Real Road Test: Fiat 900T van!
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- This is a review of a fantastic example of a Fiat 900T, dating from 1978 and restored by my mate Neil. Was filmed hurriedly during a photoshoot for Classic Van and Pick Up, and the feature appears in the January 2019 issue, which you can buy at the link below.
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The Fiat 900T is a rear-engined design, with the engine tracing its history back to the 1955 Fiat 600.
HubNut Store has now reopened! hubnut.fws.store
I am melting to see these cute Vans again... I am almost 62, so I remember them very well :)
This video makes me cry! I had one in red and with a camping interior made by a carpenter. I loved this car although on windy days it was a challenge to drive! Rust tore us apart but I'll never forget it! It was fun to drive on small mountain roads.
Wow, who knew Ronnie Barker is still alive and restoring old vans. Brilliant.
the owners side burns look like they are T reg (1978) as well!
Awesome Side Burns....
@@KHGrinderboy and the TCR tee shirt.
@@squeegybits Well mine did work (slotless), until my wife threw it out with other rubbish in the garage about 5 years ago...stupid woman, but i still love her!
@@squeegybitsarrrhhh no jam car!
What a little beauty! What it lacks in in practicality and utility it more than makes up for in exquisite Italian chic. Not content with appallingly flawed rear load bay access but they also refused to give it a sliding side door! I absolutely love it without reservation!
Now that is a thing of beauty! Remarkable work to bring it back to such amazing condition. They used to be seen everywhere but now you can really appreciate how special they were.
I had never even heard of one of these before today! I have to say I love it! Typical Italian "sounding fast" without the expense and inconvenience of actually being fast
yep, 30 seconds of gear changing, lots of revs, oh , nice 30 mph! lol
Beautiful - I remember the Smurf stickers from petrol stations. Gosh this makes me feel old.
Service with a Smurf - at National petrol stations, they were everywhere in 1978! Remember the Smurf song?
Certainly can "Father Abraham - We're from Smurfland. La la la ...."
Can also remember the long hot summers, vinyl seats and short trousers.
Happy simple days!
I know the feeling, trust me, it ain't gonna get any better, young Millennial fucks call me oldtimer and I am 'only' 52 sigh...
I had a 900T campervan in the 90's. Upgraded the motor with all the 850Sport parts. Cam, Carb, extractors, sump. Made a huge improvement in performance.
A joyful little van. I must admit, I have soft spot for 70's and 80's Fiats. Shame in the UK they all rusted away so darn quickly. I didn't know there was such a van called the 900t. That driving position is very Bedford Rascal/ Suzuki Super Carry-ish. Keep up the good work, as I do thoroughly enjoy your videos.
What a charming little van. Loved the vehicles that came out of Italy during the 70's.
In ex Yugoslavia(I'm from Croatia) in 80's these were very widespread ,hilarious you did episode about it :) ,btw I had Piaggio Porter for some time,just love those awkward boxy strange cars :)) ,keep up the good work ,following you now..
The 900T probably had the same engine I had in my 127 (1973 model) which was 903cc.. Claimed top speed was about 82 mph but mine would quite happily cruise along the M62 and about 94 mph (this was in early 1980's so predates speed cameras, police patrol cars and other road users. It was a fun car to drive, easy to maintain, cheap to run and had room for 7 people, I know this because I had 7 in it once for a journey of about 20 miles.
Loving it. I have in storage a 1975 Ford Transit Luton van. Very very rusty, but one day when I retire ( health permitting ) I fully intended to restore it and bring it back to its former glory.
Another splendid road test and top marks to the chap who saved and restored this cracking little van. Used to see a lot of these on the road in the 70's & 80's especially in Amigo camper form.
Thank you for making this video, I just had to click on it when I saw it as my Dad bought an 850T many years ago and as a teenager I recall applying filler to almost every panel and then hand painting the whole van with a brush in coach black. It was forever overheating yet we managed to drive from Leeds to London in it loaded with 3 people and a Yorkshire Terrirer taking numerous stops along the way to cool down. Great to see this restored version, so smart and so cute and to see it being enjoyed by Neil.
