Hot Rods My Project....1938 Fiat Topolino.....Lil Beast...........

That's one cool car.
Keep up the good work...

 

Man I was getting worried the Lil Beast didn't make it to the Autorama. I sure was relieved to come across a couple pic's from the show. Everytime I see it, it just looks more evil. Congrats Mark!!

 

Bob, here's a better shot I took...the wife and a mini pin-up girl..forget her name, but she was with her daddy and was THE cutest pin-up of them all!!!!!!!me and the wife watched her go from hot rod to hot rod and she had the whole concept down to a T...great time at the show this year...thinkin maybe the best personal part for me was DRIVIN Lil Beast in...had some trailer issues and we rolled up at about 9:45....load in time was to end at 10....ripping down the under deck along the Detroit river and into the show....way cool....sounded like a Lil Beast between the wall along the road the building on the other side and roof/upper decking above the road...just about a full tunnel effect....

my brother and his best friend made the trip again from beaver creek ohio..this year they stayed the nite and we had sunday lunch with them on our way up to the show as they was heading south bound...perfect weekend at Cobo!!!!!!!

ya the wife was pretty worn out in these pics....

 

another shot minus the girls.........

 

Mark,
The pic's look great. I bet the Lil Beast got a lot of attention. I almost took the trip out this year. There's a group of guys from Buffalo that chartered a bus to Detroit and I seriously considered catching a ride with them. I ended up having a full schedule in the shop and couldn't go. I would have really liked to see your Fiat and meet up with you.
The girls looked like they were having a blast. Congrats again.

 

Beautiful.

Congrats on making Cobo Mark!

 

thanks guys.....it was a blast this year!!!!.the hard part starts in a couple of weeks...hopefully I get a nice set of portable scales brought over to the garage and we're gonna weigh Lil Beast on all 4 corners at the same time..should be interesting....then the toughie...time to blow him apart and clean, paint, weld and everything for the final assembly.....hopefully it goes down without any hard issues....if so, we're up and running for the season of summer cruise n'...

...from a dream, to a concept to a hot rod that's ready for it all...

 

will Bob, I guess I'm too busy to hunt ya down!!!!!!!!good thing I didn't know ya had a shot at getting over here for the show prior to the show...i'ld had to send a crew up your way to load ya on that bus!!!!but then your hot rod needs its cash flow the same as mine, eh???guess that's what we get for owning exotic imports

EDIT.....me thinks ya should start thinkin about gettin that beast of yours over here to Cobo next year....mine got pushed on and off the trailer last year...these fiats roll fairly well

 

thanks for reading...ya been following my efforts for a long time...any luck, we'll cross paths one day soon

 

Well done Mark on getting Lil Beast this far with all those hurdles you had. She a real credit to you and proof dreams come true........you just need to dream them first. Totally cool !! JW

 

The mini pin up girl's name was Ava and she was absolutely adorable! I have some photos with her myself Lil Beast was absolutely amazing also! I've never seen a car like it.

 

back home in his cave....time to tear him down to the frame...paint...tweak...reassemble...shooting for Detroit dragway reunion ..may 17??????????????at Milian

 

nice to meet you at the show....look for the pm I sent ya......

 

Bob's glass T bucket body arrived yesterday...getting a lil closer as spring approaches.,..lil 215 aluminum olds factory 4 bbl motor it should be a fun ride...faster then his Honda accord...Bob's 71 years old so ...

 

That's a cool wee T. JW

 

more "wee tee" pics...and of course one with ol Bob's smiling ass!!!!!!hey I should be nice...he's been wishin for a t since '61....

 

pulled the body off Lil Beast sat past...Bob of "Wee Tee" fame came by and helped .....time to clean the frame and paint it...do some underneath trimming to the body/flooring...and a few other things ....happy that I was able to lift it off the frame and not have everything shift and screw up...the doors open and close as sweetly as they did on the frame...I sorta built the Lil Beast out of order...well compared to most of the builds I've seen here over the years....this is the first time the body has been off the car since the flooring and firewall was fabed after the frame was built...built the frame into a roller then tacked the body to it...and started fillin in the body supports and flooring/framing and firewall...




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Looks like its moving right along Mark
going to make it for Milan May 17th?

 

hopefully Randy...last nite before I left work I cut out some tin for building a duct system for making the side vents functional figure it'ld help keep the heat a bit lower once summer gets here....biggest issue is going to be getting the car to set level...think its the coilover mounts....we'll see...........

ol Bob is thrashing like a crazy man trying to get his wee tee ready by then tooo.......

 

Well i drilled and installed 6. 3/4" lag bolts into the garage floor...then chained the frame down where i didn't want to move and tweeked the right frame leg up,,,brought it up1/2"...finally can center jack the fiat up and have both front wheels lift nice and level,,,

I started in the rear leveled the frame on Jack stand,,then checked to see where started to run downward,,,and leveled out all the way down the length,,,was surprised how well it trued...now i have to rework the coilover brackets and make sure everything is trued and squared...

4 weekends, 5 weekday weeks after work to get ready for the Detroit Dragway Reunion at Milligan Dragway,,,

 

Replacing the coil overs and all the brackets.....

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Cool to see you reaching the end of the build. Hope you will do a build thread for Bob on his Wee Tee. JW

 

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Well I guess with a branding New driod, I still can't post pics with it.....I've downloaded the app several times....maybe ya have be an alliance member to post pics??????

 

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Well learned something new...my chrome would just like standard puter...

 

They look awesome Mark.

 

Bob, i track welded the upper brackets on last nite,, nice to jack up lil beast and see everything stay nice an level,,,was 4:00 am,,,,forgot to take a pic with the springs installed,,,

 

JW, I'll put together a thread for Bob s Wee Tee,,,it s Conn right along...he's tying to get done for the Detroit Dragway Reunion may 17 ...never seen the ol man go so hard and fast as he is on the t

 

Looking forward to that as I have your build, every time I see thoe coil overs I think of Jim !! sorry to you both on that one . Looks damn good. JW

 

JW, the other coilovers were old,,,and at the time the price was right,,,,,no issues.... no regrets,,,the pic is before i welded the top brackets in place..that's why everything looks unbalanced...,now that i can load pics from my phone, I'll get more up,,and start the wee tee thread

 

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On the ground.....at 3:05 am