1948 Fiat Woodie Street Rod Cover Car , Same Owner 45 Years, Needs Reassembly on 2040-cars

1948 Fiat Topolino Woodie Street Rod.  Multiple magazine Cover Car….one of the rarest woodie street rods in the world….. needs reassembly. ORIGINAL OWNER/BUILDER  45 YEARS ago  MUST SELL. Always in dry storage…wood in excellent condition.

The facts: I purchased the body of this car in 1969 from Sam Foose when his shop was in Goleta Ca. Chip was about 6-10 years old and around his dads shop a lot as I built the car. It took me about 5 years to complete the car and it was really something in its day. It was on the cover of Rod and Custom Magazine in 1977 and various other publications around that time. I did the Southern California show car and street rod circuit for its first year. The car won its class every time (12 shows) and was best of show in 3 shows. By today’s standards of building it would be considered a bit crude, but 40 years ago it really held its own. Little John Buttera , in 1977, told me it was one of the “bitchenist” cars he had ever seen…as a young builder, I thought I had died and gone to street rod heaven when he said this to me.  In 1976 I married my wife and we left the wedding in this car…yes I have many pictures of this car and its history along with magazines articles. I have pictures of my two daughters in the car when they were just babies, they are now over thirty. The car needs to find a new life, but I’m keeping my wife and married daughters!

But time marches on and like so many similar stories. My  life just sort of went off in different directions raising a family and a business and the car sat unused, under a car cover in the garage…..except a few mice set up house and lived in it for a while…and you know what mice can do….and they did. So in a burst of creative energy, I told myself that I was going to rebuild the car to its former glory, only better. I got rid of the straight axel frame and was going to fabricate a new, trick, independent version of the car. That was 15 years ago….and that’s where it is today…..in pieces, but no new frame.  I kept the ford Cleveland engine which has only about 2,500 original miles on it from new (not rebuilt) It came out of a Torino with only 1,200 miles at the time. I have probably not even put 1,200 miles on the car since I built it. The oil pan is a custom deep sump. The front pullys are driven with a gilmer type belt.  I still have a lot of the chrome and polished pieces with bolts and accessories. I still have the original rear rims with the Firestone Indy tires (Don’t run these….too old). I am able to get the Canadian 37 Ford tube front axle back from my friend.

The engine should be like new inside since it has virtually no miles on it. I believe it is a 1973.

As you can see from the pictures, this car was built to flip up like a funny car when it is parked, showing all the chassis. There are too many custom features to mention. The dash panel is made from African embouya wood. The doors are suicide. The rear door is electric. The front grill is 37 Ford. The hood is made from a 1939 Cadillac front fender. The sunroof is a slide back unit.  The body has No rust. The wood is excellent.  This body could be slipped on to a T-bucket frame for a quicker project.

This is a piece of Hot Rod history that I think needs to be rebuilt and used…something that I have come to the realization; I am not going to do.