A common cause of overheating was the removal of the metal shield under the fan area (it pushes air forward). This causes the air to get recirculated rather than being discharged out the back.
@@GSimpsonOAM Well, well, would never have known that, thanks! We even swapped the engine thinking that would cure the overheating! Suspension was lovely on that little van and it was remarkably nippy and surprisingly comfy.
Fantastic little van, the owner did a great restoration job. I would have loved to have seen the push button screen washer demonstrated.
little squirty rubber toy thing!
It falls into the same category of cuteness for me as baby kittens and piglets. Cannot contain the feels
What a delightful little van! Kudos to the owner on a lovely restoration. Seems somewhat like a VW Bus.
He has done a wonderful job with that car. ..and judging from the video it's more calm/less bouncy on the road, compared to what i thought it would be judging by how it looks and the construction. Another great video :)
What A Super Little Van The Fiat 900T Was! And This Example Is Lovingly Restored To Perfection! Hard To Believe These Were Once A Regular Sight On Our Roads!!! Always Had A Soft Spot For Them!!!!
Lovely review Mr Nut - well done Neil on all the hard work invested in this fine vehicle over the years! Excellent...
I loved that engine in my 127... Good for nearly a ton! Thrashable, and unbeatable!
Try imagining a 6'5' Italian greengrocer built like the late Placido Domingo getting out of a 127! I was treated to that view in Tuscany, somewhere near Arezzo, around the year 2000 and I still die laughing every time I think of it! He'd made an art form of it, mind you, but it was still absolutely hilarious! He had some bland late-80s car sitting in front of the shop and used the beaten 127 for deliveries up the horrible gravel paths up the hills lining the valley his shop was in. Think farm road consisting of two wheel ruts dotted with bathtub-sized rocks sticking up to 20 cm out of the surface, with a near-vertical incline of slate on one side and an identical drop on the other, barely wide enough for one car, snaking up and down the hills.
The owner of the place I used to stay never managed to drive a car for more than 5 years. The first one I remember, probably a late-70s vintage Ford Taunus estate, was wrecked when he ripped the oil pan off on a rock, some time in the early 90s. The engine sounded... interesting when he drove it all the way up the hill with the leaky oil pan!
His wife drove a lovely, lovely 2 CV Charleston (black and red) that lasted much longer, especially since she didn't use it as a daily driver on those farm tracks. The cook drove a red Renault R4 that was eventually wrecked in a horrible accident that killed one passenger, the only one not wearing a seatbelt.
What a lovely little van. There were many camper versions about when I was younger but I don't remember seeing many vans. Sounds great too. Thanks for the video ☺
I owned a 1969 Fiat 124 wagon, fun to drive & easy on gas, this was 1971. After a couple of bad Midwest Winters, it started to rust bad. At the end, we were spot-welding old license plates over the rust-outs to try and hold it together! I do love that blue van, though. Good times.
I haven't seen one of these in so long... Remarkable condition and bags of character!
That was fun! Complete mystery to me why anyone would give this a thumbs down. Perhaps it's the colour. Funny old world.
I was a proud owner of one of these camper conversions. The 900T had 34 HP, the 900E even 45 HP, I think, or at least 40 HP. But it ran better than that, a 110-120 km/h on the gauge what may have been a real 100 km/h. But uphill on a motorway I was able to pass a Subaru Mini Van with so called 50 HP!. It was an awfully unreliable car, especially the electric system, but very fun. No fan, so Everytime stopping at a redlight, you saw nothing trough the windshield. To park it, it was preferable to ask your passenger to get off, since any weight would make the steering harder to turn. The worst enemy was side wind, which deported this tiny car two meters off his track. But I loved it a lot and made a trip almost every weekend. It was very comfor
table to sleep in it and even cooking was posible. Nice car!
