Per favore - Italian windshield stickers

[TXCajun]

Ciao!

I know we have modelers from all over. So, perhaps my "Amico's" in here can help with this.

I am building a 1/24th scale Gunze Fiat 500 I bought from a hobby shop in Vicenza YEARS ago. It's going to be built "curbside" but I'd like to add a few detail bits to give it character. I have noticed, in several of the FIat 500's pictures online, that there are what appear to be vehicle registration sitckers or cards either adhered to the inside of the windshield in front of the driver or on the inside of the sun visors.

So, just wondering if someone can enlighten me on this and possibly provide good pictures or scans of these cards.

Grazie mille! :lol:

Stew

[Bonehammer73]

I have noticed, in several of the FIat 500's pictures online, that there are what appear to be vehicle registration sitckers or cards either adhered to the inside of the windshield in front of the driver or on the inside of the sun visors.

So, just wondering if someone can enlighten me on this and possibly provide good pictures or scans of these cards.

Grazie mille! :lol:

Volentieri!

The two 'stickers' were receipts for insurance and circulation tax, respectively. Actually, the windshield usually had a sticker with transparent pockets carrying the two of them - they were just made of paper.

Payment of both is mandatory for the car to run on public roads, and they were to be displayed at the front end so that a policeman could check a row of cars quickly. With the advent of databases and the conversion of the circulation tax into a property tax, since 1998 it is no longer necessary to keep the card inside the car, which is good because it was not uncommon to be requested proof of payment for a car that had been stolen - cards included...

This is an old registration (there were many colors, see eBay auction #150381995181):

Intermediate (the picture is watermarked)...

This is a more recent one, probably the last type to be displayed:

Insurance receipt, by law, is printed with elaborate 'frames' to prevent forgery. As far as I remember they've always looked more or less like this one:

So, it depends in which year your Cinquecento is ideally set... other 'legal' stickers are carried on the rear. You can see one here - a speed limit "80" (49.7 mph)

There was also a 'back adhesive" for the rear window, seen here before application:

And an "Italy" adhesive, compulsory if you travelled abroad:

I'll conclude this lengthy post with two observations: first, there's no Italian plate with the Gunze kit. Here you can see a classic example:

The letters were raised and painted. There was also a later version with orange letters and white numbers. Later plates are rectangular and look like crap on the Cinquino.

Second, the one thing that instantly gives 'oomph' to a 500 is the raised hood:

This was done by soldering two props to the hood hinges, to allow for better cooling, in the 'prepared' 500s and became a trend.

Edited October 24, 2009 by Bonehammer73

[tornado64]

i seem to have a memory that when i was there in about 1978 in vico equense near naples cars also had radio licence tags simmilar to a tax disc in the windscreen !!

[Bonehammer73]

Tornado is right, owners of a car radio had one further tax to pay and one further sticker to show. But you won't need this unless your 500 is equipped with it: on eBay auction #390089874156 you can see how the old ones looked like. This tax was abolished in 1998.

[TXCajun]

Gentlemen! Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for! The Gunze kit, I believe, represents a '69 500. From a now very foggy memory, a co-worker in Vicenza had one and his looked like the kit and was either a '68 or '69. I don't remember exactly.

[Bonehammer73]

Just in case you're interested...

For European cars, the year of construction is not so useful, because restyling interventions were farther apart. The 500 was refurbished three or four times in 17 years!... The first series, "Nuova 500" (the "old" 500 being the Fiat Topolino) came in 1957, had grilles under the headlights and the infamous 'suicide' doors. The second version was the 1960 D with a second, smaller pair of headlights below the large ones, and a chromed line running along the sides. The third version, the F, came out in 1965, had the safer doors and is the one marketed by Gunze, but only now I remember that the kit lacks the chromed "Nuova 500" writing on the hood. The Tamiya kit has two versions of it, early and late, so you can get a spare from a fellow.

The 500F was manufactured until 1972 when it was superseded by the R (Renewed), so your friend's car was either that or a 500L (Luxury) which joined the F in 1968: it had tiny 'bull bars' on the bumpers and a simplified front ornament.

I just found this site which I recommend for colour combinations and details.