[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by manishalive

Dear Dr. Kannan,

I am seeing your pictures of headlight on a bigger screen only now. You have got a rare find. Do you have only one brown bulb holder or two?? If you have two of them, then you nothing like it.

I think that the headlight reflector can be recoated, many have done that. Now for the head light glass. I got mine (an inch bigger than your car size) from Indrojit (original carello glass). May be you can contact him and who knows he can be of help. The back side glass could be an issue to find but then for that you could use any glass that fits. Here is a picture of headlight from Amol's thread. This will give you more clarity on how the assembly looks like.

Attachment 1073948

Attachment 1073949

Dear Manish,

I just got one holder, as you can see one of the reflector has got the ordinary round room bulb holder fixed on it. i think its going to be very difficult to get the other holder. Fingers crossed ! please any sources whom i can contact for it?

I will surely contact Indrojit for the glasses. For now i got a pair of Jawa motorcycle glasses which fit pretty well, Thanks to Prashanth for getting it for me.

As of now for the reflector will try to get it chromed and keep it aside till i find the holder. I am trying to mix & match reflectors of other vehicles like Jawa, Samurai & Eicher canter, lets see which suits better. Anyway thanks for the pictures from Amol's thread.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Dear Manish,

I just got one holder, as you can see one of the reflector has got the ordinary round room bulb holder fixed on it. i think its going to be very difficult to get the other holder. Fingers crossed ! please any sources whom i can contact for it?

I will surely contact Indrojit for the glasses. For now i got a pair of Jawa motorcycle glasses which fit pretty well, Thanks to Prashanth for getting it for me.

As of now for the reflector will try to get it chromed and keep it aside till i find the holder. I am trying to mix & match reflectors of other vehicles like Jawa, Samurai & Eicher canter, lets see which suits better. Anyway thanks for the pictures from Amol's thread.

Hi Everybody, I am sure its been a long time, got a little busy with work.
Hope all you guys are doing fine.

Anyway back to the point about my Fiat beauty is still in the tinkers place. Finished with the boot part, both the windscreen are done without cutting them, the doors are done. So that is all with the tinkering work. In the mean time found a set of original aluminium door handles, got the boot lock set, got the boot rubber beading (after a long hunt), got the original aluminium fan blade, got my meters serviced and galvanized, almost my headlight aluminium rings are ready, my headlight restoration is on track and finally got the original 1955 front parking lights on Ebay Italy and its on the way.

Will post some pictures of the work in progress and the parts acquired. till then take care & cheers.

[Drkannant]

Hello everybody, its been some time since I mafe my presenc. Nothing sprcial just was waiting for my fiat tinkering to be over. It is in the final stage. Getting the headlights corrected, I have podted a few pictures of the work. Please advice and guide me if this is the right shape. Got the headlight rings fabricated.

[premc44]

Dear Dr.Kannan
I just happened to see your thread and I am mighty impressed. I am an Orthopaedic surgeon from Kozhikode. You have taken up an ardous task of restoring a classic of the 50s, but even more commendable is the purpose behind the whole exercise. I will be following this thread eagerly and I am really anxious to see the pictures after the complete restoration.,like many others in this forum. Your father's blesings will see you through this wonderful job you have undertaken. All the very best

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by premc44

Dear Dr.Kannan
I just happened to see your thread and I am mighty impressed. I am an Orthopaedic surgeon from Kozhikode. You have taken up an ardous task of restoring a classic of the 50s, but even more commendable is the purpose behind the whole exercise. I will be following this thread eagerly and I am really anxious to see the pictures after the complete restoration.,like many others in this forum. Your father's blesings will see you through this wonderful job you have undertaken. All the very best

Dear Dr. Prem, thanks for your kind words felt so good reading your message. I am sure my dad is definitely watching me over through this restoration. Will definitely post the pictures of restoration as and when I finish stage by stage. Right now I'm doing the headlights as it was altered earlier and to get them back to the original shape is really a herculean task.
Anyway thank you once again, will keep you posted.

[Drkannant]

The latest pictures of headlight correction. Please advice if its being done the right way. Thanks.

[Drkannant]

Hi just for all the experts to have a look these pictures of the head light correction and give your valuable advice.
There is lot more to do on fender tinkering . This is just the head light ring correction.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Hi just for all the experts to have a look these pictures of the head light correction and give your valuable advice.
There is lot more to do on fender tinkering . This is just the head light ring correction.

Hi everybody.....its been quite a while since there was any action on my thread.
Am very sorry for the delay. The head light correction took a long time at the tinkers. It had to corrected and re-corrected and got close to the original shape. I think so,fingers crossed!! finally finished with tinkering work, it took me 4 long months

The car is now in the painting process, will post some pictures soon.

In the mean time procured some hard to find valuable parts locally in India & Italy.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Hi everybody.....its been quite a while since there was any action on my thread.
Am very sorry for the delay. The head light correction took a long time at the tinkers. It had to corrected and re-corrected and got close to the original shape. I think so,fingers crossed!! finally finished with tinkering work, it took me 4 long months

The car is now in the painting process, will post some pictures soon.

In the mean time procured some hard to find valuable parts locally in India & Italy.

