07/01/2025
Start a blog, they said. It will be fun, they said... Famous last words.
Anyway, after some advice and a bit of persuasion from a couple of people, it was decided to start a little blog about my random car adventures.
So, here it goes. My first entry is about this wonderful barn find: a 1937 Fiat Topolino or Simca 5, to be precise. I'ts a french version of a Fiat 500 Topolino, allegedly name change is an attempt to avoid export/import or whatever other taxes put on cars at that time. It was a popular and reasonably affordable car in late 1930s, making it a rare find in this authentic condition.
A gentleman discovered it in southern France, where it had been sitting in a barn for number of years.
The car clearly has some history on it. Painted over in black, masking the original color and any light sources (including very interesting indicators) - a sign of its use during the wartime. When it was discovered, it was in a bit of a state. Over the next two years, the engine was completely rebuilt, the gearbox restored, and the rotten floor panels replaced, not to mention little details or bigger details, like - completely rewound dynamo. All carefully, not to alter external appearance. Outside it’s been left untouched, with all its original dents and scratches.
Mentioned dynamo:
Cute door handles, both outside and in:
Simca 5 were made in 4 or 2 seat options, this one appears to be 2 seater. Rear window still have original blind cover, not very clean but it matches overall mood of the car and still operates! I't not going to be an immaculate, shiny show car, it's all original rat that won't be afraid to be touched or left outside.
Blind up:
Interestingly, rear window frame is still original intact wood, only been sitting there for over 88 years:
No heating or forced ventilation is available other than those small openings on a side of the car, I would imagine it is a proper aircon once vehicle is in motion:
Vent open:
It is at this point when I got involved to assist with the final touches on the wiring loom. While it’s relatively simple due to the car's age, it’s also surprisingly tricky because of the lack of documentation - again, a result of the car's age. After some digging, we managed to obtain a few scraps of a wiring diagrams. Which, turned out, are slightly different from the Fiat Topolino and could be completed in several variations. We decided to move forward and make adjustments as needed along the way.
A few connectors later, we had the lights working. We also added a small fuse box, as the original design didn’t include one. Instead, the car relied on two fuses built into the ignition switch - which, unfortunately, we didn’t have.
Ignition switch, the one that came with the car was little more than a pile of dust and rust:
Replacement for the ignition switch came from the tractor, simple enough but still able to handle amperage:
After small modification on mill made by Max (I'll add link later), switch was ready for testing and fitting behind original casing, again not altering authentic look.
I have to mention the awesomeness of the side repeaters. These two clever devices are built into the car's body and are pulled out by a magnet when engaged. Instead of flashing, they simply stay illuminated in a very impressive way. Once off, gravity just drops them back in:
Originally, the car had only a single brake and tail light at the back. The owner added two additional brake and tail lights from the same era just to be more visible on the road:
Little side light in the center of the car had to be modified and converted to an LED light, as there was nothing left inside the original casing, however since casing is still original, they kept authentic look and emit white at the front and red at the back, I will add picture for the front side at some point later. Here is the back:
After many calls and consultations with my dad (all tough electrical questions, I'll also add link later) ammeter was added to monitor charge/discharge status. Some variants of Simca 5's were equipped with this piece of technology and I recon this is one of them, wiring and empty hole in a dashboard suggested it. I'ts not original O.S. part, but it's same era, 1930's, 30 Amp meter:
One of another two holes in the dash are for either oil pressure light (as in our case) or fuel level, while the other for ignition barrel.
And just like that, we slowly progressed to the point when car could and had to be started for further testing of charge system and everything else.
Unfortunately upon filling the radiator, a water leak was discovered, somewhere along the headgasket, hence start was delayed and that's where we are now.
To be continued, next week I guess, when it runs.
