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Panda (Classic) My Purple Panda Parade Progress log

Introduction

Well folks, after keeping it under my hat all week (to avoid any embarrassment if the ebay winner actually collected the car) I have bought the purple panda parade from another user on here, neeny. They had sold it on ebay, and to cut a long story short the winner of the auction didn't collect, so the transaction was cancelled, and I offered to buy it in his place (I had actually nearly bid on the car on the original run but I confused myself and thought it was LHD which wouldn't have been any good to me) So I made the trip to fife (and on the way crossed the forth road bridge and saw the forth rail bridge which is a bit of an ambition of mine) and collected it. It took some getting used to driving! My current daily is a Citroen C2 GT, and the two cars are very very different. I have prior experience driving Fiats, as my first 3 cars were a mix of mk1 and mk2a puntos, and the first car I ever drove was my dad's tipo.

Anyway I digress, I drove it home in blizzard conditions and am very impressed with it! The only thing is that it has sat for a while and the brakes are very spongy (not a criticism of the previous owners, they were extremely honest about the car and answered all my questions, they were very kind and nice people and I hope to see them again, perhaps at a show) The Mohair twin sunroofs were slightly damp on the inside (again, not a criticism, it has been extremely wet in Scotland recently, and there is only so much it can take) not leaking or anything, just slightly damp, so I aim to treat this with fabric water repellant. There are some decals and stickers on it which aren't to my personal tastes, so I will remove these, and keep the ones which are to my taste :) The rear sunroof needs a new strap, so I will need to source one of these, or get my fiance to make a new one if I can get a hold of some leather or rubber if I find they are unavailable :)

I am very pleased with my new purchase, and consider myself very lucky to have managed to get it, the buyer on ebay should be kicking himself! And also I am very lucky to have met such kind people as Janine and Stewart, and to have found a forum with such helpful people. Anyway folks lets get down to business...photos! I apologize for the poor quality of some of these photos, it was dark before I took some of these and it is very cold so my hand was shaking. Hopefully you join me on my journey folks :) The panda is currently in my garage being aired out in an attempt to part dry the sunroofs before I bust out the hairdryer tomorrow :)

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Autoglass came out today and replaced my front windscreen, It was a shame to replace it in a way because it had the numberplate etched on the glass, I may get a decal made up to replicate it, but a safe legal windscreen has to be better than originality I guess :) I also cleaned the rim of the window before a new one got put in too, Im pleased to report there is no rust there, I've seen other folks have rust problems where the fresh air vents are, and mine thankfully don't suffer from that :)

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Have I missed something? I didn't realise you needed a new screen!

Edit: see you picked up a stonechip 6 days ago - must have been bad then :(

Was it an insurance job seeing as you used Autoglass?

Yeah, it was a stonechip which turned into a crack very very quickly and was too big to be simply repaired unfortunately. The insurance glass excess was 75 quid, but considering how good it looks now and the opportunity to clean the rim and make sure there was no hidden rust there I am pleased with it. That was much cheaper than the quotes I got from companies in Ayrshire to replace it too so I can't really complain too much
 
Surprised they didn't try to write the car off with the prices the frauds at autoglass quote. (n)

Glad you got it sorted though, and isn't a screen autoglass can mess up the fitting of :)

Yeah, first time I've used them, seemed good. The guy said the other four cars he were going to would take an hour each, mine took about 7 minutes in total :cool:
 
Today I finally removed the glue from my rear windows :) I took the rear side windows out completely as it was easier to reach the edges this way, they look great now! I have also decided to remove the rear seats and properly clean under them sometime soon :) As well as the screenwash container.

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I really should do that to get rid of the mould on the rubber I can't reach :(

T'will have to wait, all fettled out at the mo' :rolleyes:
 
I really should do that to get rid of the mould on the rubber I can't reach :(

T'will have to wait, all fettled out at the mo' :rolleyes:

Its really easy, just 5 crosshead screws and someone to hold the glass from the outside :)

I haven't worked out how to remove the rear seats yet though, I will have to look into this, at a glance I can see four allen type bolts which would need undone I think?
 
Removed the back seat and floor mat, thoroughly cleaned it, inspected for rust (of which there isnt very much at all, mostly at the seams, but I will correct this once I get my Kurust in :) I sprayed with WD40 for just now. Also some of the tape which covers the holes (presumably there during construction but then covered up to avoid spray from the road entering the car) was looking kind of worn, so I cleaned the areas and applied duct tape over all of them. Probably not necessary, but I wouldn't be doing it justice If I didn't do that while I was working there anyway. Its pretty rust free and I would like to improve and then keep it that way! I also found a little allen key in there the exact size needed to remove the allen type bolts. I wonder if this is a previous owners or from the factory once they had been fitted originally? Not sure, but will make a nice addition to the toolbox I am making for under the spare wheel! (more to be revealed on this once I have planned it out properly.)

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Some oxidisation appears to have occured between the underside of the rear seat and the mat. I will see to this soon with some black hammerite once I have bought some!
 
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