We’ve decided to sell our little Fiat and treat ourselves to a modern
500 Abarth so as we can use it all year around rather than having to tuck her
up for the winter. It was purchased in Italy in 2000 in good running condition and was
driven back to the UK and used for about
5 years before being taken off the road for restoration. From memory this was the bodywork that was
either replaced or repaired : Nearside
front inner and outer wing, both inner/outer sills, repairs to floor/seat rails/cross
member as necessary, front inner wing reinforcement plates, jacking points,
Rear bumper mountings, repairs fabricated for underneath rear side windows,
front valance repair and lastly two complete new doors. She was then treated to a full professional
respray with red stripes added as per the early 500 Sport. Since then she’s been used in dry months only
so is still in very nice condition. At
the end of the day though she’s a 40 year old Fiat and is actually used (unlike
many) for runs to the shops, school runs, the odd commute, local classic shows
etc etc so will no doubt need tinkering with from time to time but won’t need any
bodywork attention for a long time. The
interior is pretty much standard L and in good condition with black vinyl and
red carpets. The only addition I’ve made
are the fitment of inertia reel seatbelts as I didn’t feel that comfortable
with the old fashioned ones, a period Karobes ‘Monte’ headrest and a 1960’s
road atlas for a bit of fun. The engine was upgraded to a 650 with synchro gearbox so it now bumbles
along quite nicely. The only changes I
made to the engine were the fitting of a performance (I use the term loosely)
exhaust and some Iridium plugs which do actually seem to make a difference. If I was being picky I’d say there’s
sometimes a bit of a ‘chatter’ from a loose cooling fan blade (a new one was
purchased but I never plucked up the enthusiasm to change it). The wheels were refurbished and new tyres
fitted. All sorts of minor bits and bobs
have been replaced as needed but I won’t detail these as I’ll be here forever. My long term plan was to convert it to an Abarth replica and I have for
sale by separate negotiation if required a complete fast road/race engine with
lightened flywheel/higher compression pistons/sporting camshaft/Panda
head/Weber DCOE40/Alquati manifold/Abarth sump/123 Electronic ignition/etc etc,
basically everything you could possibly want (if you could find it as some of
these parts are getting quite scarce) and an unused Abarth specification
lowered Suspension kit comprising, front spring, two rears and four shockers. I have the current V5c and the Mot/Tax both run until the end of next
May. Any RAC/AA/Personal inspection is very
welcome. When a sale is agreed I’d like
a £250 deposit and the balance in cash within 7 days please. Many thanks. |