My wife got her dream car yesterday!

[GS1150Pilot]

You know what they say...happy wife happy life....

She has been looking for a Fiat 500 for years. What she has found was either bad condition or way to expensive.
Then this showed up on facebook market place yesterday. We canceled our work plans for the day and jumped on to my BMW and took the ferry to the mainland.
1968 Fiat 500 with a 600cc engine. Very original condition and owned by a 70 year old mechanic...he imported it from Italy over 20 years ago.
What a hoot! Smiles and thumbs up wherever she goes....kids last night on the ferry were even yelling "Luigi"!!! Lol

URL=https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/t513/trevorf1/IMG_9622.jpeg?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds][/URL]

Brava! My father used to work on them. One of his customers had a fun trick of baiting people in fast cars into agreeing to drag race later that night, then driving the pokey little Cinquecento to his house and swapping it out for a very hotrodded Abarth 1000 motor before driving to the appointed place to beat the other car. He would then swap the motor again and when the loser would meet him, he would happily show them the little dinky 500 motor.

[Suzukian]

Thanks buddy. I admittedly don't get out on my old bikes as much as I would like....the 80 750 is rare....4-5 times a year....the other 750 and 1100 quite a bit more...the Cooley I took on a week long trip recently....the bmw and the GT I sold a ride lots. My two trucks...the green one is daily but will likely sell it when I pick up my 1500 short box tomorrow from getting all new suspension...don't need two trucks. The VFR will get ridden regularly. I'm averaging 35,000kms a year on two wheels now.....
My wife will drive the Fiat a lot I think....

My Spinal Cord injury has taken so much from me (My Neurosurgeon told me if I didn't stop riding, he would no longer see me, but he conceded). I had to give up flying, sailing (I used to sail a 10 Meter Pearson), and bikes is what I have left. I am redoing the cylinder heads on my motor home's 454 engine, as one is running a little hot. Not using something is the best way to lose it. I just finished with my '83 GS750ES and will be going for a long ride tomorrow. New tires, clutch, carburetor tubing, and battery, she's rearing to go. I'll have the ZZR1200 ready to go in about 3 days, NISSIN calipers, Steel Braided Galfer brake lines, new pads, "Soupy's" 1" inch lowering kit, Pirelli Diablo tires, and a custom exhaust I made that sounds great!!!. The bike, a 2003 has only 3480 miles on it!


zzr1200-exhaust mod.jpg

[Suzukian]

Addendum:

This was how the stock exhaust looked. I knocked around 40 lbs. off of the bike. The exhaust I made has an internal baffle with Ceramic weave wrapped with Nickel Wire, and Radian Exhaust tips.



ZZR1200 Stock.jpg

[trevor]

Brava! My father used to work on them. One of his customers had a fun trick of baiting people in fast cars into agreeing to drag race later that night, then driving the pokey little Cinquecento to his house and swapping it out for a very hotrodded Abarth 1000 motor before driving to the appointed place to beat the other car. He would then swap the motor again and when the loser would meet him, he would happily show them the little dinky 500 motor.

Lol.....my wife thought that was pretty awesome!

[JMHJ]

I think they still make that... I saw a much much newer one just a day or two ago : )

[oldGSfan]

Very nice! Back in high school, my friend got a 600D free and he rebuilt the engine in auto shop. We lifted it out. On the road for the first time, a long slight uphill (maybe 4% grade) with 4 of us packed in, we got to about 25 MPH and that was it. He pulled over and we smelled brake linings burning. E brake left on. That thing took off like a rocket. I think we must have hit 30!

[trevor]

Our son is busy doing upgrades to Luigi

[steve murdoch]

Good to see. Mechanics can make a good living.
Did he do the conversion to the disc brakes?

[trevor]

Good to see. Mechanics can make a good living.
Did he do the conversion to the disc brakes?

Yes, he is doing the brake conversion. Well he was working full time as a apprentice mechanic at a German auto garage for the last 14 months where he learned so much....and he is still working on his project car a 1992 Celica GT that he has installed a turbo and converted it from 2 wheel drive to all wheel drive....he's a smart cookie,,,,but he has decided being an auto mechanic might not be for him as he has become aware that it could take away his passion for building cars....and while it can be good money...it still has it's limits. I know there were days he didn't feel like working on his own project car because he was burnt out from working on other people's cars.
So last month he has gone back to school almost full time to do some upgrading as he is now thinking about some sort of engineering degree.
We are lucky, he's a good kid...no alcohol and drugs....but he does like to spend money on his Toyota FJ and his GT....not sure where he gets that from...
In my job I am all all to aware of how bad it can be for young people and drugs....it's heartbreaking talking to parents about what they have been through....so we are blessed.

[Peppermint Patti]

Wow! Love it! Your wife will get great gas mileage in this beautiful Little Baby! Great find!