I am now an owner of a Fiat Cinquecento......All I know is its a Sporting, its purply blue and its in good nick. With 8 seconds to go I was very silly and bought it in unseen!!!!!
Membership Number: ex
Having trailered it home and made room in the garage I made the initial preliminary inspections as to what I had let myself in for. The feeling of dread ebbed away as I found the little car to be absent of any serious rot. There were a couple of small holes inside the boot on the offside rear wheel arch but these are easily repairable. I discovered that some paintwork had eroded on the roof and was showing its primer to the world; in addition there was a small ding to the tailgate and a matching ding at the bottom of the offside door. Overall my Imola blue Cinquecento Sporting is looking good........wasn't it the Imola grey that dropped an H bomb on Japan!!!
Underneath all I could find was two very seriously rotted away rear bumper support brackets.
There must be something more worryingly wrong with this 20 year old car. But no, everything was working just as the Polish factory had intended. The only defect I found was an empty screen wash bottle.
Membership Number: ex
I forgot to mention that the car has almost 12 months of MOT, which was also a persuader in making my rash, bought unseen actions. with the wheels off and the bonnet up I made further exploration of the underside and engine compartment. Whilst the car has 9 stamps of service history I don`t think the fuel filter has ever been replaced. This was evident by the rusty flaky clips and poor exterior condition. I imagine there will be some crud in there! The off side rear wheel arch adjacent to where I found the two holes in the boot looks to have some growing surface rust up towards the top. This can be treated when repairs are made to the holes. Both sills are good and show no sign of deterioration but I intend to drill and inject with waxoil where I think it can be further protected.
The only problem under the bonnet I could find that will need to be put right, is what appears to be a leaking cam cover gasket. (is this a common malady with this engine?)......Every thing looks neatly packed in there, though service items look to be easily reached. I will reserve judgement on the accessibility of the starter motor and alternator. I will need to replace the horrible rubber oil filler cap, its in very poor condition.
I really don`t know whether my Cinquecento Sporting will evolve in value, I paid a modest, but what I consider a higher price than what I have seen over the last eighteen months or so. But only recently an example was advertised at £1500. They are still "banger" fodder but I`m convinced that prices will rise as they get more and more scarce 
Membership Number: ex
glad you have a Fiat to the collection, and some small work to do, 
Membership Number: yes
having liberally soaked the fixing bolts to the rear bumper support brackets, I attempted to loosen them....you guessed correctly; they rounded off!! These brackets have 75% rotted away so will have to come off. Gonna have to resort to brute force
Membership Number: ex
Ah ha! Rusted nuts indeed Mr Stig. The two bolts holding the main rear bumper support brackets were attacked with heat, cold chisel and impact screwdriver. The most surprising aspect of this problem was that the captive nuts and bolt threads were not rusty within the chassis box section. (This was viewed by removing the inspection plugs)...it appeared to be the shallow bolt heads and the wide washers.....the hammer and chisel got the bolts loose and they finally were unscrewed. But what a **** of a job; I don`t think the rear bumper has ever been removed in the 20 odd years of the cars age....at least its never been shunted up the rear. The washer and bolt head seemed to have a residue of what I believe to have been some sort of lock tight. The only other problem was the corner fixing points, which consisted of a captive block within the plastic of the bumper. this "squared off" section was a guide position when the bumper was initially fitted....but of course the bolt had rusted and the whole thing just turned within the plastic So I had to butcher it off without damaging the bumper finish......I`ll rectify this upon reassembly using araldite for the captive piece and use stainless steel bolts.
Told you I`d boor the pants off every one!!
Membership Number: ex
Told you I`d boor the pants off every one!!
Not many here now Rob.
We're on a members only closed Facebook group
Membership Number: 11553
Told you I`d boor the pants off every one!!
Not many here now Rob.
We're on a members only closed Facebook group
Does this mean that one of the oldest motor clubs is now dead?? Well I suppose the writing has been on the wall for some time now. I think only Mr Stig, yourself and maybe a handful of other die-hards still log on...theres been a few views to my ramblings..........
I have only recently discovered the "Fiat Forum". This seems quite lively for nearly all model types both new and old. There is quite a good following for the Cinquecento.
Good bye
Membership Number: ex
I guess we are all guilty in some small ways or another. I didn`t renew my membership because the Parliamo got a little tedious regarding activities; which amounted to weather reports, attendance figures and descriptions of locations. In addition the forum was getting less and less attention.
It could be said that maybe I should have pulled my finger out and done more than the little I did. but then that would apply to other members at that time....what was the total membership?
When I first joined, Parliamo was this lovely warm cuddly A5 size edition, which felt far more personal than the bright coloured A4. Which never seemed to get the advertising, or interesting membership scribblings that the original enjoyed..........Perhaps this was the beginning of the end;
I don`t know.
Membership Number: ex
I guess we are all guilty in some small ways or another. I didn`t renew my membership because the Parliamo got a little tedious regarding activities; which amounted to weather reports, attendance figures and descriptions of locations. In addition the forum was getting less and less attention.
It could be said that maybe I should have pulled my finger out and done more than the little I did. but then that would apply to other members at that time....what was the total membership?
When I first joined, Parliamo was this lovely warm cuddly A5 size edition, which felt far more personal than the bright coloured A4. Which never seemed to get the advertising, or interesting membership scribblings that the original enjoyed..........Perhaps this was the beginning of the end;
I don`t know.
It seems even the internet forums have had their day.
Renew your membership Rob, every little helps......
Membership Number: proudly so!!!
I have removed the orange coloured bumper inserts and called at my local auto paint shop to get a match. The inserts have a few marks and also, because of the primer being exposed on the roof; I thought I`d also spray the roof with the bumper insert orange.....I think it will look quite smart.
Membership Number: ex
painting the roof orange? put the confederate flag on,"The millers of Chester" ?
Membership Number: yes
