[Cyberdoctorind]

Originally Posted by joshguy

We did have this fiat with us and it was our first car.

I remember My DAD restoring the front grill as it had the newer model grills in it.We got it done in broder thotam in chennai .The fog lights we bought and the two steel/aluminium horizontal bar in grill were made to order.

We painted it to the sky blue ,which i think you too are planning to.

All these were in 1985-87 i guess.

If am right the car was reregistered and the earlier number was MQS 9091

All the best for your restoration

Nice to know that you had a Fiat as a first car. The car that I believe you are talking about is an early 54-55 model millicento as per the description of the grill. You are right about my car being re-registered but the previous registration was from delhi (DLF) series. Any photographs of your car

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by Cyberdoctorind

You are right about my car being re-registered but the previous registration was from delhi (DLF) series. Any photographs of your car

Shiva, how did you get to know this btw? I thought when you got your car, it had the plastic card RC already? Is the full number known to you?

[Cyberdoctorind]

Finally my car has hit the road. Phew. My story with AAX 7503 should by itself a good pointer to what one should not be doing while taking up restoration. The car visiting almost every mechanic in Hyd, it sitting idle, me and my vacillation between retaining / selling / using / not using the car, dialogue with few prospective buyers, notice on T-Bhp Classifieds and finally the car is ready and my decision never to sell it . A teaser specially for Amol and Shyam, Ram who have been continuously trying to get an update on the status of the car and me unable to provide an update .. Sorry Guys .. I shall soon post pictures of the car along with my side of the story.

[the mole]

Wow finally we see something, i love the colour! Eagerly waiting to see some more pics

[Cyberdoctorind]

Originally Posted by the mole

Wow finally we see something, i love the colour! Eagerly waiting to see some more pics

Thanks Amol. The car is with the mechanic for brakes adjustment and tune-up. Meanwhile here are a couple of snaps taken at his workshop. There are still a few things that are supposed to be done on the car and I shall be getting them done one at a time as getting the car back home is my utmost priority. The denters here weren't able to successfully convert Bigger HL to a Smaller One, so without undoing what ever they have done, I have put in larger HL dome's for now. Once the car comes home, we shall discuss.

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by Cyberdoctorind

Thanks Amol. The car is with the mechanic for brakes adjustment and tune-up. Meanwhile here are a couple of snaps taken at his workshop. There are still a few things that are supposed to be done on the car and I shall be getting them done one at a time as getting the car back home is my utmost priority. The denters here weren't able to successfully convert Bigger HL to a Smaller One, so without undoing what ever they have done, I have put in larger HL dome's for now. Once the car comes home, we shall discuss.

Great Going Shiva,

Nice to see some updates. I thought you have sold off the car, but nice to see her again. Please put more pictures of her.

[Cyberdoctorind]

Originally Posted by manishalive

Great Going Shiva,

Nice to see some updates. I thought you have sold off the car, but nice to see her again. Please put more pictures of her.

Manish what's the status on your car? Looks like we would get an award for the longest running restoration of a Fiat. Well selling of the car was at some point pursued diligently but for some reason the car did not leave me I Now it will be with me. Btw I have lost all my contacts so can you please PM me your number.

[Stanher]

Good going shiva!
Glad you decided to retain the car finally, after you both underwent much trials and tribulations! Incidentally, I dont intend to sound too religious but IMHO it was inevitable that the car would stay with you as the elegant has the third "eye" (headlamp) in the center, which I believe was referred to as the 'Lord Shiva eye' back then! So not surprising that it remains with SHIVA!

Looking forward to seeing it with the original rims/tyres back on!

[Cyberdoctorind]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Good going shiva!
Glad you decided to retain the car finally, after you both underwent much trials and tribulations! Incidentally, I dont intend to sound too religious but IMHO it was inevitable that the car would stay with you as the elegant has the third "eye" (headlamp) in the center, which I believe was referred to as the 'Lord Shiva eye' back then! So not surprising that it remains with SHIVA!

Looking forward to seeing it with the original rims/tyres back on!

, that's a nice comparison shyam, elegant with it's third eye, this reason is more than enough to keep the car forever. The car will be on original rims and no turning back on this. I am scouting for the 5.20-14 tyres now. We shall get there eventually.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Cyberdoctorind

, that's a nice comparison shyam, elegant with it's third eye, this reason is more than enough to keep the car forever. The car will be on original rims and no turning back on this. I am scouting for the 5.20-14 tyres now. We shall get there eventually.

Hi Mr. Cyberdoctorind,

sorry to address you like this as I am not sure of your name. Anyway was going through your thread for the first time today. I did read it from page one through to the 13th. Only Realized the the gap between the 12th page & the 13th page was 3 yrs!! That is called dedication & perseverance. Realized the pain you took to get the headlight corrected from the bigger ones to the smaller ones. I Have gone through this myself, check out my thread " RESTORATION OF MDN 6494 - IN REMEMBRANCE OF MY FATHER ".

