[Thebugdoc]

Got hold a period working MARELLI radio and an Original Dual-port manifold (for future dual carb conversion)








Bonnet light holders, 5 millecento rims, switches, sunshade, magneti marelli wiper motor assembly, glass winder assembly, FIAT fuse box




















The Owatrol materials arrive!




The paint stripping process begins.
The product turned out to be fantastic as it stripped off the entire paint and putty done to almost bare metal without any abrasive procedures thereby conserving the metal and not causing unnecessary dents in the procedure.

The metal was coated with a layer of Owatrol oil to preserve the now exposed metal








Floor work progressing
The tinker has done a good job. The pictures were taken while the process was going on and this is not the final finish.

Got hold of an original floor tunnel and replaced the rusted one.












That is all the updates I have as of now, I will post them as the work progresses.

[arun1100]

Great updates of the Millecento! Please do post regular updates. Restoration threads have become rare on this Forum off late.

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by arun1100

Great updates of the Millecento! Please do post regular updates. Restoration threads have become rare on this Forum off late.

True arun bro!
I will surely try and keep this thread updated as the work progresses..
thanks

[DevSunit]

Eagerly waiting for the majestic comeback of this Veteran Warrior in our own Cochin Streets Do update the thread frequently. Many wishes for your endeavour

[vijuk21]

Congratulations and wishing you good luck to restore this bug back to it's good old glory..! Very happy to see such restorations happening

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by DevSunit

Eagerly waiting for the majestic comeback of this Veteran Warrior in our own Cochin Streets Do update the thread frequently. Many wishes for your endeavour

Sure, will keep the thread updated. Great to know your from cochin as well

Originally Posted by vijuk21

Congratulations and wishing you good luck to restore this bug back to it's good old glory..! Very happy to see such restorations happening

Thank you

[Vijay T]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the thread.

You are doing a great job of restoring a Fiat,which company is so dear to my heart.

Very nostalgic. Some diversion from subject but wish to share.

My dad had driven this as kaali peeli when he retired early from army in 1961 after serving Gen Thimaiyya as his last "saaheb".Then he had 1100 D for almost 21 years before he got Padmini which was driven mostly by driver.

I used to visit along with him in garage during those annual restoration for "passing from RTO"ritual.
Learnt my driving on 1100D

Same mechanic, same electrician, same tin smith & painter for almost 30 years.Hope same with you as well.

Recently stayed at London for a month at my daughter's place & happened to visit Regent street Vintage car show
Especially saw all Fiat cars from 1906.Loved it.

Enough of Nostalgia. Hope mods will allow it.

Wishing to see your updates regularly & final video of you riding the beauty of 1955 with joy.Keep it up.

[Naztone]

It is so very satisfying to watch the process of restoration unfold here - Thank you.

Especially as we don't have to put in the effort to hunt for the parts, follow up with the garage, the suppliers and not to forget the impact on the wallet.

WRT "OWATROL rust inhibiting oil" the coated metal looks lovely, could you please ans the below
A) Have you used it before
B) Is it required to sandblast the surfaces or even thorough wire brush/sandpaper is acceptable

Asking this as my 11 year old Fiesta 1.6S has persistent rust at the bottoms of both rear doors and don't ask about the 26 year old RX100 - Think this might just help me solve the rust issues.

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by Vijay T

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the thread.

You are doing a great job of restoring a Fiat,which company is so dear to my heart.

Very nostalgic. Some diversion from subject but wish to share.

My dad had driven this as kaali peeli when he retired early from army in 1961 after serving Gen Thimaiyya as his last "saaheb".Then he had 1100 D for almost 21 years before he got Padmini which was driven mostly by driver.

I used to visit along with him in garage during those annual restoration for "passing from RTO"ritual.
Learnt my driving on 1100D

Same mechanic, same electrician, same tin smith & painter for almost 30 years.Hope same with you as well.

Recently stayed at London for a month at my daughter's place & happened to visit Regent street Vintage car show
Especially saw all Fiat cars from 1906.Loved it.

Enough of Nostalgia. Hope mods will allow it.

Wishing to see your updates regularly & final video of you riding the beauty of 1955 with joy.Keep it up.

Thank you for your inspiring words about your journey with the fiat, I truly wish to pursue the same with this mille as well
I will surely update the thread regularly

Originally Posted by Naztone

It is so very satisfying to watch the process of restoration unfold here - Thank you.

Especially as we don't have to put in the effort to hunt for the parts, follow up with the garage, the suppliers and not to forget the impact on the wallet.

WRT "OWATROL rust inhibiting oil" the coated metal looks lovely, could you please ans the below
A) Have you used it before
B) Is it required to sandblast the surfaces or even thorough wire brush/sandpaper is acceptable

Asking this as my 11 year old Fiesta 1.6S has persistent rust at the bottoms of both rear doors and don't ask about the 26 year old RX100 - Think this might just help me solve the rust issues.