I had an 850T van in the mid seventies. A hoot to drive and the engine was unburstable. No oil filter IIRC, just a thrower you cleaned regularly? Bit hazy on that. This is a fabulous restoration I can hardly believe one has survived over here, the sills went on mine and the front suspension needed rebuilding every 5,000 miles. Fortunately a cheap and simple job. Thank you for the nostalgia!
My Dad had a couple of Fiat 127's with the same engine....FANTASTIC engine for 900 cc!
Wow! The first Van version I’ve seen ever, most you used to see were campers with the old 850 engine.
That one is immaculate! Credit to the owner!
I saw one of these about 2 years ago in a halfords car park in derby. Owned by one of the mechanics there, what a marvellous little thing. His was a camper conversion as well.
Just received that lovely calender and note from you hubnut. What a pleasant surprise and many thanks. Wishing you all the best too for 2019...🦃💩
I drove a red T reg one of these back in 1979 for a small clothing manufacturer. Had to deliver to Tesco’s Delamare warehouse in Milton Keynes and was directed to reverse on to a loading bay which was a similar height to the roofline!! But with its rear engine it was impractical to unload this way. The hinged side door always wanted to close itself too.
The accelerator pedal felt very odd underfoot. It also developed a fault which made the steering extremely stiff.
The company replaced the 900T with a V reg Leyland Sherpa which was much more practical.
Beautiful little van the gentleman has done a great job restoring it fantastic
I'm surprised Hubnut didn't do a proper introduction of the owner in the video. Otherwise it was great to see this awesome little van. In the United States, Van life is the new rage since housing costs are going through the roof(lol, nice pun). People are converting cargo vans into posh living quarters on a multitude of different platforms. Great video.
Yeah, my one-track mind kicks in again. All about the vehicles, forgetting the people...
@@HubNut You're only human. Just thought that it's important to make all that appears on the Hubnut channel feel welcome and included.
"Lots of exposed wires" make it easier to deal with the enevitable!
I didn't realise they were fitted with Lucas electrics 😁
Ni ,ey restored van looks really nice. :)
Toby the Glen
Yes it's helpful.
I had a camper version and had a lost keys situation overseas.
It was relatively easy to overcome with the easy access to the wiring.
My father bought a camper version, called the 'Fiesta' (long before Ford usurped that name). It had a fibreglass lifting roof, which lifted up completely and an upper bunk with a lower double, and cooking/washing-up facilities just ahead of the engine riser. Luggage went in the back, over the engine and a sort of wooden/aluminium extension held up with a leg that came up from behind the bumper at 45 degrees that allowed the lifting rear hatch to close at 45 degrees over it and give extra luggage space. The front seat was re-trimmed with velour with a strangely low back-rest, all of which flattened out to form part of the lower double bed (zero standing space). A side tent-thing was your standing area, with front and rear facing benches in the rear and a centre folding-table between them... all VERY compact. As an apprentice mechanic at the time, I had to keep it going, which was a never ending nightmare. It had drum brakes all round, that had cast iron drums, but aluminium shoes (obviously lined with friction material). When you used the brakes, the shoes would expand faster than the drums, which meant that, when cold, you had to adjust them loose or they would jamb on when hot. This was very difficult as there was barely a sweet spot where they would either not bind when hot nor have a barely working and ludicrously long pedal when cold. I also obtained an 850 Sport engine and transmission that I fitted to get the wretched thing to get a move on. There is no conventional oil filter on these engines, just a centrifuge in the fan pulley (which split in half to clear out the guck). The O/E front dampers were terrible, giving so little damping that the front would bounce off the ground on really undulating country roads... a set of after-market dampers sorted that out however. The swing axle rear suspension, so awful on the Herald (another model of car I worked on as an apprentice in a Rover/Jaguar/Triumph main dealership), was fine on taller vehicles, where the higher centre of gravity overcame the inherent instability (Skoda commercials and VW commercials as well, of that era). If you wrung its neck, you could kiss an indicated 90mph, which I managed on the M6 and beyond, on my way towards Inverness on one occasion. As Ian tells us, these things rusted for fun. When I wasn't fixing the thing, I was patching it up, but we still got a very good price when we sold it many years later. My father, a slow driver and camping enthusiast, loved it to bits, although my mother was never entirely happy piloting the thing. I must admit that I was happy to see the back of the thing, having intimate knowledge of every minute part of its entire makeup!
