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Old 10th January 2010, 15:52   #1
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My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!

Here are the pictures of my 1956 Fiat Millecento before restoration. This is a classic example
of a enthusiast (read first time collector) buying a vinage car.Actually this is the first
car which I had seen when I decided to start collecting vintage/classic cars in mid 2008. Since the seller later changed his mind
because he wanted to restore the car himself I picked up a Hindustan 14 first.A couple of months later I bought this
car when he decided to sell it again at the price I asked for.So here are the pictues before restoration.

Is this a Super Select??
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc00688-large.jpg

Or is this a Elegant??
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc00698-large.jpg

No this is a Millecento!
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dscn1788-large.jpg

Now after a really really long time (18 months) the car was finally ready yesterday. Yes the car is no where near orginality but
has been a very good learning experience. Actually this was the car which introduced me to this amazing forum. I bumped into
Tbhp when I was searching the net for info on Millecentos.At many instances I regretted picking up such a bad car but the desire
to restore it pushed myself and my brother in looking around for all the hard to find spares in Chennai, Bangalore and even Mumbai.
Moreover the delay was not because of the spares but by my painter who worked on this car only when he had no other car
in his garage which actually helped us.Now for the pictures after restoration.

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03633-large.jpg
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03635-large.jpg
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03637-large.jpg
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03640-large.jpg
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03701-large.jpg
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03708-large.jpg
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Old 10th January 2010, 18:03   #2
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Congratulations Jai !!

The car is looking beautiful, lovely paint job and a neat shade too !
You seem to have got most of the original bits in place.

Does she have tinted glasses ? Try to get clear glasses, they'll work wonders to enhance her looks even further. So will whitewall tyres .

Can you share some interior photos too ? There seems to be an interesting monogram on the left of the dashboard, can you please post a photo of that ?

All in all, a great car and I'm glad you had a great time doing her up. How does she run ? Here's wishing you many many miles of classic Fiatful motoring, buddy !

Off topic - is that your Hindusthan adjacent - Pics please !

Last edited by SuperSelect : 10th January 2010 at 18:04.
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Old 10th January 2010, 18:48   #3
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Beautiful !! Nice to see the original wheelcaps in place. Please post some interior photographs for us to appreciate your car even more !

Regards,
Adheesh Parelkar
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Old 10th January 2010, 19:41   #4
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Congratulation Jai.....very nice color combo

cheers
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Old 10th January 2010, 19:42   #5
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hi jai good colour combination and very well restored do post some interior and rear pics congrats
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Old 10th January 2010, 20:43   #6
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Beautifully done Jai.The restoration work was excellent. Do tell us about your experiences about getting the original ornamentation and about the restoration job. Must have been a great effort. The black one had the Ambassador Mark4 number plate lights too.
Also the Hindustan 14 parked alongside looks fine. Do tell us about it with pictures.

Last edited by anjan_c2007 : 10th January 2010 at 20:44.
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Old 10th January 2010, 21:09   #7
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Hey congratz! and a great job at bringing her back to shape. More snaps of interiors and engine bay would be nice.

ps: Please remove the sun film!
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Old 10th January 2010, 21:19   #8
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Great work buddy. I particularly loved the colour. White walls with this colour would have been a killer. I notice that you have the elusive "Millicento" plate on the dash. Did it come embossed or was it a mounted script like yours. Anyways, this is a good idea.

I also see you have managed the rear Anda lights as they are called. Great. Now post some inside pics too.
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Old 10th January 2010, 21:27   #9
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hai jai can u tell me whats the paint & WHATS THE SHADE CALLED REMOVE THE SUN FILM PUT WHITEWALL and the standard penant is CAC REGISTERED
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Old 10th January 2010, 22:25   #10
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First thank you all for the appreciation. The paint used was Dupont polyurethane. The cream colour on the top is actually the Ford Ikons Diamond white and the blue was selected from the Duponts Fiat shade card. There was no mention of the year or model to which it belonged to.I will post the exact shade nos of these colours later.
Regarding the rear glasses they are not sun film but the dark tinted glasses which were popular then. Iam actually looking for the green tints if not will settle for the plain ones.
Here are the pictues of the interiors.

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03703-large.jpg

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03704-large.jpg

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03706-large.jpg

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03712-large.jpg

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03644-large.jpg

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03645-large.jpg
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Old 10th January 2010, 22:52   #11
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OMG!!! Whatta restoration work done!

