1969 is a special year
I am Edward Beukeveld, owner of Beukeveld Exports B.V. My background is mechanical engineering and motor vehicles. My year of construction and that of the Fiat 500 is 1969. At an early age I came into contact with the Fiat 500, one of our employees had a Fiat 500 in the late 1970s and that has always stayed with me.
Finally, in September 2022, I bought the 19-52-JE, an original Dutch Fiat 500 that had been driven in the Wieringermeer until 1979 and then stored at a farmer’s yard. The Fiat 500 had had some oxyacetylene welding in the 1970s, but was still restorable.
Simplicity
The Fiat 500 is a fun car because of its simplicity and everything is so small that it is all manageable. My Fiat 500 now has a 650cc (from a Fiat 126) engine with original electronic ignition (from the later models Fiat 126) and also a synchronised gearbox.
I always get happy driving the Fiat. The reaction of people smiling at you when they see a Fiat 500 is gold. It is also just the simplicity that makes it fun to drive the Fiat.
I did the whole restoration project myself with my son of (then) 14. The smoothing was done by a friend of mine. Spray painting the interior I did myself and the exterior was done by another acquaintance to complete the restoration immaculately. Total time of restoration was around 6 months (September 2022 – March 2023).
Happy with parts supplier
I bought the parts from Fiat van der Laan. I contacted Patrick in the beginning and after a nice conversation, I bought all the parts needed for the restoration from him. The short lines, quick shipping/delivery and if you are looking for something special Patrick dives in and comes up with a solution.
Another fun story
The Fiat 500 is actually for Martine who I have been with for 35 years, I was ready to spray paint the inside and had discussed in advance what colour it should be. I didn’t have the new side screens/modder screens and front end on it yet, so I painted everything 433 Azzurro Aqua Marina.
I take a front screen home to show, well that was so not the right colour. Oops. So I looked at all the swatches again and it had to be colour 415 Azzurro Chiaro, so the inside of the 19-52-JE is pretty full of paint 🙂
More pictures of my restoration: Photo Gallery