Hi, few pictures for reference and for all to feel free to advice. Thanks.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Hi just for all the experts to have a look these pictures of the head light correction and give your valuable advice.
There is lot more to do on fender tinkering . This is just the head light ring correction.

Hi Boss,this workmanship is PATHETIC, pls ask the denter to do clean job and not one suitable with his taxi owners customers.He will patch up his defective workmanship by putty and painters ideas.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by IQBAL VEERJI

Hi Boss,this workmanship is PATHETIC, pls ask the denter to do clean job and not one suitable with his taxi owners customers.He will patch up his defective workmanship by putty and painters ideas.

Hi Mr Iqbal, thanks a lot for your concern. The pictures on which you commented are the old ones. As i was not happy the whole piece was cut out and the whole headlight and fender work was redone with a new sheet of metal. Had a plaster of paris mould taken out from another millecento and the headlight body was done according to it. That was the reason i had mentioned in my latest post that the tinkering work took more than 4 months. The whole body was hand scrapped to bare metal and tapped. The body filler( 3M Bondo) applied is not more than a paper thickness. The Tinker & painter have not met each other at all, so there is no way he could have influenced the tinker.

Anyway thanks a lot once again for your views and concern.

[ariesonu]

Though we have come too far for corrections, if any, but posting some photos of Brownie's restoration work, especially related to the headlight area.
Am loading large resolution photos so that you can zoom for closer look.






I have circled the area that looks little too smooth in your car.


Hope this helps.

Raab rakha.

[ad3952n]

@Dr Kannan, Being a ex-owner of fiat Padmini 1989 model these pics of your vehicle remind me of my car. My dad too bought it 2nd hand in 91. And till 2006 September we had the fiat. My dad too just like your's was very particular on the over-all upkeep of the car. He spent alot on maintaining it. I remember in 1995 we got in touch with one of the best car customizer here in delhi i.e Pandit and Co. My dad spent about 80K for full customizing inculding apholstry and paint job at that time and honestly the job was superbly done. Till the time we had the vehicle it would give us an average of 12-13kmpl all thanks to my dad's love for that car.

The sad part was, when we got the esteem in 2006 we sold the fiat to a well acquinted mechanic of our for 16K with a promise from him that he wont dis-mantle it or sell to scrap dealers. Eventually he betrayed. From that day onwards, I always keep it as a aim to own a fiat padmini and get it restored just the way my 1st was. I become very emotional when ever i see the movie Tarzan the wonder car, The son brings back the car to life which was once owned by his dad. The day i do this, it will be the greatest accomplishment personally.

AD

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Though we have come too far for corrections, if any, but posting some photos of Brownie's restoration work, especially related to the headlight area.
Am loading large resolution photos so that you can zoom for closer look.

I have circled the area that looks little too smooth in your car.

Hope this helps.

Raab rakha.

Hi sonu .... thanks for the input. Infact I did take a hard copy of your car headlight pics n showed it to my tinker. It was of great help n thanks for that. You are perfectly correct in pointing out the bit more rounded or smoothened of area. Did ask my tinker about it and he was willing to correct it but another young person who is into restoration here in Coimbatore told me not to go ahead with it as he feared he might spoil it. He said we can get that sorted out during the polyester putty application. So just left it as I had already redid the headlight job thrice, didn't want to go through it all over again as it would then take another 2 weeks to finish it. Anyway will see if I
can get it corrected during the polyester putty application time.
I had to correct even the front body as the part above and around the parking lites was flattened out to fit in the latest parking lites. I had to re do that part to fit the original small n pointed parking lites.
I'll post the front pictures of the car before n after the correction. I couldn't take pics as the car was parked close to the wall.
Anyway thanks a lot for the input.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by ad3952n

@Dr Kannan, Being a ex-owner of fiat Padmini 1989 model these pics of your vehicle remind me of my car. My dad too bought it 2nd hand in 91. And till 2006 September we had the fiat. My dad too just like your's was very particular on the over-all upkeep of the car. He spent alot on maintaining it. I remember in 1995 we got in touch with one of the best car customizer here in delhi i.e Pandit and Co. My dad spent about 80K for full customizing inculding apholstry and paint job at that time and honestly the job was superbly done. Till the time we had the vehicle it would give us an average of 12-13kmpl all thanks to my dad's love for that car.

The sad part was, when we got the esteem in 2006 we sold the fiat to a well acquinted mechanic of our for 16K with a promise from him that he wont dis-mantle it or sell to scrap dealers. Eventually he betrayed. From that day onwards, I always keep it as a aim to own a fiat padmini and get it restored just the way my 1st was. I become very emotional when ever i see the movie Tarzan the wonder car, The son brings back the car to life which was once owned by his dad. The day i do this, it will be the greatest accomplishment personally.

AD

Hi Mr.AD

It was a pleasure reading your post and happy to see so many of us restoring these old fiat cars out of pure true love for the car and for sentimental values.

Probably this is the only way we can repay our dad by taking care of their love and i'm sure their soul will rest in peace knowing that his car is in good hands. I am sure you will find your fiat padmini soon and re-live your good old memories.

Good luck and keep us posted when u find your Padmini.