Autostarda to Hell?

[twosmoke300]

And Alfa 164

[Junkman]

Despite they share the platform with the Saab, Chroma, and Alfa, surprisingly few parts are interchangeable between those cars.

That's what I meant earlier with expensive and htf spares. When I bought mine, I still had the illusion I could raid scrapyards for Lancia compatible Saab and Fiat bits, alas, this is not the case. Most bits are Lancia specific and you can figure for yourself how many outlets keep them in stock. Hence it is order from Italy for most stuff and that's a right old disaster.

Being relatively familiar with the Italian - errr... - let me call it culture, I daresay things didn't exactly improve over the past 20 years in this respect.

There are numerous anecdotes I could tell, but I'll refrain from boring you more than I do already.

[Partridge]

Anything about old rubbish cars is never boring.

[Junkman]

Especially when it is an old Lancia that was rare (read: a flop) to begin with.

It was really grotesque at times. We are talking early this century, so when I had mine, it was still not that long after production had ceased.

But the parts guys at my friendly Lancia dealer (I lived in Hannover at the time) had already turned into honorary Italians.

Sometimes I was present when they phoned Italy to follow up on the parts I had ordered weeks before, and they screamed and yelled and did that Italian hand thing when making conversation* with their trans-Alpine colleagues. As funny as this was, it didn't get the parts any closer to Hannover and often relegated me to my 50cc Zündapp scooter for weeks - in Winter.

It was this parts karfuffle that ultimately made me sell the thing and buy a Buick Park Avenue instead. For that, every little thing was a phone call and an overnight express away. Sanity had finally returned.

 

On the plus side though, not many things really go wrong. If you can live the Italian way of life (and trust me, I know what I'm talking about, btw this includes Pizza), you are rewarded with a very well engineered (an Italian strongpoint, no doubt), sophisticated, refined, and cultured saloon, that in principle can keep up very well with its teutonic contemporaries, but surpasses them in style, halo, and charisma. The suspension and comfort is top dog and even with the base engine, like mine had, it's fast enough. Do not expect a sports saloon! The Thema likes to be wafted, but this is a relatively swift waft. If you really push it, it strikes back with frightening understeer, so you will give up on that pretty quickly anyway. You can achieve very high averages on long trips though, and the huge tank (90 litres IIRC) allows for an enormous range between fill ups. This is a car perfectly suited for driving far, far away. If you merely use it for commuting, it will never have the chance to show its merits, and there are cars for that, which are easier to live with. A Buick Park Avenue for example. Oh, and Themas don't rust. Buicks do.

[Partridge]

Thanks for that It sounds like a great car.

The way I see it then, is that it would make a great second car to use for long trips and holidays. Mine won't be used for commuting, reason being I mostly work from home now. But the difficulty of finding parts means it probably will spend most of its time off the road, rather than on it.

It's probably out of the equation now.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Well that idea didn't last long then, 1.5/10 for effort

 

I'm sure you can get any normal service bits for these absolutely no problem, engine bits, timing belts, clutches, wheel brgs etc, but if you need dealer-only bits it'll be tricky admittedly. But what shiter buys bits from a dealer anyway?

[Asimo]

Be bold or you will soon be driving a Toyota Aygo on the never ever.

 

Buy a Thema, cheaply, and buy an appropriate cheap back-up vehicle.

 

An Alfa 164 for example.

 

Then when a door breaks, presto!, you have a spare.

 

Simples.

[dugong]

Doors from 9000s don't fit on Themas. Saab put massive anti-intrusion doors on its version. 

 

What the Type Four platform represented was a common floor pan with various hard points. Designing a shell \ floorpan in white is horrendously expensive, which is why the four manufacturers (well, technically two, because Lancia \ Fiat \ Alfa Romeo had the same parent by '84, and Saab had already worked with Lancia) collaborated. 

Initially, it was only going to be Saab and Lancia. Then Fiat got in on the deal, followed by Alfa Romeo, who were the last to get in on the deal. The 164 is the most divergent Type Four design. Saab went its own way in making the shell stronger, and using its own engine and suspension. The Thema and Croma shared some bits, the Thema eventually borrowing Alfa's V6 to replace the PRV after 1992. We didn't get the Alfa V6 Thema or the diesel, or the station wagon, or the limo. The Thema was probably the most versatile Type Four car out there, although you could get a hatch and saloon 9000. 

Weirdly enough, Themas sold like hotcakes in Italy, and pretty well in Germany. At one point Lancia were assembling them at Alfa's plant at Arese because its factory couldn't keep up with demand.

Running gear's not too much of a problem. The Lampredi fours were used in a lot of Fiats and places like Tanc Barratt could help you look after it. PRV bits wouldn't post too much of an issue either. Themas aren't even that rot prone - the rustiest Type Four car I've ever encountered was SCTSH_ANDY's 9000 Aero which browned its wings inside and out - but that had been thrashed half to death, and there were rumours the later slant nose cars weren't as well made.  

[Partridge]

I read about the beams in the SAAB's doors, and knew you could put Thema doors on a SAAB, so not the same way round I take it.

 

And MEH. Everything seems to be against me getting back on the road at the mo and I'm half tempted to just stick to the train and walking to be honest.

[catsinthewelder]

If you don't really need a car you're in the perfect position to run something old or silly.

 

Hence how I own 4 vehicles and generally cycle to work.

[Junkman]

I read about the beams in the SAAB's doors, and knew you could put Thema doors on a SAAB, so not the same way round I take it.

 

And MEH. Everything seems to be against me getting back on the road at the mo and I'm half tempted to just stick to the train and walking to be honest.

 

If you can live your life by taking the train and walking, then a Thema is the ideal car for you.

[warren t claim]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMlP_Moo0bE

 

Brief Thema content.

 

FFS get on it man! I simply must have an 8.32 sometime in my life but even on the occasions when I've been pouring Budweiser down my neck only pausing momentarily to get my face three inches over a horizontal mirror and I still haven't had the bottle to pull the trigger on an Ebay buy it now means I'll probably never sample the delights of ownership.

[Partridge]

Gahh!! I can't make my mind up!!

[Junkman]

That's why we make up your mind.