Finally I did get it corrected to the smaller ones, with the help and suggestions from fellow Team-BHP'ians like Prashanth, Mole, Manish, Sonu etc.

But the correction was painful, I had to redo the tinkering work on the headlights nearly 3 times. Twice I had to cut the whole metal sheet off and get the whole process to start from square one.

Being a doctor I had to do lot of home work on this as engineering and mechanical work was Greek & Latin to me. To start with I got the head light rings fabricated in aluminium through VMC. Even though I did not get them 100% correct, I got at least 95% correct, except for some irregular finish on the surface of the rings which was unavoidable as per the engineering lathe work guys. Then got the fenders converging onto the rings, initially the edges were to sloppy had to tap them up then had tap them down and so on!!

Even when i did not get it correct the 2nd time was wondering what to do, that was when my medical knowledge came of help to me. Remember when you break your bones we put a plaster of paris cast, i used the POP cast material to make a mould from mid way of the fenders to the edge of the headlight rings from one of my friends millecento here ( I thank him whole heartedly ) & gave it to my tinker to tap it according to the shape of the mould. so finally got to the present shape.

Even now i was told that the right side is slightly more rounded of than the left. Thinking of getting it corrected during the putty work before the final coat of painting takes place.

So getting this head light corrected is not an easy job. If you are lucky like Sonu to get hold of the fender piece from the scrap yard, you can just cut it out and place them there and tinker it. Other wise correcting the existing body is a time consuming and tedious job and also you need a old time tinker who patiently listens to what ever you say and do it with out any fuss.

I will post some pictures of the headlight restoration after compiling the pictures together as they all scattered around in various files.

take care & regards.

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Hi Mr. Cyberdoctorind,

sorry to address you like this as I am not sure of your name. Anyway was going through your thread for the first time today. I did read it from page one through to the 13th. Only Realized the the gap between the 12th page & the 13th page was 3 yrs!! That is called dedication & perseverance. Realized the pain you took to get the headlight corrected from the bigger ones to the smaller ones. I Have gone through this myself, check out my thread " RESTORATION OF MDN 6494 - IN REMEMBRANCE OF MY FATHER ".

Finally I did get it corrected to the smaller ones, with the help and suggestions from fellow Team-BHP'ians like Prashanth, Mole, Manish, Sonu etc.

But the correction was painful, I had to redo the tinkering work on the headlights nearly 3 times. Twice I had to cut the whole metal sheet off and get the whole process to start from square one.

Being a doctor I had to do lot of home work on this as engineering and mechanical work was Greek & Latin to me. To start with I got the head light rings fabricated in aluminium through VMC. Even though I did not get them 100% correct, I got at least 95% correct, except for some irregular finish on the surface of the rings which was unavoidable as per the engineering lathe work guys. Then got the fenders converging onto the rings, initially the edges were to sloppy had to tap them up then had tap them down and so on!!

Even when i did not get it correct the 2nd time was wondering what to do, that was when my medical knowledge came of help to me. Remember when you break your bones we put a plaster of paris cast, i used the POP cast material to make a mould from mid way of the fenders to the edge of the headlight rings from one of my friends millecento here ( I thank him whole heartedly ) & gave it to my tinker to tap it according to the shape of the mould. so finally got to the present shape.

Even now i was told that the right side is slightly more rounded of than the left. Thinking of getting it corrected during the putty work before the final coat of painting takes place.

So getting this head light corrected is not an easy job. If you are lucky like Sonu to get hold of the fender piece from the scrap yard, you can just cut it out and place them there and tinker it. Other wise correcting the existing body is a time consuming and tedious job and also you need a old time tinker who patiently listens to what ever you say and do it with out any fuss.

I will post some pictures of the headlight restoration after compiling the pictures together as they all scattered around in various files.

take care & regards.

Pictures of the headlight correction ..

[Drkannant]

Originally Posted by Drkannant

Pictures of the headlight correction ..

Some more pics of the headlight correction. Please feel free to pass on your comments and suggestions.

Thanks.

[Cyberdoctorind]

Dear Dr kannan, Thanks for stopping by and sharing the photographs of HL conversion, appreciate your gesture. I have been following your car's progress from the time you have started the thread.

In My case, it's been from Square one to Square one journey with respect to the HL conversion and a lot still is left to be desired with respect to the Tin work. One day somewhere else I shall get it corrected, I am sure the correction might not be attended to for the next one year as I want to have the car in my house instead of at a denter's place where it has been for the last 4 years. Now for the pictures. The last 2 pictures demonstrate the point from where I have started and where I have ended at present , Square 1 to Square 1

[Cyberdoctorind]

One more snap showing Smaller HL

[Stanher]

Some recent pics. of Shiva's "Lord Shiva" (Elegant). She's got a new set of original shoes as well (adding WW inserts would make them look even better!) so now the original rims are on! He is very thankful to the FCB guys and Amol besides other Fiatians who've helped/motivated him in his restoration.