[Thebugdoc]

This is my first post on teambhp since being a member so please excuse if i err on any part

Picking up a millecento was never in my mind as i had just completed a full on restoration of my daily driver 1969 beetle which i own since 2002 . I shall be posting the ownership details and other details as a separate thread as this thread is all about the MILLECENTO!

On december 6th i get a call from a friend and owner of AUTOGENIE ,trivandrum Dilip that his friend is selling a millecento which was restored few years back and he hasnot been able to use it since he is abroad and couldnot come to india due to the covid scare and wishes to sell the mille to someone who will love and take care of her.

These are the first pictures i received through whatsapp


I saw this pic and i was like wow and decided to go to trivandrum where the car currently is and pick her up Asap!

I reached there around dawn next day , she was kept in a closed garage for about 2 years so it had dust and some debris

pictures taken when i first met her






I didnt try cranking her up and she had been idle for couple of years so i wanted to make sure she was all good (fluids ,belts ,timing etc before i fire her up
i had to wait for a couple of days for the paperworks to be completed and i shuttled between trivandrum city and poovar club mahindra (where i stayed )

So the day came when i could take her out of her hibernation and me and my friend dilip managed to bring her out to the gate

Pictures of how she looked after first ray of sunshine





Waited for my flat bed trailer and friend justin das (teambhp member ) to arrive so that i could change all fluids and belts and get her started up

They arrived in no time and took her to a fiat mechanic in trivandrum, (ravi ashaan ) very kind , old mechanic he was initially impressed and equally surprised to not have seen a beautiful mille right next to him in all these years - i must admit i was thrilled !

he changed the engine oil ,differential oil,gearbox oil, radiator water/coolant,brake fluid,charged the battery,cleaned the points on the distributor (was new and changed by previous owner ) and cranked her up firing her up instantly .

http://youtu.be/Pf6WCDyIK_M

Next he cleaned the brakes adjusted valves and Voila! she was all set to go
Although my initial plans where to drive her down to my home in cochin i decided against it due to me already coming to trivandrum on my ecosport and bad rains .

Booked a flat bed from trivadrum around 8pm

this is my friend Dr Arun in the pic not me as i was busy taking pictures of the car and he was busy posing ..



Pic after she reached home



A lot more has happened after this and will be updating the same in the days to come

[V.Narayan]

Congratulations Doc. What a find, like a treasure chest. Looking forward to reading about the story here onwards. All the best with the restoration.

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Congratulations Doc. What a find, like a treasure chest. Looking forward to reading about the story here onwards. All the best with the restoration.

Thank you
Will definitely post the rest and the ongoing soon

[travancore]

Originally Posted by Thebugdoc

On december 6th i get a call from a friend and owner of AUTOGENIE ,trivandrum Dilip that his friend is selling a millecento which was restored few years back and he hasnot been able to use it since he is abroad and couldnot come to india due to the covid scare and wishes to sell the mille to someone who will love and take care of her.

So the day came when i could take her out of her hibernation and me and my friend dilip managed to bring her out to the gate

You bought her from my youngest brother. The gates are our house in Trivandrum

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by travancore

You bought her from my youngest brother. The gates are our house in Trivandrum

....with that Uncle Travancore blessed the match and it all stayed within the {Team BHP} family and Millecento Black Beauty and Dr. Bugdoc stayed happily ever after. --:--

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by travancore

You bought her from my youngest brother. The gates are our house in Trivandrum

Wow! that was great to know .
By the way you have a beautiful home. I couldn’t find a better background than the gates of your home to click pictures of the Mille
Hope your Padmini and amby is keeping fine ,looked to be very clean cars

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

....with that Uncle Travancore blessed the match and it all stayed within the {Team BHP} family and Millecento Black Beauty and Dr. Bugdoc stayed happily ever after. --:--

Haha yes that is true it stays within the circle itself.
Won’t be black beauty for long though ,she’s gone in for an extensive pin to pin restoration at a dealership here.

[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by Thebugdoc

Haha yes that is true it stays within the circle itself.
Won’t be black beauty for long though ,she’s gone in for an extensive pin to pin restoration at a dealership here 😁

Congratulations on a nice find. On another note why hurry up on the restoration, drive it a while, it looks great as it is ?

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

Congratulations on a nice find. On another note why hurry up on the restoration, drive it a while, it looks great as it is ?

Yes what you say makes sense . This was back in December so it’s been about 4 months since I got it and drove for about 2000 kms with not much issues
But I really wish to change the colour and do it up completely so that I can keep her forever without worry , will post the restoration pics soon as it has already begun a month back

[Aditya]

Nice car that. The old 1100 based Fiats are very loveable cars. They are pretty solid and good to drive as well. Yours looks to be in excellent shape. As KartikeyaL said, you should have driven it as is. But, now that you have started working on it, we'll look forward to pictures and a detailed report of the restoration. What's the colour you have planned for it?

[anjan_c2007]

Congratulations Thebugdoc ! A rare piece and a very original example. As it is undergoing restoration, it is hoped that the looks will be still better than this best look that you have given us a peek into. Do please paint it in a then factory shade, which will very much go with its very original trims.

Happy driving !

[Classic108]

My first ever post here. So glad the Millecento went to an excellent home! Yes, we love the Amby and Padmini. The '79 Amby was bought by our dad new, and has been with our family since. Started a project to recreate dads garage / similar over the years - bug fiat(KLT 603?), Millecento (KLT 3198) Select (KLT 4828), Delight (KLV 1418). By the way, if any of you can track any of these cars, please let us know.

The youngest Travancore brother

[TrackDay]

Congrats on getting a beautiful Gem & will be a worthy companion to the Beetle ! Very rare to come across well maintained cars from that era and this is indeed a treasure find. Will be closely following this thread to see the updates.

