How and why we are here

Well as i said in my previous entry i will give an account of how i got to this stage with my build and also what my plans are. Back in 2005, I bought a 1971 Fiat 500L with the review of resoring it to former glory. As a chap who is 6'4" this car is rather a strange choice, however i have always had a soft spot for them. Be it the Italian roots I've got (somewhere) or just the eccentric nature of my car choices.
The car i got had been left in some ones back garden in Ayr for 5 years previous to myself owning it. For those of you who don't know Ayr is by the sea, and salt air rots cars, fiats manage the trick of rotting extremely well without the help of the sodium chloride enriched air, but it actually didn't seem to bad to my inexperienced eyes. This was to be my first real project:

as you can see a fine example of the Marque.

So this is where it all started. I decided that the height of the vehicle was unacceptable so a set of lowering springs for the rear and a "reverse eye" leaf spring for the front was purchased,
Also i didn't like the standard wheels so i wanted a set of minilite as the period style would suit the curves of the car a bit better: fiat 126 hubs and minilite wheels ordered:

Sadly the wheels didn't fit under the arches, so a set of flared wheels arches was the most obvious solution.

Various changes have happened through the years to this project like the addition of disk brakes, a roll cage, tubed rear wheel arches, and what was going to be an engine swap to a larger capacity Fiat F.I.R.E. engine mated to the original 4 speed gearbox, as the factory 2 cylinder air cooled 18 bhp wasn't too appealing

Finally after having lived in Glasgow and being a student for 4 years with the car being kept in Ayr and rarely worked on an opportunity arose in the form of a lock-up garage in glasgow less than 300m from my current flat.
So for the first time in 5 years the little fiat packed it's bags and made the 35 mile trip to the big city!

Since then, which was a couple of months ago i have decided to lose the mentality of not looking for the rust and go searching for it as i realise i have done this project incorrectly,
Like i said it's my first one, so i'm currently on the hunt for rust cutting it back and replacing all the bad bits!

The engine and box are out, all the suspension is off for powder coating and modification.

What's the plans for the future.... lets just say Japan will meet Germany in the back of an italian!

I have also attached a video that hit a very true note with me, it's a bit cheesy but very apt:
enjoy and thanks for reading!