This is simply lovely. Love the owner’s laid-back demeanour 😀
So you actually went back to the 1970s and drove Ronnie Barker's van, complete with the man himself - fabulous!
Basic it may be, but so good to see one of these little vans in this condition. Another first class video Sir 👍 Tam.
I love vehicles where the passenger compartment IS the crush zone!
What could possibly go wrong?
Neat van that we never got to see over here.
It makes you drive more carefully, knowing the crumple zone is your face..
Over where?
@@CEng-ge6sw many European vehicles like this were never sold on the US market.
A lot of vans were like that way back when, usually the crumple zone was the engine,the noisy smelly thing sitting next to you in the cab. The Mk1 Ford Transit changed all that.
The Japanese stuck with that design well into the 1980s and continued building no-nose models well into the early 2000s for some markets (the last mid-engine Toyota HiAce was built until 2004 according to Wikipedia and apparently some of the old Mitsubishi designs, mainly what was the MK 1 L300 in continental Europe, seem to be in production even today!
What a cool little van that is Mr HubNut ! great test drive , thank you.
I'm so glad that this little van was restored,must have been a lot of work.I love the styling of it and it's design as a van is pretty unpractical,but it's just such a nice wee thing.
Great looking van, I remember one as an Ice cream van, Happy New and look forward to seeing the cars you come across in 2019.
Wow, we had the camper van version of that as a kid, loved it :o)
Those rear window stickers take me straight back to the early 1980s! :)
Like these videos highlighting some of the quirkier vehicles that are still around today. As a fan of the more unusual types of vehicle myself I approve!
Brilliant little van and very well restored by Neil excellent video.
What a fantastic little van and another excellent video too Ian.
Greetings from Barton-upon-Humber! You drove past my house, Ian! PIty I wasn't a subscriber at the time, I could've waved! 🤗
I had a 1984 900e pandora camper a few years back. Great wee van very hard to find parts for though. One of my biggest regrets selling it!
What a great van and review Ian. Particuarly like the chat with the owner. What an achievement. Good times! :)
These road tests of 'other' cars are why I love this channel. Keep up the great work.
1 : to bring you warm compliments because your tests are sensational
2 : i have no doubt this tiny van is a disguised Fiat 600 Multipla of the sixties , so it is a big improvement
3: i like very much your wise style , to be respectful will gain countless readers to you.
Which in a few i mean i forever thumbed down Jeremy Clarkson since he shown how to be petulant against humble brands as FSO Polonez , guess no carmaker on Earth would deserve to be fooled
4: True applauses and compliments from this far patagonia Argentinianland !
Dunno if you said it,but the 903cc engine was also used in the Uno 'Formula' model,as owned by yours truly for a year. Not a bad motor,but I later discovered it had had an accident & the engine was not the original! Sold,then replaced by a Mini Metro 1.0HLE!
in the early 90's i had a 1962 vw split and my girlfriend had a 900T. We had the coolest drive in the neighbourhood! I miss those simple easier times.
I remember the local ice cream company (Grannellis) had one of these back in the seventies when I was a kid and a rather portly Italian lady would sell ices through a sliding glass window and it had a fibreglass roof and the livery was wonderful, I remember the little engine chattering away and the taste of petrol fumes with my 99.
Cheadle area?
@@fasthracing Oldham, not a million miles away.
Been a huge admirer of the Fiat 850 for almost 50 years. My mum had a new 850 Spider,the early one with the glass covers on the head lights and I often got to drive it once i had my licence (at 15 in those days) . That van looks like a scaled down version of the bigger ones ,the 1300's etc.