Please Don't touch me !

Originally Posted by travancore

You bought her from my youngest brother. The gates are our house in Trivandrum

Small world indeed ! Would be nice to know this car's history since she is a gem.

[Thebugdoc]

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Congrats on getting a beautiful Gem & will be a worthy companion to the Beetle ! ...

surely even i would like to know more

Originally Posted by Classic108

My first ever post here....So glad the Mille went to an excellent home ! Yes, we love the Amby and Padmini...the 79 Amby was bought by our dad new, and has been with our family since. Started a project to recreate dads garage / similar over the years - bug fiat(KLT 603?), milli (KLT3198) select (KLT 4828), delight (KLV1418). Btw if any of you can track any of these cars, please let us know ....the youngest travancore brother

thanks to you for starting off your journey on teambhp with my thread
it has become kind of harder to track down older cars due to the new vaahan site and they dont show previous owner details ,i wish you the best of luck in recreating your dads collection ! i shall enquire through my circles as well !!

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Congratulations Thebugdoc ! A rare piece and a very original example. As it is undergoing restoration, it is hoped that the looks will be still better than this best look that you have given us a peek into. Do please paint it in a then factory shade, which will very much go with its very original trims.

Happy driving !

thank you for your kind words
yes that is the plan and i have applied for ?birth certificate for the mille through fca heritage to ascertain the original shade
will be posting the rest of the updates soon

Originally Posted by Aditya

Nice car that. The old 1100 based Fiats are very loveable cars. They are pretty solid and good to drive as well. Yours looks to be in excellent shape. As KartikeyaL said, you should have driven it as is. But, now that you have started working on it, we'll look forward to pictures and a detailed report of the restoration. What's the colour you have planned for it?

thank you !
yes the initial plan was to drive her around for a couple of years but i really wanted a lighter shade on her like a pastel set of colors or the original shade (have applied for a birth certificate on fca heritage) waiting for there reply
yes surely , i shall be posting the updates very soon ..

[Thebugdoc]

SO THE MUCH AWAITED UPDATES ARE HERE !

After getting her home i went for a drive the next day and i found few issues :
Suspension noises (probably rubbers from non use )
Fuel takes a while to reach the carbs (cold start cranking takes a while)
Steering play slightly high
Fuel meter not working

So i decided to check her into a vintage car mechanic here in cochin for some preventive maintenance as suggested by fiat experts like justin das etc

The list was endless
timing chain and sprocket ,water pump, radiator hoses and the radiator core ,clutch disc and pressure plate ,flywheel check ,main seal ,gear shifter bushings both (gearbox side and engine bay side ),alternator conversion (tvs lucas new ),overall the starter motor , shocks front and back ,complete rubber bush kit (comes as a set and it includes everything you need for a car ),bumpers and guards plating ,rocker arm shaft (found to have some wear - lucky to find a original almost new for mille,gaskets for the timing cover ,side cover etc ,oil pipe from the oil filter assembly and many more parts which i fail to recollect

posting some pictures of few parts i changed as preventive ,some parts i changed had a lot of life left in them like the clutch but i wanted it changed since the car sat few years and i was changing the main seal anyways















changed the radiator core (upgraded 4 layer core copper ) on the same original mille radiator housing





Got hold of a NEW boxed SOLEX BISCA CARB (with a built in pump ,overflow line to tank ,vacuum advance etc and also a working original MAGENTI MARELLI distributor ,an an original sipea ignition lock for pull starter type with matching keys (almost new )







i changed the diaphragm of the pump on the carb since it sat for long and gone hard and installed the same on the car
also got a almost new vacuum distributor lucas as well to go well with the vacuum advance on the carb ! i kept the magnetti marelli in safe storage for future use once all works are done on the mille


The bumpers and guards goes for plating




some parts i hoarded for the mille )some might be fit only for the padmini just got it just in case




So the work on the car got over in about 3 days and she was all set to leave all fresh
i hadnot changed the suspension bushes since i planned to do that at a dealership (where the rest of the story begins after few days


getting the bumpers plated took a while so i decided to drive her around like an american spec










While i was enjoying the no bumper spec i get a call from the plating guy that bumpers are ready

After i fitted them







Here is a cold startup video after the new carb and dizzy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPA87_qm1ao

The car starts on a half crank and the performance went up drastically and she felt way more smoother as well!

With the mechanical bits almost sorted i decided to do complete body work and make her perfect on every front .For that she would travel to a dealership called autostarke owned by the famous Nippon group also the service centre for chevrolet ,kia . There state of the art facilities ,courteous staff made me check her in there and complete my build !

I shall be posting updates of the same soon .thank you everyone for reading my post

[travancore]

Originally Posted by Classic108

My first ever post here. So glad the Millecento went to an excellent home! Yes, we love the Amby and Padmini. The '79 Amby was bought by our dad new, and has been with our family since. Started a project to recreate dads garage / similar over the years - bug fiat(KLT 603?), Millecento (KLT 3198) Select (KLT 4828), Delight (KLV 1418). By the way, if any of you can track any of these cars, please let us know.

The youngest Travancore brother

Originally Posted by Thebugdoc

Wow! that was great to know .
By the way you have a beautiful home �� I couldn’t find a better background than the gates of your home to click pictures of the Mille
Hope your Padmini and amby is keeping fine ,looked to be very clean cars

Welcome to the Team, Classic108!

Thanks Thebugdoc! We do cherish the home AND the cars!

The Ambassador was bought 5 months after I got my Licence. Can you imagine my thrilllllll ? Was sad to see the Delight go though :(