General Mitchio the 500F

[fiat500]

I prefer to say that the engine is unable to be turned.
As I manhandled it I created a hole in the sump but no oil came out.
It looks like the original demise may have been when attempting to fit a new exhaust as this and the manifiold elbows have been removed and there is what looks like a new exhaust with the car with much of the bright silver paint still there.
The clutch is good although I will be binning it anyway.
I lifted the lid on the gearbox and it looks OK inside.
There's not much in the way of big stuff that can be retrieved from this car but obviously I am getting a small collection of useful little items.
I'm about square in money terms now I have offloaded quite a bit of valuable prewar stuff on Ebay. It still feels like turning gold into lead though.:bang:

 

[Franko500]

Engine? Did someone mention an engine for sale?

 

[Vitesse]

Engine? Did someone mention an engine for sale?

Yeah it comes with a free wheelbarrow!

 

[fiat500]

I decided today that this WILL be a rebuild thread; or at least an attempted one.
I have bought a superficially OK but likely to be, very rusty Fiat 900e campervan. This means that I will have to dig out the welder, probably re-buy a few metal-working tools and re-start my Calor Argoshield account.
In view of that and the fact that Mitchio seems to be aligned OK laterally and that the door and body lines are really good now that the engine is out, I think it's worth a go.
I am going to obtain inner and outer sills and the floor panels and take it from there.
If I can tack those bits in, the shell will get back some rigidity and then the connection between the sill area and the crossmember with the front brackets of the rear swinging arms will become manageble.
So that means two restorations and completion of a house build at once and a very happy but impoverished me.
It will involve me selling my lovely 1935 car, more for logistical reasons than financial; but at least paying for the job will then be "easy".
More pics tomorrow I think.

 

[Vitesse]

That's good news to keep another 500 on the road. I am sure your talents with the metalwork will come out tops. If you look at Murphio there is no evidence of his original condition, people who aren't in the know would be gobsmacked if you showed them the original pictures.

According to the DVLA website it looks like he hasn't seen the open road since 1983, 32 years!!!!! So it's lucky he still around to get another chance.

 

[Bambino]

Looking sorry for themselves in the garden but of course, they will live again.

Landfill or boat anchor ?

 

[Paolo66]

Wouldn't mind seeing the camper van rebuild Peter. Is it on another part of the forum?

 

[fiat500]

Landfill or boat anchor ?

There's only just enough metal there to sink a paper boat!
"Just you wait and see." (he said falteringly)
I won't be collecting the campervan until next weekend and then I will have to start a thread about it on the 850/900 section, with photos.
I hope it will be a "rolling restoration" and as a consequence we are going to "downsize" and have only one normal car.
The van is/has been very rusty as it shares many characteristics with the 500; apart from the rust, rear engined, jokily tiny but very cute.
There is some welding needed for the MOT but I suspect that will just be the start. It has some poorly finished , old repairs and is quite tatty.
It comes with some useful spares including most of the mechanical items for the MOT.
Unlike the 500, body panels are scarce although most mechanicals come from somewhere in the Fiat range, 850, 127 and even 126.
This version is not really the most classic and compares as the 126 to the 500, but it is one of the last ones converted into a "motorhome (hutch?)" by the company.
Enough....polluting this Forum with news of huge machines.

 

[Bambino]

I won't be collecting the campervan until next weekend and then I will have to start a thread about it on the 850/900 section, with photos.
>
>
Enough....polluting this Forum with news of huge machines.

Just say, for example, someone were restoring, or planning to restore, a late 1950s Millecento.
Where on the BB would that car go?

Chris

 

[Franko500]

Hey, I think this is Mitchio's brother


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RHD-Fiat-...-owners-/191621600586?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

 

[Paolo66]

Dare I say it, but surely too far gone?

 

[Vitesse]

Peter get your cheque book out, looks right up your street!!!!

 

[stevehg]

I had to laugh at the matching numbers comment. Do these people know there is still about a million 500's in use/ownership?

£1000 in parts, a bit of TLC, and your done though!

cheers, Steve

 

[Vitesse]

I had to laugh at the matching numbers comment. Do these people know there is still about a million 500's in use/ownership?

