[adheesh]

SuperSelect/adheesh - could you please tell me more about about the metal tail lights (I read that they were available from someplace called "Sweet Trade").

Sweet Trade is a Mumbai based company which still manufactures metal body taillamps for Fiat cars. However, the Presidents came with alluminium tailamps which are very difficult to find. More information regarding sweet trade manufactured parts for Fiats is available here :: Sweet Trade, India :: | :: Manufacturers of Automotive Lights and Accessories in India :: under the Padmini heading.

You may also PM our in house and one of the best Fiat 1100 series Car collector in India, Mr Rony Vesuna (President on this forum) for infinite information regarding Fiat body trims.

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[CrackedHead]

Thanks Adheesh, I do have the original aluminum tail lamps but they are broken into two (the car was rear ended by an Amby in the 90's) - took them to a place that does aluminum welding and he put them together but they look quite shoddy.

Is anyone here still running their cars on the Magneti Marell distributor ?

[President]

Originally Posted by CrackedHead

Thanks Adheesh, I do have the original aluminum tail lamps but they are broken into two (the car was rear ended by an Amby in the 90's) - took them to a place that does aluminum welding and he put them together but they look quite shoddy.

Is anyone here still running their cars on the Magneti Marell distributor ?

Yes, I have an original factory paint FIAT Select 1961 that still runs on Magneti Marelli set up, but by now I am getting quite frustrated as the original parts are unavailable easily and I am not able to get the right tune up done with local after market spares.

Hence, I am going to change the whole system to LUCAS (England) that I have the spares for.

[SuperSelect]

Hi CrackedHead, welcome to the forum. Aluminium tail lights are all but imposible to find now, except by a stroke of luck in chor bazaar. however, the white metal cast chrome plated ones are quite nice too. Sweet Trade's phone number is : (022) 2850 6955. They're quite helpful, and may guide you to a dealer near you, if any. As for the other stuff:
Grille - may find one, as a few taxies still sport this bit.
Side trims and President mono - impossible !
Will keep my eyes open for any of the above, good luck to you .

[adheesh]

Side trims and President mono - impossible !

Procuring the President monogram is difficult but not impossible. In the recent months, I have heard of atleast half a dozen President Taxis being broken down in Chorbaazar with somewhat original fittings. Indeed sad

Anyways President (Rony) has a dozen of them

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[kavesh55]

Originally Posted by adheesh

Procuring the President monogram is difficult but not impossible. In the recent months, I have heard of atleast half a dozen President Taxis being broken down in Chorbaazar with somewhat original fittings. Indeed sad

Anyways President (Rony) has a dozen of them

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

Dear Adheesh,
You must be knowing the pains I had to take to find the metal sticker for a 95 S1. Leave alone the president monogram. Its not impossible, but difficult. Most taxis did not have a president monogram, they do not have love lost for monograms.
Rony has a treasure trove of parts.
Kudos to Rony and his family members. I know what it takes storing trims and parts.

[adheesh]

Dear Adheesh,
You must be knowing the pains I had to take to find the metal sticker for a 95 S1. Leave alone the president monogram. Its not impossible, but difficult. Most taxis did not have a president monogram, they do not have love lost for monograms.
Rony has a treasure trove of parts.
Kudos to Rony and his family members. I know what it takes storing trims and parts.

Indeed. I would say that the S1 batches are equally difficult (even though much more recent) to procure for a simple reason that they were sticker type and would fall off easily. The earlier padmini/president/delight, etc batched were secured to the dickey by 8 screws. So unless the car was repainted or rear-ended, nobody actually took the pains to remove them.

Also, when we could find brand new "peti-packed" President wheel caps, why not the monograms ? Let the search continue !!!

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar

[CrackedHead]

Originally Posted by President

Yes, I have an original factory paint FIAT Select 1961 that still runs on Magneti Marelli set up, but by now I am getting quite frustrated as the original parts are unavailable easily and I am not able to get the right tune up done with local after market spares.

Hence, I am going to change the whole system to LUCAS (England) that I have the spares for.

