The anatomy of a Topolino restoration - 1
September 2002
Tony Potter
This is the first of a series of articles which is appearing in the Club magazine.
Yes folks, another Topolino will be back on the road soon. (well hopefully
anyway)
The car’s restoration we will be following has an unknown history.
Perhaps someone may read this story one day and fill in the last 54 years
for us.
It is a 1948 "B" model Fiat 500 and I found it in a paddock
somewhere in central NSW. I say somewhere as I’m not really sure
just where. I met the owner in Ardlethn and then
followed him by some curious course that seemed to go in every direction
of the compass for the next hour or so till we ended up at his property.
Any of you reading with a good knowledge of Australian history will know
exactly where the station is as it was the location of the breeding of
the first Australian sheep dogs. The Topo was in a lean-to which was part
of the original kennels.
I must admit to some trepidation when I first sighted the car as it seemed
to be part of the surrounding wheat fields, but underneath the dirt and
wasp nests was the car I have dreamed of owning for the last 30 years.
Just for interest’s sake I must also mention "the collection"
that the family had accumulated over 3 generations. The many sheds were
filled with all sorts of classic, vintage & veteran cars that would
hold pride of place in the Birdwood Motor Museum. This was just the tip
of the iceberg though as the home paddock was completely full of cars,
buses, trucks, tractors, farm machinery of every kind, a complete and
running jet engine and a couple of huge armored tank engines. I’ve
never seen anything like it in my life before.
But back to the real story. The Brothers had rebuilt the engine, obviously
with the notion of restoring the whole car but when they ran it they could
not seem to get any oil pressure and then seemed to just lose interest
in the project. (probably got hold of another jet engine to play with)
I heard about it from the then President of the NSW Fiat club who obviously
keeps his ear to the ground (paddock ?) Funnily enough, I stripped the
engine to see what had been done and found everything to be in the right
place, so reassembled it, cranked it over and hey presto – instant
oil pressure. It is a bit smoky but we will see what happens when the
rest of the car is ready for its installation.
To be continued
