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General First 500

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General First 500

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Hello
Thanks for ŷour reply
Yeah It is quite rusted , can this be fixed though ? Or would you say the chassis is past it's best ?

My problem is its on eBay and only have a few hours to make my mind up as I can't seem to find any others for sale
 
Well it looks like you have got about 20 mins to make your mind up. If you are practical and can fix things it might be worth a punt as I am sure that the seller is genuine going by the listing & his feedback. If you don't do DIY and hve no cash in the stash it may not be for you.
 
Do up I think it's worth the money? Is that the going rate ?

As for the DIY experience I would like to think so but don't we all , I have played around a lot with cars though . Recently just repaired a crash damaged MG but I'm not a welder or a sprayer so this may be the issue
 
thanks for everyones advice ... i bought it last night costing me £1300 . i guess ive probs paid a bit over the top but i did find them rare.

i have been advised to buy a new shell now , just wondering if theres anywhere i could get one ?
 
It's not that rusty.....
The roof wll be the hardest.. but I think if you look on the European ebay sites you will find one being cut up... I'd swear there was someone selling a shell in Holland...

My new N is rustier.. but brought the following to help with the resto..
Front wings/panel, bulkhead, panel behind front panel, inner arches front and rear, rear outer arch repair panels, floors, inner & outer sills......
Well at least the engine cover and rear engine hanger are useable....

need some other buts but not going to do it for a while... just stocked up on stuff... was told in Italy that some Panels may go up significantly in price as the manufacturer has closed and the tooling brought by another company who have said they will be increasing the prices....
Not sure how true.. but I coudln't get some panels due to unavailability!!

Pics will come later other priorities before the winter sets in....
 
Hey congrats on the purchase ! I thought that it might have gone for a little more than that. That unusual bit of "roof rot" can be sorted in a number of ways. The rest is all pretty standard stuff. You are now looking at being the owner of one the most iconic cars in the history of motoring :)
 
I guess anything is possible if you throw enough money at it. My philosophy with old cars is to buy the best body that I can and go from there, unless of course you wish to collect something very rare.

Yes this one will be reparable, but you may be better off finding a good shell and building one car from the remnant parts of two.

Just my 2c,
Chris
 
I personally do not hink hat you will find a good shell for sale.. if one was good it would be attached to the the rest of the bits making a car. Besides getting one back from Italy or europe would not be cheap...

and if you found a shell it may be worse underneath than what you have... you would be better looking for a car being broken and get the appropriate "Cuts" for the roof.. if you can't make them ...
Most of the other panels are available so if done right you would have a good shell....
A lot depends how far you want to go....
Partial strip or full strip...
I am stripping totally to a bare shell, having all the paint/corrosion removed and then seeing what I have to work with...

Basically when finished my shell with then be refinished to modern anti corrosion standards and rebuilt so in theory it should easily last another 50+ years.

have a look at this if you want to see what is possible DIY.
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13107
 
Well I've spoke to a guy and he has a later 500F shell, would this be of any use to me as I thought mine was the L model , I wasn't sure if this just referred to a facelift etc and the car body isn't actually any different
 
The F and the L shared the same body. The R used the 126 floorpan.

The only differences between the F & L were the badges, bumper over-riders, internal fitments, some of the mechanical parts and a few other odds and ends.

If you can locate and secure a good F shell, this would be the way to go. It took me nearly 2 years to find a good 500F. Eventually I did - the car had been stored for about 15 years with a view to restoration when the owner sold it to me. His circumstances had changed and he had lost interest in the car. The body did have some rust, but nothing that was overly complicated (or expensive) to repair.

I kept a thread on the rebuild here - https://www.fiatforum.com/500-classic/222688-project-bambino.html

I eventually rebuilt it to a high standard as a 695 with a 126 synchro gearbox. It's a huge amount of fun and draws lots of admiring smiles when I go out in it.

If you undertake this as a project and do it well, you won't be disappointed.

Kind regards,
Chris
 
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