Larry Harp
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Treps thread on teenage drivers got me thinking about my first car so I did a Google search and found some pictures that took me back.
It was a 1959 Fiat 600D very similar to the one in the picture except mine had a dark blue top and light grey body. Mine was also missing the front bumper and chrome because my brother who bought it new in Italy fell out of it and it ran off the road and into a tree. Yes, he fell out of it. Notice the suicide doors? Well, he was driving down the street and the door was rattleing so he opened it so he could slam it and the wind blew the door all the way open with him still holding on. He learned why they call 'em "suicide doors". He evidentally wasn't going that fast because he wasn't hurt and the Fiat just kind of slowly drove itself off the road and into a small tree.
When I first saw it, it had been abandoned on the side of my brothers house since he had bought a new '66' Mustang. The car had various problems from a bad rocker arm to a starter that wouldn't. He gave it to me for my 16th birthday and I worked long hours @ .90 cents per hour bussing tables to pay for getting it running. I did all the work I could like replacing the headlights and getting it cleaned up real good but it took over $100 (a sizable sum in 1966) at the Fiat dealer to get it running.
I drove it my entire sophmore year in high school and was always the center of attention even around hot rod 57 Chevys and 327 Novas. One girl told me "she felt like she was in a forgien film when she rode in it" I don't know how much it weighted but I got accustomed to comeing out of school and finding it on the school steps or one time in the planter in front of the school. The 600cc engine only had around 20 horsepower so top speed was no more than 50 mph downhill with a tail wind. I believe if a cop had ever stopped me for speeding he would have given me an award instead of a ticket.:lol: I guess my favorite memory of that car was a little brass plaque on the dash that said: MIND HEAD WHEN RISING FROM SEAT. I alway thought it came with the car but my brother told me later, that he had stolen from a train in England
. Finally the starter problems and the lack of a heater and many other mechanical problems got the best of me. As you may know Fiat stands for FIX IT AGAIN TONY. So I sold it to a guy I worked with and he painted it solid black and turned it into an SCCA racer. I still have a hard time picturing a race in a 20 hp car.
I had two other Fiats, an 1100D that I bought from a Tech Sergent in the Air Force and another 600 that was a retired ice cream truck. That was during my hippie days after the AF. I covered the chartruse ice cream truck paint with about 5 cans of flat black spray paint. That was the car I was driving when I met my wife. She had a hot Olds 442 convertable so that Fiat didn't get much use after we started going together.
Edit: This isn't me or anybody I know, just a picture I found to show the suicide doors
Sorry about the lenght of this story but I guess if you're still reading you must have found it somewhat interesting.
Harpo
It was a 1959 Fiat 600D very similar to the one in the picture except mine had a dark blue top and light grey body. Mine was also missing the front bumper and chrome because my brother who bought it new in Italy fell out of it and it ran off the road and into a tree. Yes, he fell out of it. Notice the suicide doors? Well, he was driving down the street and the door was rattleing so he opened it so he could slam it and the wind blew the door all the way open with him still holding on. He learned why they call 'em "suicide doors". He evidentally wasn't going that fast because he wasn't hurt and the Fiat just kind of slowly drove itself off the road and into a small tree.
When I first saw it, it had been abandoned on the side of my brothers house since he had bought a new '66' Mustang. The car had various problems from a bad rocker arm to a starter that wouldn't. He gave it to me for my 16th birthday and I worked long hours @ .90 cents per hour bussing tables to pay for getting it running. I did all the work I could like replacing the headlights and getting it cleaned up real good but it took over $100 (a sizable sum in 1966) at the Fiat dealer to get it running.
I drove it my entire sophmore year in high school and was always the center of attention even around hot rod 57 Chevys and 327 Novas. One girl told me "she felt like she was in a forgien film when she rode in it" I don't know how much it weighted but I got accustomed to comeing out of school and finding it on the school steps or one time in the planter in front of the school. The 600cc engine only had around 20 horsepower so top speed was no more than 50 mph downhill with a tail wind. I believe if a cop had ever stopped me for speeding he would have given me an award instead of a ticket.:lol: I guess my favorite memory of that car was a little brass plaque on the dash that said: MIND HEAD WHEN RISING FROM SEAT. I alway thought it came with the car but my brother told me later, that he had stolen from a train in England
. Finally the starter problems and the lack of a heater and many other mechanical problems got the best of me. As you may know Fiat stands for FIX IT AGAIN TONY. So I sold it to a guy I worked with and he painted it solid black and turned it into an SCCA racer. I still have a hard time picturing a race in a 20 hp car.I had two other Fiats, an 1100D that I bought from a Tech Sergent in the Air Force and another 600 that was a retired ice cream truck. That was during my hippie days after the AF. I covered the chartruse ice cream truck paint with about 5 cans of flat black spray paint. That was the car I was driving when I met my wife. She had a hot Olds 442 convertable so that Fiat didn't get much use after we started going together.
Edit: This isn't me or anybody I know, just a picture I found to show the suicide doors
Sorry about the lenght of this story but I guess if you're still reading you must have found it somewhat interesting.
Harpo
