1962 Fiat 1100 Deluxe - Restoration I purchased this car almost three years ago and had Sanjay Ghosh do a 80% restoration as I wanted to use it as my daily driver while visiting Calcutta every winter, home being Toronto. The problem with Concours Restorations is they seldom see the light of day and the Italian Fiats had the right look, size for the mad streets of Calcutta, was repairable and equally important affordable to buy, restore and maintain.
I purchased the car from P. K. Choudhury, a fellow collector/restorer, who had purchased it from the original owner the Bengali Movie Star Pranati Das with a WBF-1 plate and a Deluxe trim kit that included the chrome side moldings and a one piece grill. He had purchased the car for to do up for his daughter-in-law but with her consent sold it to me.
The interior was very much Indian and in good shape with new vinyl . It showed about 46,000 miles on it and I haven't been able to determine if they are correct. The car was in good shape requiring little body work, so the milage might be correct. Mechanically I had the brake system redone, repaired the rad, new water pump, valve job and milled the head.
It took longer to have it finished off than I had expected and some areas could have had more attention to the detailing even though it was what I would consider a 85% Concours Restoration at a comparably reasonable cost.
At the end of the day the car looks great, drives well, still sorting out some of the mechanicals on it before I venture out of Calcutta for a weeks "Drive about". I've been doing a few things that I chosen not to originally such as changing out the door windows that were scratched, the difference and feel of the car was quite significant. Put a set of new MRF white walls on it, special order here in Calcutta and finally was given a set of original aluminum hub caps by a friend.
I've done a lot of research here and on the web and have only two photos of the Deluxe Model and a brochure. They seem to be very rare. I decided to restore it to the Italian model that shows a different interior with carpets. The new interior is currently vinyl and once I can confirm that the deluxe came in a cloth and the colors offered will have it redone as close to original specs as possible. The blue color is as close I could make it with out the paint specifications. It still is a work in progress which is Ok by me.
It has been a pleasure to drive and show! The attention and appreciation that it has received and then the amazement that a westerner is driving is always a delight. We see very few Fiats on the roads these days and I would say that 90% of them have disappeared in the last 3 years.
In the Baby blue color, deluxe trim and WBF-1 plates it's what we say back home "eye candy". Being the only one on the streets having been done up like this, I hope the few remaining owners of Fiats and other old cars will give a second thought before they sell them more likely to the scrap yard.
Lots more photos to come!
Last edited by john a milne : 28th February 2009 at 23:58.
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