Discussion
My new toy has just arrived from Italy.
It is a Fiat Osca 1600s, it seems to be in reasonable condition and my plan is get a few things tidied up so that it is ready to enjoy next year. (Including the fitting of the hard top!)
First challenge is the MOT, I will wait to see what surprises are awaiting me.
It is a Fiat Osca 1600s, it seems to be in reasonable condition and my plan is get a few things tidied up so that it is ready to enjoy next year. (Including the fitting of the hard top!)
First challenge is the MOT, I will wait to see what surprises are awaiting me.
I had it on a ramp this afternoon, first chance to take a decent look. The goods news it that it looks very solid. All the typical rot areas are sound. Evidence of filler in a few places, rear wheel arch edges for example. It is under-sealed and on the whole far better than I was expecting. The soft-top needs to be removed to allow the hard-top to fit correctly. I really like the hard top, I feel it enhances the lines. The window in the soft-top is opaque so I'm going to leave that off for now, you can buy complete hoods but I will wait a while.
For the MOT there are a few lighting gremlins, but then I guess it would not be a Fiat without these. Underneath a few of the brake pipes are suspect including one that has a spliced joint, quite why you would bother making the effort to do that when you could replace the whole pipe is beyond me. The battery was pretty flat but it started without any problems, it starts, stops and steers, good enough for me, remains to be seen if it does these well enough for Mr Tester.
The tyres are a bit of a mystery, plenty of tread on them but someone has taken a rotary brush to the sidewalls to remove all the ID. All four have been treated the same both on the inner and outer sidewalls. The only thing you can make out is "Made in Isreal". Given that the Isrealis are not well known for their tyre making expertise I will be replacing them with Cinturatos. MOT Tester may have a view on these.
This weekend I need to do do the Inland Revenue declaration and if it gets through the MOT next week I can then take on Swansea. I have read that DVLA are very helpful when it comes to the registration of imported classics, I hope this is so.
MOT is booked for Monday, fingers crossed. A few other odd jobs to do and it will be ready to use. I'm planning to have it re-trimmed this winter, I fancy tan with contrasting piping. I'm also going to fit new carpets, again in tan, these are available via US ebay.
Very interesting to see the styling similarities with the Peugeot, as has been said all from the same drawing board.
OSCA is what the Maserati Brothers did with their time after selling what had been their lives' work up to that point. The 1600s has a twin cam head with twin side-draft webers. My expertise on these cars is next to none, I'm learning as I go along. For me this was a measured buy as against an impulse one, I had spotted a 1500 for sale, listed in the UK as a recent import, that one was out of my price range and having decided to hunt further I spotted this 1600s listed by an Italian dealer and decided that it ticked my boxes. Something of a punt however I hope the rarity does allow it to be a sound investment and a bit of fun at the same time. As a model of car that I had never previously seen in the flesh until I viewed this one it was a bit of a leap of faith.
I will post more pictures next week and would very much appreciate any further feedback or info.
For the MOT there are a few lighting gremlins, but then I guess it would not be a Fiat without these. Underneath a few of the brake pipes are suspect including one that has a spliced joint, quite why you would bother making the effort to do that when you could replace the whole pipe is beyond me. The battery was pretty flat but it started without any problems, it starts, stops and steers, good enough for me, remains to be seen if it does these well enough for Mr Tester.
The tyres are a bit of a mystery, plenty of tread on them but someone has taken a rotary brush to the sidewalls to remove all the ID. All four have been treated the same both on the inner and outer sidewalls. The only thing you can make out is "Made in Isreal". Given that the Isrealis are not well known for their tyre making expertise I will be replacing them with Cinturatos. MOT Tester may have a view on these.
This weekend I need to do do the Inland Revenue declaration and if it gets through the MOT next week I can then take on Swansea. I have read that DVLA are very helpful when it comes to the registration of imported classics, I hope this is so.
MOT is booked for Monday, fingers crossed. A few other odd jobs to do and it will be ready to use. I'm planning to have it re-trimmed this winter, I fancy tan with contrasting piping. I'm also going to fit new carpets, again in tan, these are available via US ebay.
Very interesting to see the styling similarities with the Peugeot, as has been said all from the same drawing board.
OSCA is what the Maserati Brothers did with their time after selling what had been their lives' work up to that point. The 1600s has a twin cam head with twin side-draft webers. My expertise on these cars is next to none, I'm learning as I go along. For me this was a measured buy as against an impulse one, I had spotted a 1500 for sale, listed in the UK as a recent import, that one was out of my price range and having decided to hunt further I spotted this 1600s listed by an Italian dealer and decided that it ticked my boxes. Something of a punt however I hope the rarity does allow it to be a sound investment and a bit of fun at the same time. As a model of car that I had never previously seen in the flesh until I viewed this one it was a bit of a leap of faith.
I will post more pictures next week and would very much appreciate any further feedback or info.
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