Panda (Classic) Hello from the Netherlands!

[bartolomeo]

Hello everybody,

Im Bart from the Netherlands and have just joined your forum. I have been reading along for some time now and i enjoy and appreciate all the information this forum has to offer.

Bought a 2001 Fiat Panda Young 1.1 MPI in december as a fun and cheap replacement for my BMW e30 318is touring, very fun car but a little bit expensive (consumption) if you drive it on a daily basis and not having a regular income

I have joined the Dutch Panda Forum quickly after and it's really nice to see that the Panda is becoming (or already is!) an appreciated classic car. For me the combination of the timeless looks and (in the case of the later Pandas) relatively modern and reliable technology. Always liked them, growing up in the back hammock of one has certainly affected my decision as well. Compared to other small cars (alto, and all the boring japanese and german cars) it just has so much more character

Plans are to lower it, also bought a set of 14 inch Alfa Alfetta/Giulietta rims which i plan to refurbish in the coming weeks.

And (of course?) the rust issue that affects almost all Pandas that spend their lives in wet and rainy countries like the Netherlands and the UK

I'll try to post some photo's, they are on my phone so i figure with a little help of the android app i will post some photo's very soon.

Thanks if you have read this and i will keep you posted about the progress of my little black Panda

 

[onemanmade]

Hi, welcome! We like pics here, would be interesting to see a 2001 panda!

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Hello Bart, welcome to the Panda 'section' (because 95% of us need sectioning!!).

You have come to the right place - get some pictures sorted and start a thread for your Panda!

Then when you've been here for a while - buy many more Pandas!

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Hello:wave: Excellent choice of upgrade from your BMW, I mean they're OK cars but they're not Pandas are they:devil: Look forward to seeing what you get up to.

 

[bartolomeo]

Thanks guys, here are some pictures (don't mind the caption it's the only one I could find )

Planning to get the wheels sandblasted (is that proper English) this Saturday, maybe if I've got time left give the car an anti rust treatment. Any useful tips on how to do this? Maybe better if i'd start a fresh new topic about the car instead of continuing in the newbie section

Greetings Bart

 

[VmanC]

Thanks guys, here are some pictures (don't mind the caption it's the only one I could find )

Planning to get the wheels sandblasted (is that proper English) this Saturday, maybe if I've got time left give the car an anti rust treatment. Any useful tips on how to do this? Maybe better if i'd start a fresh new topic about the car instead of continuing in the newbie section

Greetings Bart

Hi, welcome to the Forum.

Nice looking Panda! And those wheels should look great on a black car. Are you going to keep them silver or follow the modern trend of painting them black :yuck:?
Best tyre size is 165/60/14's bye the way.

Edit: Sandblasting is perfect English.

 

[bartolomeo]

Think about painting them white, only in doubt if to keep the black part in the same color or also white

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

White would look great, I like my white wheels

Black always makes wheels look smaller on a car and I think having them a lighter colour breaks the detail up nicely

 

[bartolomeo]

Makes it look like a real panda no but it is indeed a classic combination, also want to add some spacers so the wheels will become even with the wheelarches as the alfa rims have a higher et-value (?) so they fall more into the arch

 

[bartolomeo]

I'm also looking for an anti roll bar from a y10, may have found one in Holland but I thought maybe you guys have some suggestions?

 

[firstcar-Y10]

I'm also looking for an anti roll bar from a y10, may have found one in Holland but I thought maybe you guys have some suggestions?

Think you've got a better chance there, Lancia quit the UK in the early '90s and barely sold anything before then, so Y10s were extremely rare here even when new and virtually all gone now.

 

[bartolomeo]

Thought so, quite funny as the y10 is a slightly better car in terms of protection and build quality. But it's just the fact that they weren't sold that much anywhere but in italy

So till which year was the panda sold in the UK, clearly not as long as in continental Europe?

Here a few pictures

 

[homeward]

So till which year was the panda sold in the UK, clearly not as long as in continental Europe?

1995, I think... -- although there may be the odd 1996 car around. (Sorry: my brain seems to have frozen. Time for an espresso reboot...!)

 

[bartolomeo]

Alright, so over there it's already quite an exotic car yeah same for me can't think very clear anymore after a hard days work

Btw was thinking about changing a few things interior-wise: steering wheel, gear knob maybe the seats... What kind of options are there? I do know of the cinquecento wheel, looks nice but would like to know if other wheels are also compatible

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Btw was thinking about changing a few things interior-wise: steering wheel, gear knob maybe the seats... What kind of options are there? I do know of the cinquecento wheel, looks nice but would like to know if other wheels are also compatible

Y10:devil:

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Thought so, quite funny as the y10 is a slightly better car in terms of protection and build quality.

I owned a Y10 and a Panda pretty close together in the late 90s, same age. Panda had rusty door bottoms. Y10 had rust round the windscreen, rear wheel arches, front wheel arches, door bottoms, door tops(!!) tailgate, sills, .....
Bonnet was great, no rust on the bonnet

 

[bartolomeo]

Well, nothing said Found someone on the dutch panda forum, he said he is gonna break his y10 but that was a while ago, have to ask him again

 

[VmanC]

Alright, so over there it's already quite an exotic car yeah same for me can't think very clear anymore after a hard days work

Btw was thinking about changing a few things interior-wise: steering wheel, gear knob maybe the seats... What kind of options are there? I do know of the cinquecento wheel, looks nice but would like to know if other wheels are also compatible

Alfa 156 seats go nicely

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Alfa 156 seats go nicely

Using a set of the patented Vman Alfanda reseateratortm Seat adaptors of course

 

[VmanC]

Using a set of the patented Vman Alfanda reseateratortm Seat adaptors of course

Nicely timed comment Andrew as I've just had to make four Alfanda Reseaterators for Panto and Bo!