Protective net of garage and engine hood guard of Fiat 500
ガレージの防護ネットとフィアット５００のボンネットガード
Kids of the neighborhood love to shoot basketball at my hoop, but their parents worry about the balls that missed the basket fall on my Cinquecento and make dents or crook the door mirror– I don’t care at all, though…
近所の子供たちはウチのゴールでシュートするの大好きみたいだけど、親は、ミスったボールがチンクの上に落ちて凹ませたり、ミラーひん曲げたりしないか気が気じゃないようだ。僕は全然かまわないんだけど、、、
I have hanged a net curtain from the front beam of the garage and put a duckboard-like guard on the engine hood so as for the neighbors to play unworried. Now it is all settled.
みんなに安心して遊んでもらえるように、ガレージにネットを張って、ボンネットの上にはスノコ状の折りたたみ式ガートを付けた。一件落着。
Worried about rust of my old Fiat 500, I have searched for an effective rust-prevention means, and remembered an electrical device I used to use for my pickup truck in Hokkaido. That one was really working (so I believe) and the truck never got rusty.
フィアット500のサビが心配で防錆方法をあちこち探していたら、北海道で乗っていたピックアップトラックに着けていた電気の機器を思い出した。あれはよく効いた（と信じてる）ので全然サビが出なかった。
There are various types of the anti-rust device on market, but they are all so expensive that I can’t afford to buy one. On a network auction, I found and bought a secondhand device that was reasonably priced, but unfortunately, it was out of order when arrived, and I had to return it to the seller.
いろんな防錆機器が売られてるけど、どれもこれも値段が高くてちょっと手がでない。ネットオークションで手頃な価格の中古品を買ったけど、着いてみたら壊れていたので結局返品した。
I continued searching and finally found one, which was even more inexpensive than the used one I bought before. It doesn’t look great, comes in a cheapie plastic casing with a simple label on it, and is sold on the website also as simple and plane.
また探し続けていたら、オークションで買った中古よりもっと安いのがついに見つかった。見た目はショボく、ちゃっちいプラスチックの箱に簡素なラベルが貼ってあるだけで、売ってるウェブサイトも同じように単純で質素な作りだ。
However, or therefore, I like that, and somehow feel that the whole business is so honestly run without affectation. The shop carries (and actually manufactures) electrical and electronic apparatuses all of which look as if they are kits of electronic circuits for science-minded high school students.
それでも、ていうか、だからこそ、こいつは気に入った。なんかこう、見かけ倒しじゃない正直な商売してるな、って感じ。この店（Project Dress Co.)は科学好きな高校生のための電子回路工作キットみたいな電子装置を売ってる（ていうか作ってるし）。
In today’s afternoon, I really enjoyed making the insulated anodes, wiring and installing the device to my Cinquecento. I am sure the stuff will work.
絶縁したアノード作って、配線して、チンク嬢にその装置を取り付けて、今日の午後は随分楽しんだ。こいつはきっと効果があるにちがいない。
When I was driving my Fiat 500 on a mountain road some years ago, I noticed an unusual object in the roadside bush. I pulled it out of the grass and it was a basketball ring.
何年か前、フィアット５００で山の中をドライブしていたら何か変なものが道端のヤブの中に顔をのぞかせていた。草から引っ張りだしたらバスケットボールのゴールリングだった。
A basketball ring? But why in the mountain? Well, I thought it was illegally dumped, and decided to bring it back home, because I always dreamed of having a basketball goal above the garage like ones I saw in the States.
へ？バスケの輪っか？でも何で山ん中に？まあ不法投棄だろうなと思って、持って帰ることにした。アメリカでよく見かけたガレージの上に付いているやつみたいなのを欲しいなあと常々思ってたから。
However, the ring was much much heavier than I thought and I kinda regretted as soon as I picked it up– not just heavy, it looked huge on the rear seat of the miniature-sized Cinquecento, Ever since then, the hoop had been sleeping in the garage until yesterday morning, when I started to build the supporting beams and the board.
The job’s done! Whoops! I realized I hadn’t order a net and a basketball, yet! Gotta buy ‘em from Amazon or somewhere, now.
完成っ！、、、わっ！ネットとボールを持ってなかったんだった。すぐアマゾンかどっかで買わなきゃ。
Cinquecentos in general have various door mirrors simply because side mirrors were (allegedly) not required around the time Cinques came out in Italy in the 1950s. So, they put on whatever available or their favorite stuff, today. However, it seems that most of their efforts have failed and the mirrors seen on the Cinques look neither functional nor aesthetical.
The former owner’s choice was even worse: black, bullet-shaped and too small– ugly and dangerous. I had replaced them with chrome-plated ones, and looked OK but still too small.
I thought it’s a good idea to install a pair of “present” Fiat 500’s door mirrors and tried, but in vain… They were too large (despite that the present one is relatively small compared with other ordinary cars).
Finally, after weeks of search throughout the web, I came across the door mirrors for the early Mazda Miata, whose rounded shape fits that of the Cinque, and bought a pair on the web auction. The original color was rather dull, so I painted them in red!
The angle of the door surface where the mirror was attached was too close to vertical. I had to make a wedge-shaped spacer to correct the angle of the mirror. The spacer’s surface must be curved so as to fit the door’s curvature. The old Miata’s mirrors are not motorized and small enough to fit the micro Cinque, and their oval shapes go so well with round shape of my car.
It was a good fine day today, so that I slipped in my Fiat 500 to get to the mountain house.
Just about reaching the mountain pass, it started to snow. I was worried about the tires, which were not for snowed or frozen road.
When I arrived, it looked the weather had recovered, but soon the situation started to get even worse. Then I decided to do stuff only for a few hours or so to be able to get back home before sunset.
I was sort of hurry to work, and made a major bummer– stepped on an old nail, which pierced the shoe sole and stuck in the thenar of my left foot so deep. It’s swollen and still aching even now…
Oh, well… I quit the day’s work much earlier, for it seemed a bad idea to continue in the miserable now with an aching foot. I thought I could have got more injury; the work of the day was mainly with a circular saw, which is very dangerous.
On the way back, the thermometer at the pass indicated “-1″(degree, Celsius= below freezing point). There wasn’t much snow and the road surface wasn’t frozen yet, but if I went there after dark… uhhh… I don’t even wanna think…