It's positively adorable. Back in high school a friend had an 850 coupe, which was awesome fun (when it worked) - I can also vouch for it being relatively easy to push (there being a fine line between 'passenger' and 'auxiliary engine')...
Stunning condition, beautiful machine. Respect.
Hi Ian,i remember these,they did a campervan,my dad had one and didn't make it on the road too much work,it was a maroon one with a white roof, this is a clean example,looks brand new,great review.
Watching this brought back many happy memories of my little 900T amigo campervan. Exactly the same colour fjord blue. But sadly the rust on my van was too bad to save it.
What a splendid little commercial van,
I very much enjoyed that !
I had a really funny summer when my mate Mike had an Amigo - the camper van one of these. Bought for £150 he harboured fantasies of restoring it but the pop up roof leaked there was chronic rust and the engine head gasket had gone so it constantly overheated. We drove it around as much as we could for about a month then it got scrapped sadly. The view of the value and rarity of the cars was different back in 1981.
I had an UNO - B 891 TNA and a Marbella K 492 XNA both with the 903cc engine. Its a great perky motor.
This has got to be the next best Hippy van to a VW Camper van or a Commer/Dodge Space van !
I like it 🙂 Have a great Christmas HubNut and keep these great videos coming during 2022 and beyond ! 👍👍👍👍👍
Well it IS a fantastic looking thing.
That horn and engine sound very Marbella :D.
The reflection in the window behind you makes it look like you're reversing, hard.
I'd love that little thing if I had a proper heated garage :)
Yes, watching the on-board footage in the edit suite was very unsettling!
Brilliant review Ian as usual. Van has great character as did some of the Brit vans of the 60s and 70s like the Royal Mail Austin Morris ones with the sliding doors or the older (was it) Commer vans with the front wheels only half showing. I could go on and on... Happy New Year to all!
Yeah , loved those Commer vans with the hideaway wheels , think the last ones were branded as Dodge's . The royal mail vans were J4's
Aww what a cute wee van, takes me back to my Bedford Rascal which was replaced in 2002 with my Fiat Doblo Cargo 1.2 8v which I'm still driving about in to this day . Boy do I miss the side doors though.
Fiat Doblo Cargo 1.2 8v ey...?
A friend of mine had the Fiat 127 which more than likely used this engine - it went quite well when revved hard!
One of these little gems was converted and used as an ice cream van in my area when I was a boy! Oh the memories.
Hey, I had one of these as a camper!
Although my one was an earlier version with the round headlights.
The cab heater never worked and the engine used to overheat all the time.
I remember one winter, leaving for work at around 5 every morning, wearing an old donkey jacket, hat, scarf and gloves etc. De-icing the windscreen inside and out, only to drive 100 yards down the road and stop and to it all again. All down to not having a working cab heater (nearly choked on de-icer fumes every morning!).
900cc's of joy....Had a terrifying trip driving home from Wales across the Severn bridge on a windy day, we were blown all over the road!!!
The choke lever is on the floor behind the handbrake lever, I always thought that worked very well, and mine was the same colour blue.
My uncle had one of these back in the 70's in red. The switch gear was used in the 126. Not good for the passenger if you had a front end crash with the spare wheel at your knees!
Great video lovely condition & looks a good restoration can't be many left on the road now.
What a lovely little van and a fantastic restoration. I Remember years ago a friend of mine had the camper van version and it was rotting away then. Must’ve only been about 10 years old as well. Cheers Ian
Very useful having a low 1st gear as it's picks up much faster. It must die on hills with it only having 34bhp and probably has to be dropped into 1st or 2nd to climb a very steep hill. Old Fiat and Renault OHV engines sound alike too. The owner has done a good job restoring it.
Hi Ian good video nice to see you in a van for a change great road test.
I enjoy your van reviews as much as your car reviews. Id love to see a review of a Bedford Rascal/ Suzuki Supercarry van.
or even a smaller one like 2 stroke honda acty or daihatsu 850 cab etc, my mate had an 850 for a short time once :)
A primary school friend's parents had a camper version of one in red back in the late 70s, they used to travel down to the west country from Kent a couple of times a year & his Dad also used it in his building business.