£1000 in parts, a bit of TLC, and your done though!

cheers, Steve

I hadn't read the sellers description until your comment Steve. Now that I have! I have come to the conclusion he needs help!!!!

"It is possibly one of the most original UK un restored cars that exist." What does that mean???? It's a pile of rust!

"Engine was running and driving prior to being parked in the garden". Ok it should be fine then, it was only 25 years ago!!!!!

 

[Bambino]

I wonder what the reserve was?

Chris

 

[fiat500]

Damn!..Missed that as I was away with the Grandkids
It was optimistic copy wasn't it? I mean, most cars are like new the day they leave the factory but that's no selling point 40 years later.
At least Mitchio's previous owner was realistic saying..." will challenge even the most experienced restorer." Who "Moi?"

Steve, where did you get that info from...a milllion left? It seems an awfully good survival rate for such a rusty tin-can as the Fiat 500. Especially since Tony was quoting only around a thousand in the UK I think and many of those being recent imports I think that's great news if it is the case though.

Regards..Peter the Oxidation Addict

 

[stevehg]

Steve, where did you get that info from...a milllion left? It seems an awfully good survival rate for such a rusty tin-can as the Fiat 500. Especially since Tony was quoting only around a thousand in the UK I think and many of those being recent imports I think that's great news if it is the case though.

I either read it, or saw it quoted, but I can remember where. A quick google throws up this NYT article from 04 which uses Italian FiatClub as a source and states that of the 3.6m produced some 600,000 are still on the streets in Italy. So maybe that 1m Mark is too optimistic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/news/20iht-car_ed3_.html?_r=0

cheers, Steve

 

[stevehg]

Hey, I think this is Mitchio's brother


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RHD-Fiat-...-owners-/191621600586?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

I see its back up again, and already up to £1300.

I wonder how many of those bidding are unscrupulous, and just plan a VIN swap, steering etc. with a LHD 500 to make a fast buck?? See car like this sold this way does make you wonder.

 

[fiat500]

I see its back up again, and already up to £1300.

I wonder how many of those bidding are unscrupulous, and just plan a VIN swap, steering etc. with a LHD 500 to make a fast buck?? See car like this sold this way does make you wonder.

Blimey Steve...never thought of that. Already at more than I paid for similar. .
It is illegal and doing that only gives ammo to DVSA to justify creating more challenges that will affect genuine folk who want to register their cars.

I did see someone selling some Mk1 Golf documents including a registration document and supporting literature including MOTs etc. on Ebay a while ago.....Pulled off very quickly!

 

[Vitesse]

You have to wonder that it has had 22 bids and at that price already with a week still to go on the auction!

As Steve said I guess if you can source a LHD drive 500 with a fairly decent body from Italy it doesn't take much to swap all the RHD bits over. At the end of the day it's only the steering rack and pedals and all the appropriate panels that are pre formed to accept these parts, so I guess it's an easy way to make a few bob after a bit of welding and tinkering to have an original looking RHD 500. But is it worth the effort and is it cost effective to convert it to RHD?

Not having been in the market for a 500 for nearly 20 odd years? How much more would a buyer of an original secondhand UK RHD 500 expect to pay? Compared to a LHD import from say Italy where there is still a decent number of original 500's available?

My estimates from a couple of years ago suggest that there are probably only about 200 to 300 original RHD 500 UK cars knocking about but this may have been boosted by people's realisations of their true worth in the current classic car market. So some "Barn Finds" RHD like Mitchio may have found their way back. (That means you have to rebuild it now Peter)! When before they were considered nothing more that scrap and thinking about it probably Murphio as well.

I do hate the term "barn find" on EBay. It's basically a confession of saying it sat here rotting away for 25 years, then I realised it could be worth something. Either that or there are a lot more barn owners than I realised!

I must admit I am guilty of that to a degree as well, my 500 sat in an old stable for 17 years and off the road before I saw what they were selling for nowadays but my main driving force was to find a project and get Luigi ready for his 50th on July 1st in 2016. It's mad really 30 days later England won the World Cup!!!!!!

Less than a year to his 50th now.

Tony