Saving the Panda (TLC for the road warrior)

[Aston Martin]

Mine are always piss wet through on the inside windows.

[Ian_Fearn]

Found another guy, this time in Worksop that has a Panda for breaking in the right colour. Will see what he comes back with. 

I remember needing a wing for a BX GTi Hurricane a few years back and it was a damn sight more realistically priced that the chancers breaking cars these days ?

[Stinkwheel]

Well bought sir. My parents had one of these brand spanking a few years ago. It was bought ‘best price’ for cash at considerable discount and I thought they had been robbed even then. And at new car money, I still think these are horrible nasty trash. But for 600 notes with 12 months test, that’s a different kettle of monkeys in a barrel all together


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[DavidB]

I also have one, I love it.

Its in yellow with yellow interior. There’s nothing to go wrong, Fiat made a really good, solid car.

 

[Maurice Marina]

On 1/26/2020 at 5:35 PM, ETCHY said:

Nice little car, I rather like them.

I do wonder how interiors are allowed to stay that dirty. Do people not care that they're sitting on shitty dirty seats?

I know what you mean. Incredible.

I have a dog car. But it’s a dog car. Just don’t understand people driving in shit with their families.

[Kiltox]

I see your dirty Panda seats and I raise you

[Supernaut]

3 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

I see your dirty Panda seats and I raise you

[Jim Bell]

21 minutes ago, DavidB said:

I also have one, I love it.

Its in yellow with yellow interior. There’s nothing to go wrong, Fiat made a really good, solid car.

 

That's one handsome bastard.  You're a lucky fellow. 

[Kiltox]

1 hour ago, DavidB said:

Fiat made a really good, solid car.

? 

[Eyersey1234]

10 hours ago, DavidB said:

I also have one, I love it.

Its in yellow with yellow interior. There’s nothing to go wrong, Fiat made a really good, solid car.

 

Same colour as the one I had

[Aston Martin]

Mambo yellow is the bestest colour.... Fuck the 500 yellow on 2010+ ones.

[Ian_Fearn]

Another half hour saw the passenger side looking much nicer.

The guy in Worksop is offering doors at 30quid and wings at 20quid but who knows if they are REALLY in good condition....

 

[Ian_Fearn]

So far in the few days i’ve had it, I reckon i’ve spent more time actually driving this car than working on it. THIS is a first for me.

I have to say, it’s absolutely perfect for what I want it for and makes me grin ?

[Ian_Fearn]

And finally the drivers side front.....

 

[Stinkwheel]

You’ve got me looking at classified ads for panda’s. This is a bad thing...


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[Ian_Fearn]

I’ve been looking for a while. I could have bought a nice one for £2500 but where’s the fun in that?

Buy cheap and buy twice....that’s my advice ?

[Aston Martin]

So what your saying is @Kiltox is wrong? ?

[DavidB]

How did you clean the seats?

[Aston Martin]

42 minutes ago, DavidB said:

How did you clean the seats?

That's what I was gonna ask. My Alessi seats are manky.

[Ian_Fearn]

8 minutes ago, DavidB said:

How did you clean the seats?

It’s called ValetPro Classic Carpet Cleaner.

Theres a shop near me that specialises in proper car cleaning kit. Very helpful and recommended this stuff. The 1ltr tub is concentrate, only cost about £8 and has done the whole interior, seats, boot, headlining and carpets. It’s all gone though.

I’ve used other stuff in the past but I was impressed how easy this cleaned the stains. Will buy again.

[DavidB]

How do you clean them though?

[Ian_Fearn]

Dilute it 1:20, use a household type spray bottle and I found saturating the surface worked better.

I then used a nail brush to scrub it clean. Very simple.

In theory you leave to dry or dab with a micro fibre but first I vacuumed the surface and then left a dehumidifier in the car.

[Aston Martin]

11 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Dilute it 1:20, use a household type spray bottle and I found saturating the surface worked better.

I then used a nail brush to scrub it clean. Very simple.

In theory you leave to dry or dab with a micro fibre but first I vacuumed the surface and then left a dehumidifier in the car.

 

Ah, I assumed you used a carpet cleaner. It looks great for being hand done.

