Filed Under: News
Open a bottle of good Italian wine and you can guarantee the contents, it could be a lucky dip or a disaster.
We of course recognise the great Italian manufacturers Fiat, which incorporates Alfa and Lancia and controls Ferrari and Maserati, at one time these great marques did not have a master, however unlike the British they didn’t end up with three or four marques that were virtually identical, I guess who is left wins.
Now, on our way to Clonea we passed this bungalow which had a red convertible Lancia Beta parked outside, I thought I must take a picture of that as one doesn’t see many, if any around Kilkenny and Clonmel the weeks went past and either we were in a hurry or no camera, the other week knowing we would soon be packing up the caravan for the winter I made a determined effort, a supreme effort, more so as there was a couple cutting hedges in the garden.
With my usual manner I politely asked if I could take a picture of the Lancia, with one eye on the quickest means of escape, luckily the natives of Ballinroad were friendly, I quickly learnt the car belonged to the son who lived down the road and that he would accept 3000 euro, which sort of said probably a lot less, inspection could well reduce this even more.
Again the choice of car looked totally uncomplicated, albeit this was the first model eminating from Lancia since being taken over by Fiat, Lancia had been really in the doldrums for a couple of years as their chief designer had passed on.
Before we go on many of us have not known the beauty of Italian engineering, cars made for driving, for sheer pleasure, cars that lust for speed, unfortunately in the early seventies, yes you know what is coming, the dreaded rust, but it was not just Italian cars, it was virtually all cars, of
course there were exceptions, there always are, nobody bothered to work out exactly why this happened, theories like too much salt on the roads during winter, lack of under sealing and so it went on, one factor completely ignored was the exploitation of the situation by the British motoring press to increase the sale of the homemade cars, horror stories abounded, one typically gruesome and completely untrue situation was that the front of the car departed from the passenger department.
The situation was bad enough that Lancia actually started re-purchasing
some of the cars, and also gave extended warranties on other’s, at least there was an element of caring, again why is not known but Italian Lancia’s had yet another trick, not dodgy but perhaps quirky might describe some of the electrics, trying to sort them out took time however invariably the problem eminated from earthing.
Before we progress if you fancy an early Lancia or any other car take a magnet with you, I’ll explain, it is easy to bodge bodywork with fillers, however filler as far as I am aware contains no metal therefore your magnet will not stick to it, and if the magnet won’t stick, walk away.
It sounds very much like doom and gloom, though the car is a brilliant concept it could also cost a lot more than the asking price, get a good one, cherish it as without doubt it is going to be a true classic because of it’s parentage and scarcity
Again, the Italians didn’t do things in halves, with the Beta what you got depended whether it was left hand drive or right hand to make it more interesting not all the same models received the same equipment.
The dashboard has been described as a calamity, not that it is missing any essential gauges but more of where Lancia decided to put them, on reflection one wonder’s what the driver’s manual might show.
One article stated categorically that there were three versions all with Fiat 124 engines, and these were fitted transversely in the Lancia, needless to say it was subject to further development, in fact all the first series cars could do the magic “Ton” , and 0-60 in about 10 seconds.
There is comment regarding the low geared steering, and some wonder why the Beta was not made as a five door hatchback, after the saloon there came coupes, followed by the Spyder which had a removeable
Targa top and folding rear end, there also appeared an HPE version 2000cc with more equipment, so now we hade five different body styles and three or four engines.
Yet another body style emerged called the Trevi, which was a Beta with a boot and one of Lancia’s futuristic dashboards, I guess calling a car prone to rust after a fountain in Rome was not the wisest of choices, however
our Beta was still alive and kicking a supercharged version was introduced, this was a 125 mph job, and before the demise of the Beta Lancia had great rally success with the car.
It is not often we find a car that really isn’t meant for the ordinary classic owner, from what I have gathered you most certainly need to be an accomplished mechanic, in other words it is not for the faint hearted it could break your heart or your bank.
We will do it as good as possible, corrosion check points underbody structures ahead of the rear wheels, steelwork around suspension top mounts, front cross member structures within the boot and all the other usual places such as jacking points rear body panel, windscreen, bonnet, bootlid and door bottoms.
Driveshaft gaiters dodgy, changing spark plugs challenging, even with minimal mileage you must change the element every 12 months, cam belts don’t wait three years or 30,000 miles do it yearly and if you must have one join the Lancia owner’s club, or try Corgi or Dinky models for safety.
If you have one of these I would be delighted to know how it is.
Ted Lay tedlay@gmail.com
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