Project Fiat Panda 1.4 100HP
PART ONE: Our 2008 Panda 100HP was certainly cheap at £600. With prices rising for these, will ours be a worthwhile project? Martyn Knowles and Andrew Everett report.
in association with
BUY ONLINE OR CALL US ON
0121 626 7971
Many of us will remember the original Panda, the boxy economy car that arrived in 1980 complete with seat covers that unzipped to be chucked in the washing machine. That ran until 2003 (really!) selling 4.5 million units and saw the debut of the FIRE (Fully Integrated Robotised Engine) in 1986 – aunit that powered all kinds of cars such as the Panda, Uno, Tipo, Punto, 500, Alfa Romeo Mito and Giulietta, Lancia Y10 and Ford Ka – as well as the smaller-engined Jeep Compass. It is only now starting to be replaced. At present, it’s to be found in the Fiat 124 Spider, the Fiat 500 and Jeep Compass and Renegade.
The second-generation Panda arrived in 2003 which means early ones are almost eligible for classic insurance – has it really been that long?
The 2003 Panda took only a revised version of the FIRE engines and the name from the original car, and it was built at Fiat’s Polish factory in Tychy – this is better known as the plant that unleashed such atrocities as the 126P, though FSO/Polski Fiat started off building the 125P, the unlovely Polonez – and later on more worthy cars such as the Uno. The Fiat 500 and secondgeneration Ford Ka also hailed from this ultra-modern factory.
