[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Drkannant - hello once again after a long time. In my opinion, red color does not suit the period bodyline of a classic 1956 fiat. The all time favorite is black, but then you will need white sidewall tires which are extremely difficult if not impossible to procure. Without white sidewall tires, black car will not look nice. It will be nice to go for a lighter shade, of course final choice will be yours alone.

Please remove everything mechanical from the body shell including chassis
when you paint the car, otherwise you will not get perfect result.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Hello Behram sir, its been quite a long time I saw you on my thread. Mistake was mine for not posting any updates on the car during the tinkering stage. Anyway thanks a lot for your suggestions sir.

Your right, red wasn't the original color for the millecento but dad had a liking to it so he had got the car painted red. As Sonu & Karl had mentioned our car is recognised in our town by its colour, so I would love to retain the red but I thought after doing so much for the car, lets give it a new colour (I'm sure my dad would understand).

I kind of short listed 4 colors, dark brown, navy blue, deep granite grey and of course the red. All in metallic. I did not wanted the black as we dont have black cars in our family for sentimental reasons and light colours and the aluminium grills and other garnishes dont go well. So I have dropped out light colours and black.

I have asked the painter to paint the 4 colours on to a model car and show it to me for me and my family to decide. I will post them on my thread for all of you to see and opine also.

Sure Beharam sir I will remove all the mechanical parts before the painting. I still got the steering column and the wheel on the car so that it would be easy for the painting guys to move around the car from one bay to the other.

Another thing I would like to have your opinion is whether I should ask the mechanic to open the engine and look into everything. The mechanic feels the engine is fine as it looks like dad had recently worked on it completely. He feels we will just change the oil, gaskets, spark plugs, clean up the weber carburettor change its gasket and tune it up. Is there anything which I should ask him to specifically look into or change it. Please advice me on this.

Thank you once again.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

I assume the car was bright red for many years, and would have become identified with the car. Having said that, maybe you could go for a darker shade to make it more period correct. I believe the originals did come in a shade of deep red/maroon, so I would recommend that.

I would not recommend two tone shades as they were not offered here on these models.

Thanks Karl, you are absolutely correct. Our car is identified by its red color. When people in our town see the car they know its my dad's car. Its been so famous in our town. There are so many of them who keep asking me about the car, at what stage is the restoration and when am i going to get the car back to my home town.

As you had mentioned I have also got this dark maroon in my mind. I have short listed 4 colors, I will post them once i get them painted onto a model plastic car.

Thanks & regards.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

I kind of short listed 4 colors, dark brown, navy blue, deep granite grey and of course the red. All in metallic. I did not wanted the black as we dont have black cars in our family for sentimental reasons and light colours and the aluminium grills and other garnishes don't go well. So I have dropped out light colours and black.
I have asked the painter to paint the 4 colours on to a model car and show it to me for me and my family to decide.

No offense but a BIG no to metallic paints on period car.
As for choice of your colors, I am posting some of your selected shades on the actual cars.

I presume this is what you mean by dark brown (Chocolate)


Metallic blue (the mole on TBHP)


I again presume this is what you mean by deep granite grey. Rather a dull color.


Also posting some shades that are rare on such cars but look very nice.
The below green; One of our FCCCI member has a (direct import) car in this color




Raab rakha

[the mole]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

No offense but a BIG no to metallic paints on period car.

Why not? metallic colours were always available on classic cars especially the higher end luxury cars especially the big mercs like the 300s. But however their constitution was very very different. Point in case is my Ponton. It is the original colour for the car. looks flat at certain angles and metallic at others. For pontons there was a choice of three shades in metallic- blue, green and red.Of course it was a very expensive option.

Now for Fiats whatever research i did when i painted my car was that there was a metallic blue much darker than my car that came pre 1956. It was called "Blue Pavone" or "Peacock Blue". Many period advertising showed pre 56 1100's in this shade. However apparently the original metallic shade available for the elegant was near and about the shade on my car as confirmed by some old timers and samples found inside my car.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by the mole

Point in case is my Ponton. It is the original colour for the car. looks flat at certain angles and metallic at others. For pontons there was a choice of three shades in metallic- blue, green and red.Of course it was a very expensive option.

Even after quoting against metallic paints, I indeed posted your car's pic.
You Blue's resto was motivation for my Brownie's resto.

OTR, Give me your Ponton and I swear I'll take my words back

Raab rakha.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

I would like to have your opinion is whether I should ask the mechanic to open the engine and look into everything. The mechanic feels the engine is fine. He feels we will just change the oil, gaskets, spark plugs, clean up the weber carburettor change its gasket and tune it up. Is there anything which I should ask him to specifically look into or change it. Please advice me on this. Thank you once again.