[DavidB]

12 hours ago, Ian_Fearn said:

Dilute it 1:20, use a household type spray bottle and I found saturating the surface worked better.

I then used a nail brush to scrub it clean. Very simple.

In theory you leave to dry or dab with a micro fibre but first I vacuumed the surface and then left a dehumidifier in the car.

Ah thanks. I found a nail brush makes the fabric bobble more, depending on fabric. I just damp cloth with cleaner on the 206, but loads of elbow-grease.

[Ian_Fearn]

11 hours ago, DavidB said:

Ah thanks. I found a nail brush makes the fabric bobble more, depending on fabric. I just damp cloth with cleaner on the 206, but loads of elbow-grease.

On the parcel shelf, this did indeed happen but the seats were unaffected despite vigorous brushing ?

[Ian_Fearn]

I’ve done very little to this car since buying it, except cleaning the interior which is now lovely and rebuild the front brakes (original pads and discs were fine, just stuck from inactivity). A couple of ‘innocent’ comments from the wife though regarding it’s decidedly battered bodywork led me to a sunny afternoon trying to tidy the old girl up. It’s only done 42k and drives fantastically, very little corrosion apart from the rear beam which is very salvageable.

Initially I attacked the drivers side, the bottom half has taken a thorough scrape, the worst dent was the front wing which i’ve managed to straighten a fair bit, it’s a good 60% now. Removing the arch line gave me perfect access with a hammer and dolly. I then hit it with some 1200grit followed by some G3 with the machine polisher and then some old polish I had lying around. Some of you will be pleased to read I didn’t even bother washing it before doing all this, G3 seems to remove bird shit well enough....no buckets.....The bottom of the doors are fairly rippled but i’ll get some paint and cover the scratches. The sills and rear arch are undamaged though.

I threw some tyre gel at it and truth be told, it looks great. Well used, but loved.

Then came the passenger side, the rear door is totally wrecked. Destroyed along the crease line. I took the door card out and gave it a good thrashing but I can’t do anything of value with it really. I might try and source a replacement when all this shizzle is over.

The real main event though today is the sill which has also taken a battering. It’s been pushed in such that it touches the bottom of the door where there should be a 4mm gap. I decided to hit this with a budget version of something I saw Ed’s China doing years ago. I, of course, don’t have a couple of grands worth of dent removal kit so I employed a drill, wood screws and a slide hammer that i’ve been waiting for an opportunity to modify to make it vaguely useful.

It still needed an incision to regain that 4mm gap but is starting to take shape after its first skim (read trowel) of filler. I even filled the cavity with some Dynax S50 I had spare.

Everything i’ve done is with consumables that i’ve had lying around the garage for probably years so ZERO spend so far. I will need to buy some Azzuro Frizzante paint though for this and the other touch ups. Anyone know where I could get some online? Ideally half a litre in a can rather than aerosol.

 

[BertiePuntoCabrio]

Good progress! Nice colour and extremely clean seats now!

I have 2 of these (both the Active model) - red with yellow seats, lovely condition, bit faded but not t-cutting as you can still see the shadows of its original stickers when it was the Alfashop courtesy car when new!

Other one is dark metallic blue with blie seats. Did over 30000 miles last year and is pretty tidy except the bonnet has lost half it's lacquer.  Red cost 500, blue cost 450.

Love them and always tempted to get yet another just because! 

[Shite Ron]

It is great to see these getting the love they deserve. We got an orange Mamy for my mother around 8 years ago and was so impressed with it that  we got one for my girlfriend to use back and fore work, they are great if you need to transport old people [easy to get in and out] great on fuel both are 1.2’s and average around 50 mpg, easy to park in small spaces and surprisingly ok on the motorway at 80 mph. I have never really liked small cars or modern cars [which I consider these to be] but I am surprised how much I use it.

Do you know what the colour is? as I have considered doing some bodywork on ours.

[motorpunk]

Looking good! My daughter has one almost identical (grey interior) and it’s been brilliant.

[Ian_Fearn]

9 hours ago, Shite Ron said:.

Do you know what the colour is? as I have considered doing some bodywork on ours.

It’s 737/A Azzuro Frizzante. I didn’t really like the colour when I got it but I’ve changed my mind now, it suits it.