Hey all!
This is my slow-burning hill climb Fiat 126 BIS project. Not a huge amount of it left admittedly, but I thought since it's 126 shaped you'd like to see it
It was built as a grass track car with twin bike engines in the back, but it was never raced. Instead it got stripped down and I got the bare shell to do something with.
As you can see it has big wide steel arches and the windscreen aperture has been meshed over.
It's about a foot over standard width! The doors have been welded shut but I plan to cut in some demi-doors that end just before the front wheel arch becomes an obstacle.
The tailgate still accesses the engine bay...
...Which is a tubular spaceframe chassis ready to mount just about anything. I have a few ideas there but nothing certain yet.
The cockpit. It's a single seater converted to centre steering. Space for a bucket seat and a gear shifter and not much else!
So my plan is to go through the shell and do anything it needs in order for it to be legal for hill climbing, then work on the body to incorporate various aerodynamic aids (I'm going for un-apologetically fast-looking!) and also find something stupid to power it.
Realistically though, it's first incarnation will be an up and running car in primer that I can trailer places like the drag strip and just have a bit of fun with.
I couldn't help doing something to the bodywork first as that's what I'm most looking forward to.
This car was built with a huge radiator is the back, but I wanted one at the front without spoiling the 126's pretty little face too much. I decided I needed something along the lines of the 500 Abarth front intake.
Then I remembered I had the front panel off of a Rover P6 V8, and I thought it might just do the job.
See what I mean?
Once I'd trimmed off the top lip, the profile of the Rover panel matched the (slightly battered) nose of the Fiat pretty well.
I chopped out the grill in the panel and also the windscreen so I can get some glass back in there.
That's put a smile on it's face!
I trimmed the panel to the right width, leaving about half an inch to fold in the seam where the panel meets the wings.
Fits well!
After scoring a line I cut out the Fiat and welded in the Rover panel. I thought the Rover would have thicker guage steel but I was surprised how thick the metal is on these BISs.
Just need to clean off the welds next time I'm tinkering, but I'm pleased with how it looks and its function.
I think it needed something that juts out at the front to match the lairy arches!
Anyway, that's about as far as I've got! Thanks for looking and I'll keep this updated as and when I get to work on it.
Been pondering the powerplant- Something front wheel drive for ease of mounting, big cc or has the potential for not a huge outlay. What do you think?