This is the first time i am using there products but it's been about 6-7 months since I had sandblasted the suspension parts, subframe and coated them with owatrol oil, it has held up really well

If you are planning to use it on body panels of your fiesta or rx I would not recommend sand blasting as that would make the surface rough. You can use owatrol paint stripper for that or you could go with a bare metal stripping and then apply owatrol oil and then the primer (owatrol) before your putty job to get maximum protection, but please remember to get your surface to be a little rough ( use 60 grade paper) as that helps the material to stick
Also make sure you leave the coatings for about a week
Please do let me know if you need any further help Or contact details of the supplier

[Naztone]

It's held up for 6-7 months that's a good sign.

Have made a note of your guidance - will definitely follow it and research further for when she next goes for a touch up job.

[Thebugdoc]

SOME NICE GOODIES

NOS CARELLO HEADLAMP UNITS






CARELLO HEADLIGHT RINGS






FOUND A TREASURE WHEN I VISITED AN OLD METER REPAIR SHOP: COURTESY JUSTIN DAS






SOME MORE











BODY WORK AND LEVELLING GOING ON









ALUMINIUM PARTS GO FOR LEVELLING AND POLISHING
METAL PARTS GO FOR PLATING




OWATROL PRIMER APPLIED



THIS IS WHERE THERE'S A TWIST. I WAS NOT ENTIRELY SATISFIED WITH THE BODYWORK BEING DONE ON MY CAR AT AUTOSTARKE DESPITE REPEATED EFFORTS FROM MY END TO GET SOME PANELS CORRECTED LIKE THE RUNNING BOARDS, FRONT END, WHEEL ARCHES ETC.
I EVEN OFFERED TO BUY NEW PANELS FOR THEM BUT THERE WEREN'T WILLING TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE WORK DONE. SO I HAD TO MAKE A HARD DECISION TO TAKE MY CAR ELSEWHERE









SHIFTING IT OUT WAS NOT EASY AS THE CAR WAS BEING DONE AT A DEALERSHIP AND THAT MEANT A LOT OF FORMALITIES AND MONEY AS WELL: disappointed.
BUT I ALWAYS TAKE PERFECTION OF THE WORK DONE TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING ELSE, SO SHIFTED HER TO A FACILITY THAT DOES ONLY OLD CARS.
I SHALL BE REDOING MOST OF THE BODYWORK ALL OVER AGAIN . WILL POST UPDATES REGARDING THE SAME SOON

[Thebugdoc]

Got back the aluminium parts like the grill , beedings , headlight frames etc from buffing centre
They turned out to be looking brand new and hard to believe they are actually aluminium

Steel parts were brass coated and electroplated

[Thebugdoc]

MAJOR UPDATES AS OF TODAY

After the Autostarke fiasco, I was truly disheartened, but like how we always say everything happens for a reason, things took a turn for the best!

The new workshop, I shifted my car to was located in a small city called Thrissur, and had nothing fancy, totally old school with old experienced tinkers doing only old cars with an absolute commitment to what they had been doing for 40+ years.

I consulted with Dr Unnikrishnan, an ENT surgeon by profession with an OCD for clean bodywork
He gets his cars tinkered at the same place and offered to help me in my pursuit to make my car among the best. Posting a video of his elegant he restored about 5 years and the clean lines are reminiscent of Turin builds

https://youtu.be/Cqy_A0jDifM

Now we had to decide on the hard part whether to do a quick fix on the work done previously or do it up completely from scratch.
This wasn't an easy decision at all as it would mean scrapping off all the Owatrol primer and oil applied after blasting the surfaces.
Finally, a decision was made to do up the car from scratch as I did not want it to look like a half-baked job

We decided to start with the left side fender and door hinges
All the hinges were pulled out and sent out to the lathe new pins were installed, and converted to the original screw type
The hinge gaps turned out to be brilliant and solid.





Lucky to find a few original PALPAR body parts
New front fenders, back arches, running boards, fender inner pieces and many more

The first phase was SHRINKING the panels to remove the bloating




New fenders were installed and adjusted to look perfectly aligned
New running boards were installed




The Mille started looking way better already


The line that traverses from the front fender through the lower doors to the back arch is a tricky portion on any Italian fiat so we decided to replace the lower portion of the doors as well to get them straight as an arrow.












The right side was done the same way and the car just transformed














There is a lot more to be done, will keep updating the thread as work is progressing at a steady pace now.

[justin.das]

Originally Posted by Thebugdoc

MAJOR UPDATES AS OF TODAY

I shifted my car to was located in a small city called Thrissur, and had nothing fancy, totally old school with old experienced tinkers doing only old cars with an absolute commitment to what they had been doing for 40+ years.

I consulted with Dr. Unnikrishnan, an ENT surgeon by profession with an OCD for clean bodywork

There is a lot more to be done, will keep updating the thread as work is progressing at a steady pace now.

Unquestionably the best facility in Kerala for bodywork, with my current experience and exposure to Kerala classic cars I can vouch for the commitment and quality of the work done by these tinkers from Thrissur absolutely splendid.

[GTO]

What a beautiful car in such a cheery colour! The perfect Sunday morning spotting. Caught it near Parsi Colony, 5 Gardens: