For about the last 6 months I have been working on a 600. Title says its a 1959 however stuff on the car says it could be as old as a 1957. Does not really matter on the year as very little is original now. I had body work done by an employee of my now closed business. He is not a body guy and the standard I asked for is looks good from 50 feet. He nailed it however it still needs a lot of body work which I will do one small part at a time. It is now a cream brown. Had I paid closer attention during the body work I more than likely would have built it as a race car as it has had lots of body work and Bondo, most likely when it was near new as it has been rolled and patched together. I built it to tour in.
About 15 years ago I was driving a 600 daily. One of my employees loved the car so I found her one sitting in a field in Idaho for $250. My wife and her took the company flatbed truck for a 3 day round trip and picked up the car. I got it running with the stock 633cc engine and transmission (drive train is for sale). She stripped the car to a rolling body shell and started a restoration. She did not get far before developing disabling arthritis and gave the car to my wife.
About 20 years ago I saw and add on craigslist for fiat parts in Portland Oregon (we are in the Seattle area) The seller was not really sure of what all he had nor what he wanted for the parts. He was moving and did not want to move the parts. We agreed on a price sight unseen. He would not know what he really had until we were loading the parts, nor would I know what I was getting. Turns out he had done several restorations on Abarths and at least one Multipla, as well as a few other cars. Worked out well for both of us. Still have some of the stuff.
I was doing nothing with the car until I retired and still was not sure what I was going to do with it until I found another craigslist add for an unknown 1050cc engine. All he knew was it came out of a 600 that went off the road backwards breaking the distributor. He intended to reverse the rotation and run it in an 850. I gave him $2700 and rear swing arms with disk brakes out of an 1000cc Abarth of some sort. Checking the numbers stamped on the block the engine is out of an Abarth A112. I pulled the pan and valve cover and found that both had been coated internally with a reddish paint or epoxy and that the engine more than likely had not been ran even long enough for its first oil change since a total rebuild. Anyone have any possible history on this engine?
The build so far. Abarth A112 engine. Transmission out of an 600D based Abarth with an 8/39 Abarth ring and pinion. I converted to a 5 speed. Rear swing arms, drum brakes and spindles from a 600D so I also had to convert the parking brake mechanism to work on the rear brakes rather than the transmission brake. Disk brake on the front. Converted the brakes to a dual circuit system. Heater core mounted in the trunk with 4 air hoses coming out. Two feed the defrost and two the floor heat. Center tunnel blocked of for air flow and two cup holders mounted in it. For instruments I build a custom housing and are running an 850 speedometer and tachometer. I also built a center consul with switch gear for the heated seat, and a few other switches as well as a 2DIN stereo with back up camera and a shelf. These fabricated parts my wife sewed up and I installed red upholstery to match the rest of the cars new interior. I added 3 point seat belts and built a trailer hitch as we will be touring towing a small tent trailer designed for towing behind a motorcycle. All that is left to do before we start driving it is an alignment which will have to wait couple of months due to surgery next week. While recovering from surgery I intend to figure out how to post photos. With exchange rates being good most parts were ordered from classic performance parts who was very helpful but very slow. I would not have done the 5-speed conversion had I had to pay US pricing on it. A few parts were purchased from Mr Fiat who I use as a last resort as the quality is not allways the best. And parts that I need to know are right the first time from someone who knows what he is doing are from Chriss at Fiat Plus however his prices are significantly higher on most items. He needs to stay in business as such I have no problem buying from Chriss if he is at least in the ball park price wise or, like switch gear I am more interested in quality then price.
About 15 years ago I was driving a 600 daily. One of my employees loved the car so I found her one sitting in a field in Idaho for $250. My wife and her took the company flatbed truck for a 3 day round trip and picked up the car. I got it running with the stock 633cc engine and transmission (drive train is for sale). She stripped the car to a rolling body shell and started a restoration. She did not get far before developing disabling arthritis and gave the car to my wife.
About 20 years ago I saw and add on craigslist for fiat parts in Portland Oregon (we are in the Seattle area) The seller was not really sure of what all he had nor what he wanted for the parts. He was moving and did not want to move the parts. We agreed on a price sight unseen. He would not know what he really had until we were loading the parts, nor would I know what I was getting. Turns out he had done several restorations on Abarths and at least one Multipla, as well as a few other cars. Worked out well for both of us. Still have some of the stuff.
I was doing nothing with the car until I retired and still was not sure what I was going to do with it until I found another craigslist add for an unknown 1050cc engine. All he knew was it came out of a 600 that went off the road backwards breaking the distributor. He intended to reverse the rotation and run it in an 850. I gave him $2700 and rear swing arms with disk brakes out of an 1000cc Abarth of some sort. Checking the numbers stamped on the block the engine is out of an Abarth A112. I pulled the pan and valve cover and found that both had been coated internally with a reddish paint or epoxy and that the engine more than likely had not been ran even long enough for its first oil change since a total rebuild. Anyone have any possible history on this engine?
The build so far. Abarth A112 engine. Transmission out of an 600D based Abarth with an 8/39 Abarth ring and pinion. I converted to a 5 speed. Rear swing arms, drum brakes and spindles from a 600D so I also had to convert the parking brake mechanism to work on the rear brakes rather than the transmission brake. Disk brake on the front. Converted the brakes to a dual circuit system. Heater core mounted in the trunk with 4 air hoses coming out. Two feed the defrost and two the floor heat. Center tunnel blocked of for air flow and two cup holders mounted in it. For instruments I build a custom housing and are running an 850 speedometer and tachometer. I also built a center consul with switch gear for the heated seat, and a few other switches as well as a 2DIN stereo with back up camera and a shelf. These fabricated parts my wife sewed up and I installed red upholstery to match the rest of the cars new interior. I added 3 point seat belts and built a trailer hitch as we will be touring towing a small tent trailer designed for towing behind a motorcycle. All that is left to do before we start driving it is an alignment which will have to wait couple of months due to surgery next week. While recovering from surgery I intend to figure out how to post photos. With exchange rates being good most parts were ordered from classic performance parts who was very helpful but very slow. I would not have done the 5-speed conversion had I had to pay US pricing on it. A few parts were purchased from Mr Fiat who I use as a last resort as the quality is not allways the best. And parts that I need to know are right the first time from someone who knows what he is doing are from Chriss at Fiat Plus however his prices are significantly higher on most items. He needs to stay in business as such I have no problem buying from Chriss if he is at least in the ball park price wise or, like switch gear I am more interested in quality then price.
