[R2D2]

Such a beautifully kept car. Congrats! My 1.6 is nowhere close to this condition.

[sidindica]

A functional mod. Tilt steering in Palio, probably the first in the country in hatchback.





Fiat gave nifty features in Siena Maestro, Palio Adventure Sport BS-3 and Petra ELX, one of which was tilt adjust steering column. Asked my mechanic to source one for me from any source possible and after waiting for 5-6 months, the part arrived yesterday. Was a bolt on Fit in Palio, and the up down adjustment range is 1.5 inches. Long journeys will just be more comfortable and ergonomically better. But then, this is real comfort, to the max.

[sidindica]

I am giving the car a whole new identity. Will reveal the details soon.

[sidindica]

Given her a bit of a makeover. The car has crossed 31,000 kms now.

• Custom Paint-Scuderia Red
• Front bumper colour code identical to Turkish model "sporting"
• 6J X 15 98 PCD momo revenge alloys painted Championship white wrapped in Yokohama S drive 195/55 R15 tyres
• S10 (Sporting) skirts and spoiler
  All work done at Autopsyche.

[Slick!]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Given her a bit of a makeover. The car has crossed 31,000 kms now.

Hey mate, just wondering where you managed to source the S10 skirts? I am looking for a whole bunch of cosmetic parts for my S10. Would really appreciate it if you could hook me up with your supplier. Thanks

[sidindica]

Update: 13 years and 36,000 kms

I am driving this car on frequent basis and also did few long trips owing to its amazing torque spread and higher ground clearence. Services are done at every 7,500 kms and its last service was done at 35,000 kms with motul 8100 Xcess engine oil, oil filter, AC filter, petrol filter and air filter change with a set of original champion lancia dual electrode spark plugs. Parts are sourced from FASS or Kashmiri gate by my mechanic and am managing it at a FNG in Dwarka, Delhi.
Steering rack developed an issue due to age so got that replaced as well with new oil. And few touch ups on the wheels and front bumper.

Absolutely love the way it drives even today, and it goes like what a brand new palio should. No NA petrol car has appealed to me as this. The 15 year rule in Delhi continues to loom around, it still has 2+ years of legal life left, still trying to figure out on how to go about it.

Latest pics taken just few days back.


Front bumper is now full body coloured.


Areas around engine bay clear coated and detailed.










A coat of GTechniq to keep the exteriors young as ever.




Alloy rims now get proper shade of "Honda type R championship white" with pearl tinters. The "Sporting" badge is from Fiat Italy (OE spare part) since a variant with the same look (skirts) was sold with the 1.6 engine in Turkey.


One of the best engines our country has ever seen in a hatchback.

[boniver]

I've lost count of the number of times I've read this thread from start to finish. That's a beautiful car you've got there, and kudos to you for maintaining it so well. If I'm asked to name one car that I've loved seeing on our roads, it has to be the Palio. Never seen a GTX or S10 in flesh, but threads like yours make my dream come true.

Hopefully, in 2 years the Govt. and NGT will scrap (pun intended) their stupid rules and evaluate cars on the basis of their condition. Even if you do manage to sell the car out of state, I don't think most people will spend a lot of money on the upkeep of such an old car.

Once again, I absolutely LOVE your car, and I look forward to your updates.

Regards.

[boniver]

Here's a video of sidindica's GTX. Found it on another forum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9GeHD51klk

[sidindica]

Now in its 14th year of legal obsolescence and 43,279 kms



Its a wild weird wizardly wickedly weather out here. Like freeeeeezing bone chilling cold. 11 degrees maximum.
Calm and quiet wintery day. Get along to the best weather to rev the engines hard and listen to the aural tone of the united liberation front of pistons, con rods and cams.



The red falcon is a unique creature. Loved the fact that it is now one of a kind. It is an extinct specie. And no one even remembers what this thing was.
It had a hoopla 18 years ago.
No. Nobody remembers it.
For the benchmark it was. For the forgotten times the sin was committed by the bad management of the parent company.