Dear Dr.Kannant - please leave the engine alone. You will not get the gasket for the manifold joint. Just replace oil (SAE 20W40 or 15W40), filter (difficult to get, you need Purolator make), spark plugs (Bosch Super, projecting nose type only, gap 0.8 mm), contact breaker points (Lucas TVS, set to dwell angle of 60 degrees). Please open the carburettor only if the person doing so is aware of the Weber, otherwise please don't monkey around with it, it will get ruined. Carburettors by design are not repairable.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

Even after quoting against metallic paints, I indeed posted your car's pic.
You Blue's resto was motivation for my Brownie's resto.

OTR, Give me your Ponton and I swear I'll take my words back

Raab rakha.

Thanks to both u guys for the "FOR" & " AGAINST" debate on metallic paint. But sonu may be I might go with Mole on this. I wanted a metallic finish for my car. Infact the shades which you posted had quite a few shades in metallic. I would like to have a blend of old and new touch on my car.

I will post the pics of the short listed colours soon.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Dr.Kannant - please leave the engine alone. You will not get the gasket for the manifold joint. Just replace oil (SAE 20W40 or 15W40), filter (difficult to get, you need Purolator make), spark plugs (Bosch Super, projecting nose type only, gap 0.8 mm), contact breaker points (Lucas TVS, set to dwell angle of 60 degrees). Please open the carburettor only if the person doing so is aware of the Weber, otherwise please don't monkey around with it, it will get ruined. Carburettors by design are not repairable.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

Thanks for the advice Behram sir, will ask the mechanic to do as you say.
This mechanic is an old timer who works only on fiat for the last 45 yrs. Think he can handle the weber carburettor. Anyway will check it out once more sir.
Thank you.

[ariesonu]

DrKannan,
We wish to see her restored and running on the road. That is what she was made for and that it must do. Any color, any texture doesn't make any difference.
As BD sir said, keep mechanicals happy.
I'm not sure but I may be able to get you the PUROLATOR oil filter, if you need one.

Raab rakha.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

DrKannan,
We wish to see her restored and running on the road. That is what she was made for and that it must do. Any color, any texture doesn't make any difference.
As BD sir said, keep mechanicals happy.
I'm not sure but I may be able to get you the PUROLATOR oil filter, if you need one.

Raab rakha.

Thanks Sonu, as you said seeing the car run smoothly on road is my ultimate aim, all the others are secondary. But on the process would like see it done the right way with the help of all you guys.

Please Sonu get me the oil filter and let me know how much it costs i will send it across to you. Thanks a ton dude.

[howler]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Thanks to both u guys for the "FOR" & " AGAINST" debate on metallic paint. But sonu may be I might go with Mole on this. I wanted a metallic finish for my car. Infact the shades which you posted had quite a few shades in metallic. I would like to have a blend of old and new touch on my car.

I will post the pics of the short listed colours soon.

Hello doc, i dont post much on the vintage thread. Just a point of view for you to consider, im assuming youre doing up the car in your dads memory as opposed to restoring it to factory specs (?). If i were you id retain the same color that my dad loved and was known for instead of a shade that will make a fiat club happy. Hope this helps,

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by howler

Hello doc, i dont post much on the vintage thread. Just a point of view for you to consider, im assuming youre doing up the car in your dads memory as opposed to restoring it to factory specs (?). If i were you id retain the same color that my dad loved and was known for instead of a shade that will make a fiat club happy. Hope this helps,

Thank you so much Mr. Howler, you're perfectly correct, this restoration is in my dad's memory and as you said I would love to retain the same red colour, but now its not for the sake of the fiat club that I am thinking of changing the colour. My daughter also wants to go for a different shade and she was my dads pet and the one who is going to have the car after my days. So thats the reason why I am looking for a different colour.

I have short listed few colours which I have posted on my thread. I prefer the darker brown shade, which my daughter also likes. There are few more shades which are not yet ready. I will post them once they are ready.

Guys the house is open for suggestions.

[manishalive]

Two other paint options, one in metallic other non metallic. Both being maroon





The second picture color will look awesome on your car and we have very few of these colors around.

[the mole]

Originally Posted by manishalive

Two other paint options, one in metallic other non metallic. Both being maroon

Attachment 1137626

Attachment 1137627

The second picture color will look awesome on your car and we have very few of these colors around.

Yes I agree with Manish the second option which is a 1100TV will look great if you follow it with the rims colours et all.
Manish did you notice its two tone with a black top

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by the mole

Yes I agree with Manish the second option which is a 1100TV will look great if you follow it with the rims colours et all.
Manish did you notice its two tone with a black top

Thanks Manish & Mr. Mole, sorry about the paint pictures upload. By mistake got multiple uploads of the same pictures. The dark maroon looks similar to the colour u both mentioned. I have asked the painter to paint me samples of the maroon colour both in metallic finish and bold finish. Will decide after seeing them.