1957 Fiat Elegant - Restoration advice and help needed

[suren181]

Friends, some of you might remember that I had, in the month of August picked up a 1957 Fiat Elegant at Hyderabad, thanks to Stanher (please check post #4 in http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...tml#post523767 for details).

The cars papers have finally come in my name and this has made me go full steam ahead to restore the car to it's ORIGINAL glory and would appreciate your views opinions and help if possible (in sourcing hard to find items etc).

Present condition of the car is that it is lying in a friends workshop totalkly stripped bare of its coats of paint and the inner revealed that the cars first factory coat of paint was black.

Here are a few pics of how it looked when I bought it, as posted by Shri Stanher:








Here are a few pics of it's present state:











The floor board - doesn't seem to qualify for the I am the rustiest competition :-(





My Ambition is to bring the above into the condition as shown in the following catalog (probably the same color also)



So help me folks, for I plan to have it totally done by Jan 20th 08 and hopefully have it run during the VCCCI rally which I heard (again from our forum) is on that day at Hyderabad.

Will be posting further pics for specific advice and hey sorry for the bad Pic quality.

[planet_rocker]

take a look at this http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...n-project.html

this will give you as to how you can go ahead with it. in the mean time look for signs of rust, weak/cracked steering mount, engine mount, brakes, suspension, etc.

congrats and welcome to club that drools/loves these hott super models.

[suren181]

@ planet_rocker: Thanks a ton for that link, I must add here though that V-16's resto project was a motivating factor for me to plunge in with my project. I have followed that thread religiously from it's beginning.

Regarding the Steering column I have to confirm that yes it has had some reinforcement work done to the steering column mount area. It has been welded with thicker steel plates, shall take a snap and post it the next time around I get there. Do you think this would be a problem? Would love to have your feedback on it.

[planet_rocker]

Originally Posted by suren181

Regarding the Steering column I have to confirm that yes it has had some reinforcement work done to the steering column mount area. It has been welded with thicker steel plates, shall take a snap and post it the next time around I get there. Do you think this would be a problem? Would love to have your feedback on it.

well - my car's steering mount has cracked twice even after it was welded twice with thick steel plates. so it will be better if you can source old but thick gauge steering mounts. because these welding job wont last long. make sure that you change the mounts on both sides (because a new one will put stress on the older gauge - i think 1100D will be able to explain better as to why this happens - i guess it has got to do metal vibrations???)

by the way - i am not an expert in this field.

also take a dekho of these two:

1. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/513390-post25.html (The good old fiat caught at 120km/h!)

2. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/512882-post23.html (The good old fiat caught at 120km/h!)

source: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...t-120km-h.html (The good old fiat caught at 120km/h!)

[V-16]

Hi Suren, Welcome to the Fiat Lover's Club club.
I too have a 1957 103 and its also going under restoration soon. Can we have pics of the interior before it was done. What colour are you planning?
Here are the pics of my car which will begin restoration in this week. We can keep in touch as our identical projects go side by side.

Here are my car pics







The original Italian headlights, very rare to find a car with these still on

[suren181]

Originally Posted by V-16

Hi Suren, Welcome to the Fiat Lover's Club club.
I too have a 1957 103 and its also going under restoration soon. Can we have pics of the interior before it was done. What colour are you planning?
Here are the pics of my car which will begin restoration in this week. We can keep in touch as our identical projects go side by side.

Here are my car pics

Drool material Gogi. Must say she looks stunning with most of the original fittings intact.

Will post pics of the interior asap.

Planning to stick with a solid colour as in either Black (as was factory colour) or the solid blue as seen in the catalog pic in my post.

Sure would love to be in touch on your project will be pm ing my number to you.

[suren181]

The interiors as you see are not original at all but am trying to do my best to get it to be original. Here I will have to thank Stanher for his help in sourcing the old meters and many other crucial parts for this resto.

Gogiji and others could you tell me which is the link I should copy paste from imageshack to post as is in V-16's post. This is, do not want to post thumbnails but the whole Pic at a relatively good size.