I like the fact that she gets better every passing day. Cars get old and old fashioned and old fashioned cars get old and again old fashioned world is forgotten.



Are we still a part of a relevant world of "they don't make them like they used to clan"?
Yes.
Its the daydreaming of a sad reality. Mind boggling minds of google keep on googling "what if?"



Start with the imagination of design. The days of low slung, straight line, aerodynamic, ergonomically sound designs are gone. You have weird cakeboxes, lifted pretentious double story buildings on wheels, overdose of out of imagination creases and for the sake of filling hard curves. Take this out today and be amazed with the simplicity it offered 18 years ago.









The antiquities inside are ergonomically sound. They make you active and exercise. Nothing is touch, nothing is automated, everything is plain old school manual. And a perfect interpretation of an artistic sketch of poignant function. Alien creatures, zombies that rule the designs today are all but forgotten. What "if" we talk after 24 years of the 24 hours from now?





The lost count of restrictions.
Tax.
Environment.
Government.
Emission.
Downsizing.
Lightweight.
And more lightweight.
And more repulsion of the word"light<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>weight".
There are no weights.
There are no big engines.
There are no 4 cylinders.
There are no 7400 rpm screamers. That's when the empty stretch alloys you to unleash all its one hundred horses revving away to 7400 revs of gloriously crude sonorous harmony belted out from the torque motor eschewed by Borla. Now, enhanced with a timing advancement tune by wolf moto performance.



No nonsense of zero feel all tension no self centering EPS. Old school fluid controlled HPS was the norm of agile precision. The curves of the body. The curves of the soul. The curves of the engine. The curves of the steering. The world is a curve. Reimagine the imaginations of the curved senses of an engineer's minds.



The colour coordination of the outsides and insides. The golden globe of automobile design and synchronization. Italy, this was them at their finest.



I always lament at the fact that the parent exists.
But they treat you like a stepchild.
The hospitals exist.
But they treat you like an alien insect.
But that's when the manager in you plays the role of a one man family.
To keep her running, till you can, forever, and ever, and ever......
I am driving her almost daily. But then the endangered specie from the same parent, my other black car, pings me from behind and questions for preferential treatment.
You are like a spoilt dad, a father of two spoilt brats. But then, when the spoilt brats are thrilling, do you care?



Of course not.



A friend did tell me one fine day.
"My cars are like my girlfriends I always love. But when you get addicted to them, they are an expensive attachment I cannot get rid of."

[Air Cav]

Such a heartfelt narrative you have penned (or rather keyboarded) Sidindica. I was posted in Delhi 2 years back. Pity I never came across ur thread then . Would have loved to call on you for a tete a tete with the Bella Italia and your sheer passion for her. But alas its a lost opportunity as I have moved out of Delhi. Being in the Army doesn't give me the continuity of belonging to one place for long. I am a FIAT guy myself right from my childhood days. (My dad had a FIAT 1100 when I was very very young followed by a Std Herald in the for a short while followed by a pristine white PAL Padmini commonly known as the 'FIAT'. So I grew up with FIAT. I still remember the regn no BHX 362. In fact 25 years ago I learnt to drive in that FIAT before he sold it off in 1999 for a Jellybean Zen.A decade back i tried to trace it in Ranchi with a view of possesing it again but didnt get lucky).

