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Egregious Lancia purchase from salty sea island and watery lakes. NOW WITH RUST PERVAGE and WEIRD ITALIAN VANS


Guest Breadvan72

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When you hear the engine sound in Roxy Music's "Love is the Drug", why can't it be the sound of a Lampredi Twin Cam? OK, it is probably supposed to be a Maserati or maybe a Jaguar engine, but I can do the budget version.

Bryan Ferry would Lancia. Tie half undone and looking 'relaxed'.

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OK , I will 'fess up.  Regular readers of the tales of misery and self harm that we call Autoshite may recall that back in 2014 or so I owned a truly appalling Lancia Beta Coupe. It was one of the very rare 1300 versions, and was terrifyingly rusty and broken in innumberable ways.  I sold it to a Forum member, whom I think sold it on to someone else.  It was perhaps saveable, but saving it would have been a mega job.

 

Here's the member in question on collection day:

 

post-1381-0-99277200-1428443995.jpg

 

He'd bitten off more than he had time to chew:

 

post-1381-0-70749900-1428444182.jpg

 

Apart from the whole body flexing and doors flapping open in corners, it still drove ace, and sounded brilliant.

 

Will punted it on easy enough via Car'n'Classic to an enthusiast, so it wasn't all bad.

 

I hope you have better luck with this new one, Gerard!

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When you hear the engine sound in Roxy Music's "Love is the Drug", why can't it be the sound of a Lampredi Twin Cam?    OK, it is probably supposed to be a Maserati or maybe a Jaguar engine, but I can do the budget version. 

From memory, the sound effect on the record suggests an A-series Midget more than anything else, to me at least.  Any better offers?

 

 

Oh, and: top purchase there Mr Van.  You should have let me go and look at it.  The photos with Huggy in the background would have been an overdose of brown!

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What a lovely thing these were*. The saloon is about as appealing as Domestos and is a donor car, the HPE decidedly odd but the Coupes..... :wub:

 

I can still recall the scrapyard I used to frequent having rows of Betas stacked three high awaiting the crusher, and the reaction of the guys working there that they had to be cubed. What a waste.

 

 

*see also: Alfetta GT.

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Great stuff Breadvan.

 

That does look loverley. 8) 8)

 

They don't use road salt on the Isle of Man either. Not that that makes any difference...

 

De-Manxing is straightforward. When I did the van, I posted all the gubbins on the Monday and the V5 arrived from the DVLA the following Thursday...There is no NOVA declaration required, but I included a copy of the relevant page from the regulations, with the clause stating exemption, highlighted just to make sure...

 

My van was 'MAN 171Y' and was issued in October 1978, so 'MAN 216O' will be earlier...

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Guest Breadvan72

Only two days into the plan and it's all gone tits already.  The welding guy recommended to me in Kendal doesn't want to take on the gig.  I had best arrange for the car to come south, but first I need to find a sensibly priced and suitably skilled weldy shop somewhere.  If anyone has any (serious) recommendations of weldy places that can do old cars to a good standard (but need not be specialist pre War Rolls Royce restorers), please yell.  Cheers!

 

 

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Only two days into the plan and it's all gone tits already.  The welding guy recommended to me in Kendal doesn't want to take on the gig.  I had best arrange for the car to come south, but first I need to find a sensibly priced and suitably skilled weldy shop somewhere.  If anyone has any (serious) recommendations of weldy places that can do old cars to a good standard (but need not be specialist pre War Rolls Royce restorers), please yell.  Cheers!

I have just been recommended a Panelbeater-welder in Wendlebury, near Bicester. I have not used him myself. A chap from the BMW club thought his jack had broken, but it turned out to be the jack was pushing up though 3 lays of old sill, not lifting his E39 and he is very happy with the repair!

 

Dean Bourton

 

Dean64Bourton@gmail.com

 

07557 418194

 

PS. I would like to meet him myself so if you go to see him I might tag along.

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Guest Breadvan72

Cheers bloke!  I need to be careful, because I entrusted the blue Betakoop of MANYS rusts to a totes bodger, who gave up on the job after some inept attempts.  There is said to be a bloke near Chinnor also, recommended to me by a guy with an MG Midget and a Series Landy in the next village to mine. 

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Cheers bloke!  I need to be careful, because I entrusted the blue Betakoop of MANYS rusts to a totes bodger, who gave up on the job after some inept attempts.  There is said to be a bloke near Chinnor also, recommended to me by a guy with an MG Midget and a Series Landy in the next village to mine.

I will be interested to see how you get on with who ever you choose as I always need something done!

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My van was 'MAN 171Y' and was issued in October 1978, so 'MAN 216O' will be earlier...

 

 

No it won't.

MAN1308 was issued to me early in 1983

 

Wiki says:-

"May 1983 the range MAN-1000 to MAN-9999 was introduced. This was reversed in July 1985, giving 1000-MAN to 9999-MAN, which lasted until August 1987."

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