Gilion

I planned 1.5 years for the restoration of my Fiat 500

I have been working on cars the longest part of my life. I have always been interested in engineering and liked exploring and trying to fix things. It started with bikes and motorbikes. During technical school, this shifted to cars, used for crossing in the meadow behind the house. In 1998, I started my first restoration project, which I still own: a beautiful red Alfa Romeo Bertone.

After my retirement in 2020, I got inspired again and started a new restoration project. This time I chose the Classic Fiat 500. This because of my love for Italian cars and also because the parts needed are affordable and well-available at FD Ricambi.

I planned 1,5 years for the full restoration of my Fiat 500. I really like to get challenged and do as much of the restoration work as possible myself. The only thing I outsourced was the work on the engine and the paintwork.

Try to learn to weld

I have been learning as I went along, looking for information on Fiat 500 forums, asking help from FD Ricambi’s technical service and sharing experiences with a friend.

At a young age I already learned how to weld. This helped me a lot in completing my car. I advise everybody who is new to car restoration to follow a welding course before starting their classic Fiat project!

A valuable lesson I learned is to remove the windows before using the grinder to remove bad pieces of sheet metal. The splashing sparks can actually create burn marks on the glass.

Just driving around brings smiles to the people

I very much enjoyed making the restoration and me and my wife enjoy driving our beautiful Fiat oldtimer on sunny days. As all Fiat 500 owners will recognize, just driving a 500 around brings smiles and joy to the people on the street.

I order my parts from FD Ricambi, because I like to maintain my car very well and keep it in great condition.