Time to call it quits?

[Vitorio]

Long story short, i've been working on restoring a small unloved fiat to learn some basic spannering skills, and now wondering if i've just been throwing away money.

Long story long, Two years ago we bought a house with a garage so i could get stuck in my hobby (cars, if you wonder), after becomming a father last year i got my ducks in row (workbench etc..) in the garage and bought a project. I spent 350 euros on a Fiat cinquecento sporting with a blown headgasket. I fixed up the headgasket last winter, also did some performance upgrades on the engine etc.. Then i started looking what else the car needed for it to pass its test and be roadworthy (big mistake, i know, should have done that first, but it looked rather decent when buying it), and since then every time i take another peek at/under the car i find new stuff that need happening, rust in the rear chassis beam, tore axle covers leading me to also suspect the bearings, small patches of rust here and there, tore dustcovers on the shockabsorbers, worn brake rotors... the list goes on.

Now so far i've spent about a grand on the whole thing, excluding tools i bought, and i might be able to recover a few hundred in parts. My estimate on costs to get it from its current state to MOT/road worthy is about another grand.

Honestly, i did enjoy tinkering with the engine, the headgasket stuff was fun to do, but the rest just feels liking i am fixing 5 years of maintenance neglect by the previous owners, and i am seriously wondering if the little fiat will be worth the grand (and copious amounts of tedious work), or if i should just chop it, sell whatever parts i can and buy something actually road-worthy next year.

any opinions? obviously on the wishlist for a new project would be the MX-5, a 3-series or something italian, just as long as there is tinkering/improving potential and not to expensive to run.

[mcdjl]

For £50 I'd get it to an MOT station and find out if it'll pass as is....I doubt they'll look as carefully as you!

[magpie215]

buy a fully running and motd cinquecento..consider your garage queen a massive spares source....job jobbed

[mrmr96]

Maybe get something like a kit car, which you can build from scratch. Then you'll have something useable a fun at the end of it? Your fiat was good to learn skills on, but it'll still be a fiat when it's finished.

[FreeLitres]

You know the car better than anyone. If you think it's time for it to go, you are probably right.

I would guess that your ideal next project would be something mainly tidy (Mk1 MX5?), but with a blown head gasket. This way, you could turn it into something desireable relatively easily.

[Liquid Tuna]

If you've learned lots but have lost interest in the Fiat, I'd cut my losses. Do what someone else said and take it for an MOT (maybe it'll pass?), sell it, and if you can afford it, buy a project you actually want and will enjoy at the end.

[Vitorio]

mcdjl said:

For £50 I'd get it to an MOT station and find out if it'll pass as is....I doubt they'll look as carefully as you!

It is currently sat on axle stands in my garage half in parts, even if i were to forego the welding, it'd take some cash and loads of time to get it back in one piece, and APK testing places here in the netherlands tend to be quite strict

magpie215 said:

buy a fully running and motd cinquecento..consider your garage queen a massive spares source....job jobbed

Interesting idea, but i want the garage empty, so i'd still be scrapping the shell, and in the end i still end up with a cinq, not sure if that entices me much at the moment.

mrmr96 said:

Maybe get something like a kit car, which you can build from scratch. Then you'll have something useable a fun at the end of it? Your fiat was good to learn skills on, but it'll still be a fiat when it's finished.

I'd love a kitcar, but as it stands even a mev exocet is gonna take a while to save up on, and sadly roadworthiness tests in the netherlands are rather strict, so kitcars are a bit difficult (some people build their kit, ship it over to the UK to get plates on it, then import it, since it then is registered)

FreeLitres said:

You know the car better than anyone. If you think it's time for it to go, you are probably right.

I would guess that your ideal next project would be something mainly tidy (Mk1 MX5?), but with a blown head gasket. This way, you could turn it into something desireable relatively easily.

I think secretely i might have made up my mind already, it doesnt appeal to me anymore and just feels like a chore/moneypit right now.

I'd love a mx5, and i wouldnt shy away from another blown headgasket, fixing that was a lovely learning experience. The problem is that i thought the cinq would be just that, fix the HG and have some fun

Liquid Tuna said:

If you've learned lots but have lost interest in the Fiat, I'd cut my losses. Do what someone else said and take it for an MOT (maybe it'll pass?), sell it, and if you can afford it, buy a project you actually want and will enjoy at the end.

It has been a good learning experience, but doesnt really appeal anymore, so cutting my losses seems like a decent plan, it isnt MOT-able in the least right now, nor sell-able (when i still saw it as a potential little go-kart i stripped and binned the interior except for front seats)



Thanks for all the comments guys, i think it will be curtains for the little cinq.

[Vitorio]

Vitorio said:

Thanks for all the comments guys, i think it will be curtains for the little cinq.

Final update, i'm parting her out, as i said i think i'll recover a few hundred quid on parts, and so far sales look promissing.

Now to save up for that mx-5 next spring, reading about rusty sills makes me cower in fear though

[HiHoSilverSLK]

Many, many moons ago I lived through a similar experience with my very first car. The lesson I learned was that if you're going to spend a lot of time and money on a car project you must pick a vehicle that will be worth it in the end, not a fairly ordinary car, you can polish a turd all you like, but...

The learning process on the other hand is invaluable and will stand you in good stead, life's about the journey and the experience.