It looks like a Millecento bought in '54 and kept in a garage neatly packed, and drove out in 2010.! Congrats Jai.!!!!!
Attached Thumbnails
My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03635-large.jpg  


Last edited by arun1100 : 10th January 2010 at 22:56.
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Old 10th January 2010, 23:43   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jai3033 View Post
Here are the pictures of my 1956 Fiat Millecento before restoration.
Now after a really really long time (18 months) the car was finally ready yesterday. Yes the car is no where near orginality but
has been a very good learning experience. Actually this was the car which introduced me to this amazing forum. I bumped into
Tbhp when I was searching the net for info on Millecentos.At many instances I regretted picking up such a bad car but the desire
to restore it pushed myself and my brother in looking around for all the hard to find spares in Chennai, Bangalore and even Mumbai.
Moreover the delay was not because of the spares but by my painter who worked on this car only when he had no other car
in his garage which actually helped us.Now for the pictures after restoration.
Wow, jai! Semma vandi!!

I can't believe the transformation of the car from what to what! You have managed to get more or less all the original parts for it! So what if it isn't perfect! There are similar model cars that are far worse! Keep it up!

Now for your Herald to turn out the same way....which she sure will- main hoon na!

Quote:
Originally Posted by imperial.s.a View Post
hai jai can u tell me whats the paint & WHATS THE SHADE CALLED REMOVE THE SUN FILM PUT WHITEWALL and the standard penant is CAC REGISTERED
The Pennant is his too. The best example I know of in the whole country! It is said to have been originally MSX registered.
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Old 11th January 2010, 14:42   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSelect View Post
There seems to be an interesting monogram on the left of the dashboard, can you please post a photo of that ?
Heres the picture of the Millecento monogram.

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-dsc03646-large.jpg

Actually the monogram looks like this. But since it was painted earlier I did not want to scrape it and do some further damage.

My 1956 Fiat Millecento - A learning experience!-fiat04go2.jpg
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Old 11th January 2010, 19:03   #14
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Wow !!! What a transformation !!!!! I remember our family had a Millicento just like yours, but in light blue (BYB 1490) The starter was a mechanical pull knob. How many of you know that the 1956 Elegant was followed briefly by another model called Millicento, which eventually became the 1100 in 1961 until the present body was introdued in 1964-1965 ? We had one, dark grey WBE 2161. It was bought in Calcutta in 1959, and that same year, my father & uncle actually drove it down from Calcutta to Ahmedabad, where it remained until it was replaced by a 1962 light blue 1100 (GJD 7176) !!! This 1959 Millicento too had a pulling starter, but the 1962 1100 had a key starter, that was the only difference I can recall. Millicento actually means "Mille" (1000) & "Cento" (100) in Italian, which = 1100 !!
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Old 11th January 2010, 19:19   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shramik View Post
Wow !!! What a transformation !!!!! I remember our family had a Millicento just like yours, but in light blue (BYB 1490) The starter was a mechanical pull knob. How many of you know that the 1956 Elegant was followed briefly by another model called Millicento, which eventually became the 1100 in 1961 until the present body was introdued in 1964-1965 ? We had one, dark grey WBE 2161. It was bought in Calcutta in 1959, and that same year, my father & uncle actually drove it down from Calcutta to Ahmedabad, where it remained until it was replaced by a 1962 light blue 1100 (GJD 7176) !!! This 1959 Millicento too had a pulling starter, but the 1962 1100 had a key starter, that was the only difference I can recall. Millicento actually means "Mille" (1000) & "Cento" (100) in Italian, which = 1100 !!
As you said Millecento means Eleven Hundred.

Few corrections to what you have said:
First came the Fiat 1100 Mllecento, then in 1956 came the Fiat 1100 Elegant.

1959 came the Fiat 1100 Select and in 1962 came the Fiat 1100 Super Select.

1965 to 1972 came the Fiat 1100 Delight(Same shape as Padmini).

For little over a year came the Premier President in 1973.

Then came the Premier Padmini in 1975 till 1997.

All the cars till Delight were Fiat 1100 Series cars.

This is what I have learnt from Fiat Gurus in Team Bhp.

Last edited by arun1100 : 11th January 2010 at 19:22.
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