‘72 Fiat 500 Abarthish, as requested.

[motorpunk]

Prompted by a few on here, here’s a quick thread on my Fiat 500 Abarthish. I dunno if it’s shite enough but it’s 52 years old, Italian, and full of character, so here goes. First, a pic from an Aldi carpark yesterday.

[Timewaster]

I'm still tempted to get a (newish, huge) red Fiat Arbath 500 and put one of these stickers on it.

[Dyslexic Viking]

1 minute ago, Timewaster said:

I'm still tempted to get a (newish, huge) red Fiat Arbath 500 and put one of these stickers on it.

If I ever get an Iveco, I'll put that on it.

[motorpunk]

It’s a 1972 Fiat 500, I got it from a guy in Surrey, he had recently got it from a place called Viterbo near Rome. I call it Abarthish because it’s had a load of thoroughly childish modifications. It’s on 12” wheels which (I know for a fact)  @yes oui si loves, the arches are rolled, it’s lowered, disc brake conversion, and painted Positano yellow which is one of my all-time faves, a classic Ferrari colour. Dunno what colour it was when it left the factory, it’s had a cheap and cheerful respray back in Italy. It’s had the Fiat 126 engine conversion, 598cc (I think), which went straight in with just driveshafts needed changing. Four speed manual, Weber carb, sychromesh box, maybe 40bhp or so. It feels really, really fast. I’ve washed it only twice as I know that moisture will dissolve it instantly. I’ve had the seats retrimmed, corrected a few bits, and it doesn’t like hot starts but otherwise it’s been astoundingly reliable for an ancient Italian that gets the absolute fucking tits caned off it every time I drive it, because, when you drive it, you’re no longer a 50-summat bloke from the East Midlands but a 20ish Italian rake trying to impress people. 

[yes oui si]

Fucking minilites... 

[motorpunk]

I’ve replaced some hideous modern rubber steering wheel with a Nardi wheel from a V Spec Eunos, it took ages to yacht varnish it back to life and it’s not perfect which I love. 

[motorpunk]

The only Abarth thing on it is this flakey chrome knob. 

[yes oui si]

Hang on - disk brake conversion? Does this mean that it's swapped to 4x98 rather than the original 4xfuckingstupid pcd? If so then the world's your oyster - loads of great stuff in 4x100 that are a set of wobble bolts away. 

[motorpunk]

Stickers add BHP, right? I’m sure that everyone believes I’ve done Mille Miglia, and Col du Turini, right? Well, I’ve been to Melton Mowbray. Same thing.

[motorpunk]

1 minute ago, yes oui si said:

Hang on - disk brake conversion? Does this mean that it's swapped to 4x98 rather than the original 4xfuckingstupid pcd? If so then the world's your oyster - loads of great stuff in 4x100 that are a set of wobble bolts away. 

Discs front. Drums rear. There’s a fag paper between wheel and arch on the back. 

[yes oui si]

1 minute ago, motorpunk said:

Stickers add BHP, right? I’m sure that everyone believes I’ve done Mille Miglia, and Col du Turini, right? Well, I’ve been to Melton Mowbray. Same thing.

Better pies than Italy as well. 

[motorpunk]

Part of the appeal is the running costs. £66 insurance, no tax, no MOT (had one when I bought it, wouldn’t pass now as the indicators would cause any tester to have an epileptic fit). I can’t remember what I paid (had it many years) but it’s gotta worth something to someone. My youngest wants it when I’m old and sensible.

[SiC]

I watched Harry Metcalfs Fiat 500 695 videos the other day. Cool cars. 

How bad does being in tiny tin box feels like in modern traffic?

[SiC]

 

 

[motorpunk]

 

NANNI sump, no idea if that means anything, it used to leak a little oil but, being Italian, has fixed itself. I absolutely love the ingenuity in the cheapness of this. Junior had a Pug 107 and when I worked on that it was just normal car made from crap, brittle shite. There’s real thinking gone into this. The engine cover sits on two pegs and it held in with just one 6mm nut. The engine stay is a cable which has a kind of Chinese puzzle bit of metal on the end which saves them having to use nuts and bolts. The sunroof was simply standard to save having to use metal. Lots of little things which you learn to appreciate. There’s a hand throttle thing which is like cruise control if you’re feeling brave. I love it.

[motorpunk]

11 minutes ago, SiC said:

 

 

That’s it! And that’s me. The car looks quite rough in that film but I don’t know why. It’s not. Classic Carfection from me - no script, no direction, just talking bollocks about stuff that I love. 121k views ain’t bad, either!

[SiC]

19 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

That’s it! And that’s me. The car looks quite rough in that film but I don’t know why. It’s not. Classic Carfection from me - no script, no direction, just talking bollocks about stuff that I love. 121k views ain’t bad, either!

I remember watching it when it came out. 

[motorpunk]

I also visited Lingotto where this car was (perhaps) made. Awesome place. 

[motorpunk]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

How bad does being in tiny tin box feels like in modern traffic?

It’s ok actually. It’s pretty visible and noisy and while I wouldn’t really want to do motorways in it I’m ok driving. I like small cars (see also: Elise):

[Matty]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

That’s it! And that’s me. The car looks quite rough in that film but I don’t know why. It’s not. Classic Carfection from me - no script, no direction, just talking bollocks about stuff that I love. 121k views ain’t bad, either!

I reckon you should do this stuff for a living 😄

[motorpunk]

21 minutes ago, Matty said:

I reckon you should do this stuff for a living 😄

Find me someone who would pay me! I prefer writing TBH.

[Noel Tidybeard]

sort the number plate out on the front!

[motorpunk]

7 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

sort the number plate out on the front!

The plate is straight, the car is wonky

(Yeah, I know) 👍🏼

[Asimo]

Fiat should have made a whole range of cars in increasing sizes (as did Issigonis from the mini) using the exact same formula as their genius 500.

 

[reb]

13 hours ago, motorpunk said:

I also visited Lingotto where this car was (perhaps) made. Awesome place. 

Is the garden-ish thing on the right of the second picture built on a section of the test track? If it is I suppose that means my dream from childhood to drive on the track is an absolute no go now.

[comfortablynumb]

It seems to me that the old 500's are now worth more than the new ones.

And rightly so.

I know which one I'd rather have😁

[motorpunk]

4 hours ago, reb said:

Is the garden-ish thing on the right of the second picture built on a section of the test track? If it is I suppose that means my dream from childhood to drive on the track is an absolute no go now.

It is. They used it for the launch of the electric 500 but it’s now an art gallery set into a kind of mad alpine garden. There are audio recordings of poetry hidden in the bushes. Quite mad. Absolutely brilliant. 

[motorpunk]

3 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

It seems to me that the old 500's are now worth more than the new ones.

And rightly so.

I know which one I'd rather have😁

I’ve had a few. I love them all. Old is best.

[eddyramrod]

I've had three of these old ones back when they were worthless, in the 80s.  Absolute hoot to drive, they have so little power you have to wring the car's neck everywhere and oh boy, does it repay you!  Yes they're incredibly noisy, but somehow that doesn't matter.  Have to agree though about motorways.  I wouldn't want to do anything more than knocking around town with it.

Would be quite funny putting one in a Disabled space with my Blue Badge up...

[motorpunk]

37 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

motorways

This one is plenty quick enough and has proper brakes, but yeah, no airbags or crumple zones or anything.