1959 Fiat 600 Project

[FSTCS6]

Shuffling the garage around to squeeze this in;











Thinking of this look for it once completed, might have to upgrade the drivetrain though.....22hp makes me wonder if it has enough power to get out of its own way. Lol.

[bryanintowson]

I would see if you could find an Abarth engine for your 600. I know that they usually bolt right in with no modifications necessary.

[redred]

There is a complete, rebuilt Abarth 500 695cc engine for sale on eBay right now for $6,400

[FSTCS6]

We're still weighing up our options on this.....

Restoration, original look, original drivetrain
Restomod, original look, modern drivetrain
Full on modified, modern paint scheme, modern drivetrain, modern interior

We saw a few of the 1957 edition 500's yesterday at the dealer in Vegas, that may be a route we take with this, retro paint job, modern interior, modern drivetrain.

From what I can tell this should have a 4x98 bolt pattern so opens up lots of wheel options if we decide to upgrade the factory 12" steelies (especially if we upgrade the power and need an update the four drum brake system it has).

[ruben]

1959 Fiat 600 Project

Have a 1960 Fiat 600D project with tons of parts for Fiat 600s, 750s, 850s and Abarth. Not sure if it is worth it: a put back together; b restore; or, c part out. Any suggestions??

Kind Regards,
- Kahaluu22

[FSTCS6]

Have a 1960 Fiat 600D project with tons of parts for Fiat 600s, 750s, 850s and Abarth. Not sure if it is worth it: a put back together; b restore; or, c part out. Any suggestions??

Kind Regards,
- Kahaluu22

A well restored 600 can be worth good money to the right person....go for it.

[Timetrapper]

There is a video of a british TV show, on this forum, where they completely rebuild an old fiat similar to the one you have for 5000 british pounds. they sell it for about 6500 pounds i think. they found a local guy selling replica engines for like 1500 pounds. With that said here is my two cents:

1. Are you planning to keep this car or sell it? If you were planning to keep it, see point 2. If you are planning to sell it, then you should try to make it a replica I suppose. If that is the case, search the forum for that vid I was talking about, though I will try to find it.
2. If you are planning to keep it, well this is where more of my opinion comes in to play. If it were me, I would compare, which is cheaper, modding it with current parts, or using replica parts. If I can mod it and get better performance for roughly the same price, then I would just use current day parts hehe. I've seen some modded fiats, and they are pretty cool. see below link, here are the benefits to using current day parts. I mean, I think I saw someone post about a restoration they did on this forum and the car had like 50 HP and it took 1 full minute to get to 60MPH. so you wouldn't even be able to take it on the freeway/highway. you would just be able to cruise around town and even then, I mean there are tons of cars that would be like, get out of our way, cuz they wanna go 55 in a 45, or they wanna go 45 in a 35 heheh.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=895968520453708&fref=nf

[FSTCS6]

I should point out we re homed the 600....it's going to have a restoration and be used as a show day car in Michigan.

[MrFiat]

Shuffling the garage around to squeeze this in;
Thinking of this look for it once completed, might have to upgrade the drivetrain though.....22hp makes me wonder if it has enough power to get out of its own way. Lol.

Nice project indeed and well worth the effort. Don't concern yourself with the 22 hp spec. While it will never make a good freeway vehicle, it has plenty of getup and go on the surface roads. (Mainly due to the gearing) Not a lot of top end but more than enough for general street use. My advice is to keep it as stock as possible, including the drum brakes. More valuable that way in the long run. If you must upgrade the brakes, use the 600D steel shoes and related parts. More reliable and much safer. Same size as the 600 but the early 600's had aluminum brake shoes with the brake lining glued to the aluminum -- not riveted. Ok until they get hot, and they get hot pretty quickly and tend to come apart.
if you run into questions during the build feel free to give me a shout. I've put dozens of these machines back together in the past.
jim

[Rockdoc]

Have a 1960 Fiat 600D project with tons of parts for Fiat 600s, 750s, 850s and Abarth. Not sure if it is worth it: a put back together; b restore; or, c part out. Any suggestions??

Kind Regards,
- Kahaluu22

Hello Kahaluu22: I actually am ordering from "Mr.Fiat" in the U.S. in my search for parts for my 600 R. Particularly an upper dash pad, the one that runs from side to side and under the instrument nacelle. Harder to find than moon rocks. Can't find anyone in Alberta Canada, so far, that can help. Interested in selling bits n pieces?. Thanks.

[aevansgatech]

How's the 600 restoration going FSTCS6?

You mentioned Michigan, what part and I hope to see it around sometime

[Dan The Man Who Can]

Hi Jim,

I am an Englishman based in Southern Italy where I have been for fifteen years, and I have three good condition 600's and a Giardinaire that requires renovatation, all for for sale. Do you know anyone that might be looking for these?

Kind regards, and thanks in advance if you do!

Daniel