folding rear seat/fuel guage? - 500f / 500l

[icbis]

merry xmas, all!

thinking of 'down-sizing' from my 126bis, to a 500f / 500l; just a couple of questions:

1. do either of these models have a folding rear seat? did All 500s? what about front-seats: what's the adjustabilitiness of them?

2. did either have a fuel-guage? all i've been able to find out is that the F had a benzina-light: is that the case with the L, too?

looking forward to any help you are able to offer!

cheers, ic

[tuned500]

Hi,

Both the F and L have folding rear seats. The L front seats can recline, the F seats don't. Both F and L move forwards and backwards on runners.

The F had a fuel light which came on when you had about 1 gallon left. The L has a fuel guage and a fuel light

Hope that helps

Craig

[icbis]

i couldn't have asked for a more perfect reply, craig - thanks! damn: if only the L had a painted metal dashboard, too, eh?!

[tuned500]

No problem

I know what you mean about the painted dashboard- i'm not a fan of the L models. I have seen a few L's with the black plastic dashboard cover painted body colour and it does look quite good and a few with the cover removed and the dashboard painted.

Or get an F and fit L seats to get the reclining function, fuel guage is a bonus but the indicator light does the job fine to be honest.

[icbis]

well, i've pretty-much got my heart set on an F, right now - they're a little bit shorter, too, huh? [without the nudge-bars]. do you know what the heater/fan/demister situation is with the F?

[ChrisRLewis]

My old 500F was fitted with 500L seats and they were not reclining.  I think that reclining seats was an additional option for the L Model?
It may also be worth considering the 500R model (the last of the 500 models) this model also had the plain metal dashboard with a circular speedometer.

[tuned500]

Ive never seen a L which hasn't had reclining seats. As the L was a 'luxury' model of the F it had reclining front seats, seats and doorcards had vertical lines rather then being plain, carpet instead or rubber flooring, updated rectangular speedo, dashboard cover, black steering wheel, column mounted steering lock/ignition, centre tunnel tray, nudge bars, different front and rear badge and different hubcaps.

The 500R would be a good option as ChrisRlewis says if you wanted to keep the painted dash and round speedo, another bonus is they 600cc engine, but they are all left hand drive.

The heater system on all 500's is the same, ducting from the thermostat engine cowling running uner the car through the centre tunnel and up to the windscreen, controlled by a flap behind the drivers seat. Also 1 flap either side of the glovebox/undertray to direct air to either footwell or windscreen. The system works quite well when warmed up but can smell a bit if your engine isnt in great shape

[icbis]

thanks, guys - yup, i've never heard of non-reclining, L-seats, either! perhaps They were an option?? there are too many little details on the R that i don't like, tbh - the main one being that they won't be tax-free! so it looks like it'll Have to be an F!