When I bought my first car in 2006 in Bangalore I tried everything to get my hands onto a used 1.6 GTX. It always remained elusively out of budget then and since I had just got married and needed a car urgently I settled for a used Ikon 1.6. But the GTX and FIAT always remained as a case of unrequited love. Later time, space and money permitting I bought the Linea Tjet and the Abarth Punto and also my brothers Avventura when he wanted to sell it a few months back and have kept them close to my heart ever since. I had to let go of the Ikon last year. It was 18 years old and it being Bangalore registered and me being all over the map I couldn't renew the regn. I can understand ur pain as the 15 year axe approaches. Me and my wife (she had been driving the car since 2014 when I bought the Tjet) were really blue that the car would have to be scrapped (we have such evergreen memories of young days and driving all around the country in it) but then one of my military drivers who was from Bangalore approached me and implored me to give him the car as it was in as he called "showroom" condition (he had played a part in maintaining my stable) and promised to get it re registered there in his name. It was such a relief that the car would remain a car and not reduce to a heap of metal, not from my hands at least, that I gave him the car for free but with the promise that he will register it and run it for as long as he can. I am happy to say he has done that and seems to have fallen in love with it too while I continue on my FIAT journey.

[Air Cav]

My Old Gal - the 18 year old Ikon 1.6. This is shot last year a day before she parted. I have a Chevvy Beat too but I gifted it to my Dad as his Zen was really old. The FIATs rule the stable now... the Tjet, the Abarth and the Avvy. Sometimes I am really tempted to try and dig out a old GTX or S10 to make up for the missed opportunity of the past and complete the FIAT circle but good ones are hard to come by close at hand. If you ever plan to part ways with the Red Falcon for the 15 year embargo in Delhi do let me know. I may end up convincing myself to keep her for keeps along with my Abarth.

[sidindica]

Update: 14 years, 49,000 kms.



Nothing much to report, I got it serviced at 45,000 kms from my mechanic and using all the original oil (Petronas Vision 15W40 Mineral) and filters and spark plugs (sourced from landmark). This is the last of the kind old school obsolete hatchback which has wiped off the radar of many enthusiasts here, but even today I see heads being turned on its uniqueness. Its now not about 0-100 anymore but the thrill you get from going from 0-eternity with the symphony of the 1,6 torque and the borla ProXS. Its not about having digital features but about enjoying the pure old fashioned analogue world, the times when connected to emotions feeling was pertinent. The pin sharp steering remains a delight and so does the stability, and the thrill of heal and toe, though its roots dating back to 1996 cannot be betrayed. Modern cars are for sure becoming much safer, but then you have some charm of driving cars from the forgotten era like this.



This month the car completes 14 years and is left with one year before its legally obsolete in the eyes of the NGT, but I do have some plans to secure its future.



Signing off with few pics.











And this video of my car in full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehclM9q_D88

[pranjal1984]

It is a very nicely maintained Palio and to top it , you have penned an extremely detailed and emotional narrative. It feels as if the car is an inseparable member of your family.

We also had one Maruti 800EX 5+1 Euro 2 car which was purchased in 2000. The car served us well and gave us some truly cherished memories.We finally sold it in 2019 to one of our neighbours after ownership experience of 19 years and 38000 kms.

[shabeermohamed]

Yup. My first car in Bangalore. The only one, other than my recent GT TSi, that I enjoy being behind the wheel. Solidly built, free revving, no-nonsense car. The confidence it gives behind the wheel is awesome. The only draw backs were i
A. t's horrible turning radius and the niggling mechanical problems.
B. It also started overheating frequently and needed a coolant refill every fortnight after 75000 kms.
But I still miss it.

[kunalsingh]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Update: 14 years, 49,000 kms.

Attachment 2065307

Dearest sidindica, thank you for sharing such a lovely writeup of your loved companion "Red Falcon". This thread has been a source of motivation for me while I was restoring "Hondu", my 11+ year old Honda City.

I had a question for you as your car is nearing 15 years and with the dreaded car ban in Delhi NCR, what have you decided to do with Red Falcon? Will you be getting an NOC and re-registering it in a different place or have you decided to sell it close to the date? (not asking about scrapping it as it would shatter my heart to see such a lovely car go to waste)

I will be in a similar situation (sooner than later) and would like to know what would be the best course of action to take. I love my Hondu and would like to keep it with me for as long as I can.


Sharing a picture of my car for you :