 On the 4th of January 2018, we received the following message in the PreWarCar.com mailbox: ''This is my Fiat 501, slowly becoming a real car from as many original parts as I possibly can find. According to the archives of the Fiat Centro Storico it was made in November 1925 and delivered as a bare chassis to the Finnish importer Walfrid Alfthán, but sadly I only have the left front wing and windscreen frame from the original coachwork. Luckily, I have now a good 501 radiator, bonnet catches and most importantly I have loaned well preserved original wood parts for a factory torpedo coachwork for patterns to make my own. Alfthán had a white 501S racer that was raced in Helsinki, Stockholm and possibly in Estonia in the 1920s, so my plan is to recreate that car as accurately as I can. For the base of my projects, I have several complete Tipo 101 and 103 engines, the best one is a very rare Fiat-Tamini 503 motopompa, as well as lights, radiators, axles, wheels, hubs, several Fiat-Metron gauges and many other parts for recreating a 509A, most of a 1928 507F fire-car (dismantled in the fifties and found almost completely in parts under a barn) and two good 520 sixes. The water pump was saved literally in the last minute when a fellow enthusiast sad it hanging from an excavator in a waste tip site, so sadly the water tank was damaged a bit. The hunt for parts is far from over and most importantly I am missing all the cardan parts including the cast tube and the cardan joint, as my only rear axle has been cut with a hammer as a trailer axle! Also, I would like to find a steering wheel, the fusebox/cutout case to the behind of the dashboard, original canister type tail light and a facsimile of period Fiat workshop book.'' ''I would like to find other enthusiasts of 1920s Fiats to swap parts and knowledge for the benefit of all these wonderful vintage projects still existing, so do not hesitate to connect me if you could have something for me. I am a professional carpenter and I intend to make small series of every part that I eventually will make, such as body panels and woodwork. Anche parlo un po italiano et je parle aussi un peut francais. This is my first prewar project, which I bought in the Christmas holidays three years ago sitting under a spruce tree in the yard of a famous cinema car builder in Finland. Since then, my old garage has turned to a real barn-find -barn and I am truly devoted in searching more clues for possible vintage parts to complete my projects. It is a long journey and I have a lot to learn, at the moment I am struggling with dismantling the brake drums, I wonder if I really need to take the hub apart first to get to the brake shoes as I can't pull the drums out as I expected?'' Is there anyone who can help this very enthusiastic man? Help would be very much appreciated, please comment below so we can bring you two into contact. If you have a similar story, do not hesitate to ask! Please send it to office@prewarcar.com. Two heads are better than one! |
  |