Team-BHP - Pilots & his 1950 Mouse Restoration

Very unusual thread name , so is this restoration story. Very unusual.

Met this over-enthusiastic guy, i dont remember how we both met, but mostly during the Beetle Club meets.

Though he owns some exotic and rare bikes, he had this boyish eagerness in his eyes to own a classic car someday soon.

He always used to take my advice on buying a VW Beetle, no good car came by and a search for a good Super Beetle is still ON.

He realised his first dream after he brought his first favourite car , The 1990 Premier Padmini 118 NE, i am honoured that i was instrumental during this purchase.

Conversations continued and i popped up a question " Why a 118NE" Due to sentimental reasons, he wanted to buy one, and then he revealed all the cars his dad used to drive those old years ago when he was a kid. And the 118NE was one of them.

Why is the 118NE so much in news on this thread.....?????

Sorry, let me introduce my friend to all you guys.

Airbusdriver aka Jeevan Joy, a Pilot at Kingfisher and an avid Automobile enthusiast. Has a very keen eye for good automobile. And now you guys must have understood how our friendship grew.:D

One weekend when he called me he said, look i need to tell you something." My dad owned a Bug Fiat (Topolino) he used to drive it very much" Although he faintly remembered being driven around in that car, he was determined to get hold of one.

One ad about a Bug for sale at Hyderabad was worrying him since couple of days, i instantly located a car for him. Again a good friend of mine a Doctor at Hyderabad owned one car, although not very original but a good car. I send him some pictures of the car and he decides to take me along to Hyderabad to complete the formalities.

The car was purchased along with another spare car at a slightly high price. But we knew all this was worth the effort.

So comes the 1950 Fiat Topolino to Namma Bengaluru.clap:

Contd.........

Quote:

Originally Posted by FiatMyLife (Post 1914766)

Finally you started the thread! I have personally seen the car and its very good. Hope to see this 500 in future Fiat Club meets.

Sure, we are on track to finish it soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by samsag12 (Post 1914985)

Pavan sir you mistyped the car model as 1990 Premier Padmini 118 NE it should be Premier 118NE. BTW looking forward to the pics of the acquired car and its donor counterpart.

Sorry, only till recently i was an alien to Fiat Land, but with the FCB around the corner, you dont need much time to get accustomed to :D

This is a complete ground up restoration and Mr Pilot is leaving no stone unturned and pushing me to the limits to get the best out of me. I am happy to see someone give so much of interests on a rare vintage.

We've been running pillar to post to get the required NOS parts for this car, and our search all across the country turned futile as there are no parts available in this country. Moreover there are very handful of Bone stock Bug Fiats around the country. Maybe 5-6 of them and out of which only 4 might be bone stock.

Bangalore has 2 of them, but both running on Maruti engines:Frustrati

The idea is to convert this car to Concurs condition, 100% ORIGINAL is the goal. I am sure, we shall achieve this.

Need all the inputs you guys can give.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM (Post 1915017)

Sure, we are on track to finish it soon.

Sorry, only till recently i was an alien to Fiat Land, but with the FCB around the corner, you dont need much time to get accustomed to :D

This is a complete ground up restoration and Mr Pilot is leaving no stone unturned and pushing me to the limits to get the best out of me. I am happy to see someone give so much of interests on a rare vintage.

We've been running pillar to post to get the required NOS parts for this car, and our search all across the country turned futile as there are no parts available in this country. Moreover there are very handful of Bone stock Bug Fiats around the country. Maybe 5-6 of them and out of which only 4 might be bone stock.

Bangalore has 2 of them, but both running on Maruti engines:Frustrati

The idea is to convert this car to Concurs condition, 100% ORIGINAL is the goal. I am sure, we shall achieve this.

Need all the inputs you guys can give.

Nice that you started the thread. What all parts do you need, we can get for US or UK, I did found quite a few items in ebay UK.

A good website for the 500 is The Classic Fiat 500

hope it is useful to you.

And if there is some thing which we can digitise and make by reverse engineering I will help you out.

I have some pictures to help you out, wil post after lunch.

The red car is a Fiat 500?!? wonder where the panoramic roof came from. Anyway, all the very best with the restoration. Lot of time and hard work required to get that thing to Concours shape. I am sure you will be able to do it!

Also, Pavan, I would love to come help out with the restoration although I have never restored a car before. Have always wanted to. Please let me know if I can join you on the weekends and lear a thing or two (when I am not travelling). :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarmarishi (Post 1915357)

The red car is a Fiat 500?!? That looks more like a Morris from the front. wonder what the panoramic roof is all about. Anyway, all the very best with the restoration. Lot of time and hard work required to get that thing to look like a Fiat 500 again. I am sure you will be able to do it!

The car already looks lile a FIAT 500 C (the model is 500 "C" in inverted comma). It is the bits and pieces like trims, small small parts that are to be bought to bring her to 100% originality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarmarishi (Post 1915385)

Yup realised after looking up the 500 "C" on the web. Hence changed my post :)

You are welcome buddy, any weekend suits me :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by manishalive (Post 1915369)

The car already looks lile a FIAT 500 C (the model is 500 "C" in inverted comma). It is the bits and pieces like trims, small small parts that are to be bought to bring her to 100% originality.

Whoa... Your pics will help me a lotclap: Thank you very much.

Very much detailed pics put by you. Thanks once again, I hope you can visit the workshop to see the car personally sometime.

While the Red car is the actual car under restoration, though it looks clean in the pics, those were taken 2 years ago, presently due to negelect, lots have changed. the car is a heap of metal paste.

Will post some pics of the car when it came here and also the spare donor car pics.

The donor car is more original than the one getting restored lol....

Pilots & his 1950 Mouse Restoration - Fiat Topolino Delivered-img_2157.jpg

Pilots & his 1950 Mouse Restoration - Fiat Topolino Delivered-img_2158.jpg

Pilots & his 1950 Mouse Restoration - Fiat Topolino Delivered-img_2159.jpg

The guy also had another half-restored car covered in red oxide primer. He said it belonged to the erstwhile Hyd. Nizam's sister first! 'wonder what happened to it. He was selling both the cars together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanher (Post 1915696)

Aah, pavan! ChannAgidhire! Nice to see a thread on the little mouse at last!

Incidentally, here is what I'm sure is the same donor car when it was with it's previous owner, a mechanic at Secunderabad, a couple of years ago.

I presume the rims from this car have been fitted to the red car.

Attachment 359845

Attachment 359846

Attachment 359847

The guy also had another half-restored car covered in red oxide primer. He said it belonged to the erstwhile Hyd. Nizam's sister first! 'wonder what happened to it. He was selling both the cars together.

It is very much the same car Shyam:)

What is surprising is, the Donor car is much much more original than the car getting restoredlol:

End of the day, both cars will get restored.

We are using lots of parts from the donor car, and certainly this purchase has done lot good to us in continuing our restoration.

Will update tomorrow on the next set of WIP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM (Post 1915707)

It is very much the same car Shyam:)

What is surprising is, the Donor car is much much more original than the car getting restoredlol:

End of the day, both cars will get restored.

agree: I remember the guy telling me he was not given the RC of the car by the previous owner, so he decided to use it as a parts donor eventually. It didnt seem to have an engine even then.

I too reckon it can be restored. But then, how and why do you intend to do it if the car didnt come even to you with the papers?

Also do you know what happened to the other car (which I understand is not this red car?)

Looking forward to seeing more on the mouse here, and yet another adventurous restoration of yours! :thumbs up