1964 Fiat Ghia 1500 gt restoration

[grittracing]

Finally after a long over due wait. The Ghia is home. or now named "Elda" (means "Battle Maiden") I thought it was fitting, because she was a race car and all the trouble it took to get her home.


and now my grill ,all the way from sweden is now fitted to its one day new home.



I don't thnk these are stock Fiat. pretty sure these where the 1st owners racing belts. they are so cool going to re-use them


And now the best part of the storey. as soon as Elda hit the drive way, my 3 yr old son Alex ran to the garage filled his pockets with all the tools he could fit in his pockets. so full his little shorts where falling off. as soon as it was parked he dug right in. he grabbed a flash light and started in the trunk pointing out ever piece of broken rubber & steel &washers &bolts all with no direction from me or anyone else mostly just going off what i think he remembers from him and I doing the spider. I AM A PROUD DAD !

[DocGraphics]

That car is just Coooooool!

Looking forward to seeing the progress on this build.

[Fiat88]

Cool! Good luck with the project.

[azygoustoyou]

What a cool looking car! Where did you find her?

[124JOE]

THAT girl HAS curves.joe

[grittracing]

brady,
I was on face book back in Jan. when a friend from AZ posted this picture of his first car (i picked it out rigt away ( it is the one at the top of the drive under the snow)



and we got to talking and he thought the car maybe still in a barn. said he would call and see if it was still there. ths was a fri. While waiting for his call back i went on ebay to see how hard parts would be to find. and found a parts car in NY. I thought to myself great I will buy both to have parts to make one. so when Wayne called back i told him of the ebay car. and he told me the two cars where one and the same. and he also gave me some history on the car. The 1st owner bought 2 ghia's in 1964. Raced both. when the engine in mine blew he used mine for a back up car and part donor. 1974sold it to my friend wayne with plans of putting back on the raod. in 1976 with starting a new family and Collage he put the car in a barn in up state NY, never to be touched again till last summer where the last owner bought it from the owner of the barn. than parted out even more. than I bought it in March

p.s. looking for 1500 drive train parts and work shop manual



here is another good picture


He works for cookies and milk

[Zippy]

That is a great picture. He is adorable. You are a lucky man.

[grittracing]

Out of the mtn of rusty,bent up ,drity parts. I had to choose one to be the 1st to be restored.




starting to take inventory


here is where the sill plate goes and what it looked like before


after


side by side


only took a hand file, 4 differnt grits of sand paper, 2 different polishes, about a hour and a half, to sore hands, finger cramps. the look.......................... Priceless

1st piece down 100s more to go ......Ack

[Chihua33]

wow, nice work on that sill plate! looks great

[seabeelt]

Is that a FIAT , I mean MG in the foreground That man needs to get his priorities sorted.

[grittracing]

Trying some new parts I picked up earier in the year. this is a Dayton hub for these wire wheels






these are the wheels I am hoping to get for the Ghia

[baltobernie]

Those wheels are gonna look great! Are they Borrani?

Have you picked a color combo yet?

[gudtimer41]

Wow! I didn't even know that Ghia made bodies for these great little cars. When you get this done, epescially with wires, it's gonna be awesome!

[grittracing]

the color compo will be. Silver with a burgandy stripe and a age dark red leather seats. Carpet and a secondary color I have not picked yet going to have to do some shopping. Going to have the racing number circles doors and hood and back. Still looking for a drive train. Was hoping for a stock drive train (1500 fiat) but it doesnt seem to be going very well. So im thinking of find a Ferrari drive train from a Fiat dino. And that might be as hard.lol just so you know how hard this build is, there was only 849 of these cars made ! So there is only 849 of every piece. Except the normal stuff like window cranks,inside door handle, and tail lights. The side markers look to be masseriti. And i will take any and all info any one knows about these cars or the 1500 fiat drive train. I knew nothing buying this car and know about the same now. And you ask why i bought it? Love the body and lines.and its a Fiat ! And looking for any and all parts i can get or leds on parts thank you -Tony / grittracing

[grittracing]

1964 fiat ghia 1500
Body $1000 ,grill $1000, windsheild $1500, hood badge $1500, front brake calipers (set of 2) $550, 2 door locks $1000, side badges $200. Head light bezels 2 $200. And this isnt even getting the car to paint or drive train i need.

to have the rest of the money and to be able to find the rest of the parts before i die a old old man (im 44 now) .........................priceless