[PAVAN KADAM]

This would be my 2nd FIAT to be restored, This Millicento belongs to my dear friend Prashanth Kumar aka NOMAD, you guys can call him one of the BIGGEST BIKE Freaks ever to find on earth.

Prashanth is known to me since the last 12 years, And i owe him a LOT. Infact the Full Front End of my Beetle, including the body panels and the Bonnet was donated by Prashanth to me during my 67 Beetle restoration, He was then known as Bullet Prashanth for the love of Bullets, But now, his collection has gone to 100's of unnamed bikes and scoots from around the country.

Coming back to the project, It happened that i met him during a visit to my aunts house few months back, infact after a real long time, i was dying to see his SINGLE OWNER 1964 Beetle, Thats Amazingly Original and will talk about it later. I went trough his house (Literally a Museum of sorts) and slowly he popped up this question ""KADAM..! CAN U RESTORE MY DADS MILLICENTO"" It was an offer i did not want to refuse.

I actually wanted to return the favour he did to me 10 years ago, so readily agreed and a few weeks later Prashanth left for New-Zealand and his dad drove the car over to my bodyshop.

The car was mechanically fine, but had lots of body work to be done.

Work started, let pictures do the talking

[PAVAN KADAM]

Body tapping and scraping off the primer started instantly.

I am really amazed that this car has a PERFECT BODYLINE over these years, Just amazing.

Never worked on such a straight car

The challenge now was to get it even better, The colour was decided as BLACK and i went ahead with the project, updating Prashanth who was at NewZealand over Facebook all this while.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Body preparation went in full swing.

We did the complete body-tapping and a very good quality Zinc oxide from Kapci paints sprayed on the car.

[rajeev k]

Nice work. The quality of the tin-work is evident from the pictures, especially the one at the last. Perhaps this was on from the day you were away on hibernation.
Would like to have pictures of your friend's vast collection of two wheelers.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Nice work. The quality of the tin-work is evident from the pictures, especially the one at the last. Perhaps this was on from the day you were away on hibernation.
Would like to have pictures of your friend's vast collection of two wheelers.

Thank you rajeev, This restoration began exactly on November 1st 2011

The Tin-work was infact good when the car was handed over to me, But had some minor spots to work on and my tinker was good enough to rectify them in a weeks time.

The paint-job too was a different approach, While Prashanth needed the OLD-SCHOOL Method with Duco being the Paint, And since Duco is a Nitro-Cellulose paint and an old technology, i was not ready to adapt it, but the procedure of applying NC Putty and Oil Putty was well adapted to get that Silky smooth surface, and again we dont use ESDEE ( Third grade putty in the market) we used the one's from a company called KAPCI (they are really good) and adapts and adheres well with Dupont Surfacer and Paint.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Since Prashanth is very particular about each and every process of the body work, i became conscious to stick to his requirement.

After each process we allowed the body shell to dry for over 10 days, only after its ascertained that there is no MOISTURE on the surface we went ahead with the next process.

The process involved

1) Scrape body shell to bare metal.
2) Zinc oxide spray (Kapci)
3) Body tapping
4) Bodyfiller job done using 3M Bondo
5) Kapci patti spray (equivalent to NC putty)
6) Oil putty job ( this was a done using old school method - Kapci)
7) Surfacer spray (Kapci)
8) Base Surfacer (DUPONT)

Again this car has PERFECT body lines and the painter stuck to what he promised.

[Rudra Sen]

Pavan, driver side door and fender gap looks too much to me. Especially when I see the other side.

[ariesonu]

@Rudra, Probably because the doors do not have rubber beading fitted as yet. I had had similar experience but the garage guys gave me the explanation.

PK can clear further facts.

Raab Rakha.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

@Rudra, Probably because the doors do not have rubber beading fitted as yet.

I'll be surprised if that's the case here. If those shut lines are depended on rubber beading then there's something wrong. It could be the body shaping issue or door hinges issue.

I'm not for a moment saying it is wrong in that car but the way it's looking now. Pavan will be in a better shape to answer this.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Pavan, driver side door and fender gap looks too much to me. Especially when I see the other side.

Sir, Thanks for that, the door was not shut, so the gap seems more.

Originally Posted by ariesonu

@Rudra, Probably because the doors do not have rubber beading fitted as yet. I had had similar experience but the garage guys gave me the explanation.

PK can clear further facts.

Raab Rakha.

We have removed the lock mechanisms too, so its not fully closed now.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

I'll be surprised if that's the case here. If those shut lines are depended on rubber beading then there's something wrong. It could be the body shaping issue or door hinges issue.

I'm not for a moment saying it is wrong in that car but the way it's looking now. Pavan will be in a better shape to answer this.

Sir, to clear your doubts, i shall post another picture of that side in a few moments

[manishalive]

Oh these doors have tendency to get open slightly when removed of all the locks, that is because of the hinge mechanism.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

I'll be surprised if that's the case here. If those shut lines are depended on rubber beading then there's something wrong. It could be the body shaping issue or door hinges issue.

I'm not for a moment saying it is wrong in that car but the way it's looking now. Pavan will be in a better shape to answer this.

Sir, i took these pics today afternoon just for you

Maybe the Visual Perception or maybe because the door was not fully closed, it looked as if it has an uneven gap.

Today the Final coats of Surfacer (Dupont) was sprayed, after this, its only left for the final paint to be done.

[samsag12]

Crisp lines and clean edges. Truly a pro job. More than your expertise you have got a amazing team of workers who do adhere to your guidelines.
What are the plans on its final shade. I hope its not black.
BTW do i see a Padmini in the background ? Is it your another project. Just eager to know

[kodivasanth]

PK nice pics and super restoration work. I am glued to this project. If I have a vehicle that needs restoration, you are the man to whom i will come for guidance.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by samsag12

Crisp lines and clean edges. Truly a pro job. More than your expertise you have got a amazing team of workers who do adhere to your guidelines.
What are the plans on its final shade. I hope its not black.
BTW do i see a Padmini in the background ? Is it your another project. Just eager to know

Hi Sagar,

Yes my team has come good almost most of the time

The final shade is BLUE with WHITE top, you will see the end result in the next few days.

I am just waiting for NOMAD (Prashanth) to get all the fittings, so that we can fit them once before spraying the final paint.

The Padmini in the background belongs to one enthusiast living very close to the workshop, and i am not restoring it,i am just providing guidelines thats it.

Originally Posted by kodivasanth

PK nice pics and super restoration work. I am glued to this project. If I have a vehicle that needs restoration, you are the man to whom i will come for guidance.

Sir, you know my place, drop by anytime