Discussion
My first run in my 1963 Fiat 1600s today.
I imported the car from Italy in October. For the MOT it needed some attention to brake hoses but was otherwise fine, and with no advisories.
I had a bit of a struggle with Swansea, I sent them everything they asked for and more complete with a covering letter and every document reference and tagged. After a few weeks they responded to say that they considered the date of manufacture to be 1992 and they would require payment of VED before registering. Following a conversation with Fiat Motor Club UK, they were happy to validate 1963, this letter along with everything went back to Swansea who were then quick to register it correctly.
The original trim was a white vinyl that looked very tired, whilst the Swansea ping-pong was going on I decided on a re-trim. My original thoughts was to go for tan, I then switched to red and in the end decided to go for for black with some white pipes. (I used to be indecisive and now I'm not so sure.) I'm pleased with the end result, black was the safe bet.
On the car at the moment is the bold down hard top.The hood is faded and the plastic window is completely brown. There are no cuts in the hood but it does show signs of some repair. I was thinking about having a new window put into the old hood, having looked at it more closely perhaps I should have a new hood made. I need to have a ring round to get some advice and prices.
There are a few other loose ends to resolve with the trim, with the hood removed from the car it exposed the vinyl fitted loosely to the rear bulkhead stiffened with cardboard behind. I rather suspect this is non original! Unfortunately I'm not sure how that panel would have originally been finished, having looked at umpteen Google pictures of interiors of Fiat 1200s & 1500s etc I'm yet to find an image of the interior looking inwards towards the rear.
The tyres the car is standing on are somewhat questionable and I have a new set of Pirellis ready to fit.There are a few bits of chrome which I will be seeking to improve and aside of the odd fettle here and there the car is good to use. I might head to a Boxing Day meet, a chance to give it it's first decent exercise.
Roll on Spring!
[url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/rVZ91iJR[/url][url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/CUyLBYmZ[/url][url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/mogr78Xp[/url][url]
|http://thumbsnap.com/E8JiENrE[/url][url]
I imported the car from Italy in October. For the MOT it needed some attention to brake hoses but was otherwise fine, and with no advisories.
I had a bit of a struggle with Swansea, I sent them everything they asked for and more complete with a covering letter and every document reference and tagged. After a few weeks they responded to say that they considered the date of manufacture to be 1992 and they would require payment of VED before registering. Following a conversation with Fiat Motor Club UK, they were happy to validate 1963, this letter along with everything went back to Swansea who were then quick to register it correctly.
The original trim was a white vinyl that looked very tired, whilst the Swansea ping-pong was going on I decided on a re-trim. My original thoughts was to go for tan, I then switched to red and in the end decided to go for for black with some white pipes. (I used to be indecisive and now I'm not so sure.) I'm pleased with the end result, black was the safe bet.
On the car at the moment is the bold down hard top.The hood is faded and the plastic window is completely brown. There are no cuts in the hood but it does show signs of some repair. I was thinking about having a new window put into the old hood, having looked at it more closely perhaps I should have a new hood made. I need to have a ring round to get some advice and prices.
There are a few other loose ends to resolve with the trim, with the hood removed from the car it exposed the vinyl fitted loosely to the rear bulkhead stiffened with cardboard behind. I rather suspect this is non original! Unfortunately I'm not sure how that panel would have originally been finished, having looked at umpteen Google pictures of interiors of Fiat 1200s & 1500s etc I'm yet to find an image of the interior looking inwards towards the rear.
The tyres the car is standing on are somewhat questionable and I have a new set of Pirellis ready to fit.There are a few bits of chrome which I will be seeking to improve and aside of the odd fettle here and there the car is good to use. I might head to a Boxing Day meet, a chance to give it it's first decent exercise.
Roll on Spring!
[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/rVZ91iJR[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/CUyLBYmZ[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/mogr78Xp[/url][url]|http://thumbsnap.com/E8JiENrE[/url][url]Edited by Keep it stiff on Wednesday 24th December 10:15
Edited by Keep it stiff on Wednesday 24th December 10:17
I never knew these existed until sorting out some books the other day (mostly Cortina Twincam(Mk2) related from when I rallied one) I found an American (1964) Publication "Glenn's FIAT workshop Manual" which covered the 1960's Fiats and included such information as Road Test data for a Fiat 1200 Spyder which looked very like this car (0-60 in 19seconds.....!) and an Abarth Twin cam 747cc (0-60 in 11.2secs!)It covers the 1500 roadster & Cabrio as well as 500 Nuovo ' 1100's & even 2100 & 2300's
Amazing amount of info in a book of only 125 pp
On E bay at the moment! No bidders!!!
Amazing amount of info in a book of only 125 pp
On E bay at the moment! No bidders!!!
Fabulous!
I have a soft soft for early 60's vintage Fiat's as one of my Uncles had one of these in the late 1960's
Foreign cars were really rare back then, and I can remember as a kid, being fasinated by the steering wheel with the gold FIAT logo
I have a soft soft for early 60's vintage Fiat's as one of my Uncles had one of these in the late 1960's
Foreign cars were really rare back then, and I can remember as a kid, being fasinated by the steering wheel with the gold FIAT logo
Edited by aeropilot on Thursday 25th December 19:10
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