Wow. What a lovely cute machine. Even the owner looks like an Italian.
Used to see lots of these around in the seventies,great looking little vans but notorious for rust.Another great video Ian.
At least the wheels are bolted on properly. As a Holden driving Aussie I have a real problem with 3 stud wheels. Keep the great videos coming. Cheers; David "Grumpy" Barnes.
Superb example of a sadly very rare van now. Fiat doing what Fiat do best, making small vehicles very very well.
That OHV (100 series) engine also saw service in the 600, 850, 127, Panda, Uno, Cinquecento and Seicento. Fiat used them that long because they were tough, willing, reliable and very easy to work on. I've had loads of cars with it in and never had one bit of trouble with any of them.
Notts Forest?!! It's Notts County, but always Nottingham Forest. People have been lynched for less 😊. Love the spare wheel position.
Waaaay to high class for HubNut! LOL! Gorgeous little van!
I remember the "save with a smurf" ad. I lived next to the village garage as a kid and the owner used to give us the smurf characters when we went to the office😊
Great review Ian, as always. pretty little van. Well done to the restorer. great dedication in getting it road worthy.
That rear light cluster, looks remarkably like the lights on another vehicle, which I heard you mention this same remark as mine here, so rack your brains HubNut : )
That van takes me back to the late 80s. My dad was a coach driver at the time. They had one of these vans as a runaround. He would often come home in it. The van itself was on an S reg. They repainted it white and put the coach company name on it..
My first 4-wheel vehicle was a late-60s Hillman Imp van... this thing brings back some memories.
Not the fastest, not the most practical and you'd certainly not want to be involved in a head-on collision - but beautifully restored and I think you'd have a lot of fun bombing around town in one of these.
That camber.......wow. A cracking little van.
Hello Hubnut, watching some of your older videos on a slow Saturday night - your knack for describing the principles behind suspension and engine designs in simple terms (e.g positive camber in this instance) reminds me of one LJK Setright (the late great). Love your dry humour too! I know that these things cannot always be made to order but if opportunity presents itself, I would love to see your review of a 1970s Alfasud or Fiat 124/125, especially the S variants! Speaking of which , any chance of a VW 411 or 412 - about as Hubnut as you can get, brilliant designs with fatal flaws. Thanks for a great channel, may you go from strength to strength.
I love that Motor Rail rear window sticker!
This takes me back. As a child, my father had one of these as a camper which we drove all over Europe at 45mph. I'm sure we annoyed everyone on the autobahn. It was really cold sleeping in the pop up roof though.
I rented on to move from Perugia to Bari back in the late 70's. No power, but you could fit a lot of stuff in it. Memories...
Great wee video of a very interesting little van. Fiat have always made good engines that seem live on forever! FIRE engines introduced c 1985 are still being manufactured today.
Had the motor caravan conversion model and fitted it with an 850 coupe sports engine and transaxale (much higher gearing) made it much better to drive, never had any problems even touring north Cornwall hills.Wish I had that CAR now all it needed was piston rings because it had been cooked. Run out of room second baby came along! sold the van and bought a caravan for towing with the new company car. Keep the videos coming so many memories ps had a Berkeley T60 and 2 x Renault 12's did all of my own maintenance could tell you many stories with the motors you have been testing and tips.
I had one of these 900t vans new in 1979, exact same spec and colour. Used it to carry all my Disco equipment, Decs, Speakers, Lighting, to venues
Between 1972 and '76 my walk to and from school took me past a Fiat dealership so these along many other Fiat products were a daily sight, including a rare sighting of a 130 coupe! The dealership now sell Dacia!
i walked past a honda dealership, i saw crx delsols and the earlier civics which i loved and the odd honda n600, shame they dont offer anything small enough for me now
A very sweet little van. The cabin area is reminiscent to my dad's old Suzuki ST90k pick up with the seats over the wheel arches.