a RHD one and would possibly be interested in swapping your bits for mine as I'd prefer a LHD but was put off by the cost. My e-mail is autohausdolby ( at ) hotmail ( d0t) co (do+) uk :)
 
My bet is that the LHD shells have the mounting points and holes for the RHD bits,

Far from it unfortunatly. The Shells are different part numbers and I can confirm from exprience that the bulkhead are not the ame.

Talking about galvanised - what year did Fiat start rust-proofing Panda 4x4s?

Since production of the mk2 all Panda shells were galvanised iirc, it was just the Doors that weren't until late in production run in the UK.

I'm not sure anyone knows for sure, but I think it was around 92-93, sadly they stopped selling 4x4s here just before that time.

Doors were glavanised late 1993> iirc.
 
Far from it unfortunatly. The Shells are different part numbers and I can confirm from exprience that the bulkhead are not the same.

This confirms what Petel said earlier.

Well, that's that idea down the drain! Thanks everybody for the advice.
 
As Petel said, they were handed, heres my dash... nude... :p

100120111376.jpg
 
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