If your problem with the Marelli distributor is limited to the contact breaker points then I can help. I'd figured out a way to make the CB points work reliably (because I eliminated the metal strip that serves as the spring).

I did find a set of gleaming peti-packed President wheel caps in my grandfather's attic. So - I currently have a couple of spares.

Finding a president monogram is the most important thing for me. I have enough parts to "complete" one car once I get the monogram.

Does anyone still make "Premier Padmini" monograms ? I wonder if they'd make some president monograms given a large enough order. I'm an optimist

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 15 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[President]

Originally Posted by CrackedHead

If your problem with the Marelli distributor is limited to the contact breaker points then I can help. I'd figured out a way to make the CB points work reliably (because I eliminated the metal strip that serves as the spring).

I did find a set of gleaming peti-packed President wheel caps in my grandfather's attic. So - I currently have a couple of spares.

Finding a president monogram is the most important thing for me. I have enough parts to "complete" one car once I get the monogram.

Does anyone still make "Premier Padmini" monograms ? I wonder if they'd make some president monograms given a large enough order. I'm an optimist

Yes, I think that the locally made CB point in Marelli distributor was all the cause for trouble in my car. But, off late, I have sourced the original Italian FACET ones which I have to install and test drive. But, do you mean to say that we should remove "the metal strip that serves as the spring" even on the Original FACET points, which may be the cause of the poor performance?

[CrackedHead]

Originally Posted by President

Yes, I think that the locally made CB point in Marelli distributor was all the cause for trouble in my car. But, off late, I have sourced the original Italian FACET ones which I have to install and test drive. But, do you mean to say that we should remove "the metal strip that serves as the spring" even on the Original FACET points, which may be the cause of the poor performance?

Sorry for not being clear. I was only referring to the locally made CB points.

I had no idea that the original Italian points were still available from somewhere! I have one original CB point in a green Magneti Marelli pack and I was hoarding it like its worth its weight in gold.

Back to the locally made CB point set - The car running this distributor is in Lucknow and the spring on the locally available CB point used to break within 10-15 days of daily use. So I did some thinking and devised DIY way to replace the spring with a piece vulcanized rubber (taken from a tyre carcass).

It allows you to run the car reliably on the local CB point set.

[wasif]

Originally Posted by President

Hence, I am going to change the whole system to LUCAS (England) that I have the spares for.

I would suggest instead of a LUCAS (England) setup try going for a Lucas TVS distributor that has the vacuum advance feature. You will also have to go in for a new Solex carb that supports the vacuum advance feature. I'm not sure from which year they were offered on the Padmini though.

My dad did this to our 63 Fiat and the result was better starting. acceleration and fuel consumption.

I would advise you to keep the original carb / distributer in storage.

A further refinement would be to go for an electronic CDI system for added reliability and better performance.

[President]

Originally Posted by wasif

I would suggest instead of a LUCAS (England) setup try going for a Lucas TVS distributor that has the vacuum advance feature. You will also have to go in for a new Solex carb that supports the vacuum advance feature. I'm not sure from which year they were offered on the Padmini though.

My dad did this to our 63 Fiat and the result was better starting. acceleration and fuel consumption.

I would advise you to keep the original carb / distributer in storage.

A further refinement would be to go for an electronic CDI system for added reliability and better performance.

Wasif, thanks for your concern and advice. I will keep this noted. However, I think the LUCAS England distributor/delco that I have may also have the vacuum/advance feature, but I am not sure. I have to check and then do the needful accordingly.

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Dear Rony - Cyrus Aga of Gold Seal came to meet me yesterday for some work. I mentioned your car and also about your need to get white door beading assemblies. He will check and revert. Hope for the best.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Rony - Cyrus Aga of Gold Seal came to meet me yesterday for some work. I mentioned your car and also about your need to get white door beading assemblies. He will check and revert. Hope for the best.

We too have been meaning to contact the Agas soon, white beadings are a must for any Delight/President. I need atleast 6 sets myself!

[CrackedHead]

Thanks for sharing this information Mr Behram. My cars also need two sets of door beading assemblies.

Are the beadings/assembly for the front quarter glass (the triangular pivoting glasses) available anywhere ? I need those as well.