[Stanher]

Suren,
Glad to see your resto. pics. atlast!
While I appreciate you crediting me for helping you find the car I might also take the anti-credit for (partly) delaying the commencement of the restoration! :(
Anyways atleast we can hope to have her ready for the 20th jan VCCCI (if it really is confirmed here) & not to mention the 26th jan. DECHAA rally as well ('wondering which of my cars I'm going to be able to take for those!)
Btw, I notice the ashtray is still on your car....do take it off before beginning the coats...
Also reminds me- did you take the piece with the hole for the fuel-tank pipe? Ive already forgotten what all I'd first sent with the car...
And is the front panel in the pics. the "new" black one?

Yup I second the idea of Black....while there are, as you say, too many old fiats in Black IMHO there are not too many fiats in Hyderabad for sure nowadays....many people changed them to other colours...

A dark shade of blue would also suit this model (like the millecento in Chor bazaar Karl took off almost every part he could find:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...ar-eulogy.html

Originally Posted by V-16

The original Italian headlights, very rare to find a car with these still on

But are the headlamp surrounds (rings) original? I dont recall any dukkar with original headlights having these...

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by suren181

The interiors as you see are not original at all but am trying to do my best to get it to be original. Here I will have to thank Stanher for his help in sourcing the old meters and many other crucial parts for this resto.

I thought I did pack the original speedo with the plastic surround/trim in the box of parts I sent with the car??

And if you want Gogi to be nice to you do not address him with the "ji" suffix...right, gogi?

[suren181]

Your right Stanher you did pack the meters too and I have mentioned that in my previous post.

Regarding the 'ji' part of it. I stand corrected and vow not to add ji while addressing Gogi.

The ashtray, non-original meters and every other internal part is being stripped of the car as we speak. The engine, gearbox and other mechanicals would also be out by the end of this evening with just the basic shell standing.

[ajay99]

if you want N.O.S TAIL LAMP LENS/ASSEMBLY, one of my friends has got a pair with him

[suren181]

am definitely interested ajay_99 could you help me with further details, namely cost, condition and account details wherein I have to give the money? More interested in the assembly with lens as such.

[Cyrus43]

Originally Posted by Stanher

But are the headlamp surrounds (rings) original? I dont recall any dukkar with original headlights having these...

yes stanher..the headlight rings are original...even i didnt know they existed until i did some research and got this picture...



look at the headlight ring on the left hand side...you will notice that that one is the same one that gogi has and the other one is the standard one that we all know of.

[V-16]

Originally Posted by suren181

Gogiji and others could you tell me which is the link I should copy paste from imageshack to post as is in V-16's post. This is, do not want to post thumbnails but the whole Pic at a relatively good size.

Suren "JI".

After you upload the pic you want to imageshack, you will find the pic and several links to copy and paste, you choose the Ist link after the pic which says " Hotlink for forums (1)"
Better still download the imageshack tool bar on your pc and directly upload. You dont have to open imageshack every time and resize the pics. It will automatically resize your pics to 800X600 once you have ticked the option to get size to get the kind of pics you want posted. you can post multiple pics too from that, something which was missing from imageshack till now. Hope that helps

Originally Posted by Stanher

Suren,
But are the headlamp surrounds (rings) original? I dont recall any dukkar with original headlights having these...

Yes they are. Note the hump above them, thats why I said they were really rare to find in existing cars today...anyways Cyrus has answered the query too.

Originally Posted by Stanher

And if you want Gogi to be nice to you do not address him with the "ji" suffix...right, gogi?

Well said...I hope everyone makes a note of that
Suren pl send under bonnet pics too. Want to see if the air filter is correct too.

Behrambhai (as in BehramDhabar) and Karlosdeville are other authorities on this subject who will give you valuable advise till kingdom come.

[Cyrus43]

hey come on now..you are also quite a good "authority" on the "fiat" subject...