Night of the living Dedra: Jan 2014 update p5

[Skizzer]

So a friend of mine has just taken on the lease of a workshop with associated outbuildings in the rural English shires, and I went over there with him on Thursday to have a look round. The buildings are in various stages of decrepitude - if there were an A/S sister site called Shedshite.com then he'd be hailed as a WINNAH - but imagine my excitement to find a matching pair of J-reg Lancia Dedras asleep in the shadows at the back of one of the barns. Both are 2.0s, one a turbo (2wd) and the other normally aspirated. It's dry in there and they look complete and fairly rot free, but from the layer of dust they haven't moved for a good while. My mate is trying to trace the owner via the Doovla, having asked around and drawn a blank so far*.

 

They're not worth much even in good order - someone's flogging a low mileage 1.8ie 'concours winner' (mental image of a chromed up Fiat Tempra rolling across the lawns at Pebble Beach ) for £1150 at the moment - but that's not the point. I'd just hate to see them cubed, and surely a Delta with an ugly boot is a car only a shiter could love. Could be a money pit though. Thoughts?

 

*If they're yours - pm me.

[dollywobbler]

Shouldn't be that much of a money pit if they're not rotten. Even if they are, I would have thought there are at least two people who wouldn't mind some parts!

 

Hope your mate traces the owners.

[Rocket88]

I'm not clued up on the DVLA procedure, but can't he just apply for a V5

[Skizzer]

^Yeah, I think that's what he's doing. I'm not clued up on the procedure either - I assume the DVLA writes to the owner saying something to the effect of 'move it or lose it'. Dunno how long that takes - long enough for me to work out where I'm going to put them, I hope.

[Shep Shepherd]

Didn't Rowan Atkinson rave about Dedras in the early 1990s? I recall him driving one on "The Driven Man", the documentary he starred in around 1992 about his love of driving. Given his penchant for anything Lancia, I suspect that it was his own car

[Skizzer]

Shouldn't be that much of a money pit if they're not rotten. Even if they are, I would have thought there are at least two people who wouldn't mind some parts!

 

Thanks, yes, that was my line of thinking as well. Most of the body was galvanised by then IIRC, and they've both got reasonably straight interiors, alloys etc. I'll go back in the next few days with some old clothes and a big fuckoff torch to have a proper look underneath.

 

If Rowan Atkinson said he liked them then they're good enough for me As long as he wasn't in character at the time, of course. Mind you, his definition of money pit is probably a bit different from mine.

[nigel bickle]

me me me me me me me.

 

Always wanted one, never had one but do have an early Croma -its cranky brother.

 

If they do come up for sale -legally -give me a shout, please

[Skizzer]

me me me me me me me.

 

Always wanted one, never had one but do have an early Croma -its cranky brother.

 

If they do come up for sale -legally -give me a shout, please

 

Aha! Duly noted Mr Bickle, you're top of the list if I secure them (and don't keep both). I imagine things will go quiet for a few weeks while we go through due process with the DVLA.

 

Didn't know you had a Croma in your collection. Nice. They all seemed to be pale metallic blue, if I recall, though I once considered buying a Cat C one in red before sense took over. Must be pretty scarce by now. The Dedra is smaller - it's on the Type 2 Fiat Tipo/Tempra/Coupe/Alfa 155 platform rather than the Type 4 Thema/Croma/Alfa 164/Saab 9000 - but still appealingly shite (to me at least).

 

Some photos (forgive crappy quality, it is very dark in the barn):

 

Lancia Dedra 2.0ie by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Lancia Dedra 2.0 Turbo by Skizzer, on Flickr

[uk_senator]

Nice find, especially the Turbo! As you say, they are directly related to the Tempra/Tipo having the same floorpans & most of the running gear is identical.

 

Rust-wise they are better protected than most cars of that era, but 2 decades on there will be a breakdown of the protection, my Tempra was going on the inner sill-floorpan joins due to 2 things, 1, my Dad jacking it up in the wrong place once, slightly seperating the join, & 2, the rubberised underseal starting to split, letting water in & holding it against the metal (this was starting to happen at most of the joins underneath due to the underseal shrinking & splitting & is starting to happen to my other Fiats too).

 

The only other place I`ve seen them go is under the door glass lower weatherstrips, leading to bubbling on the door skin under the windows.

 

The suede effect Alacanta is nice, but very prone to wear, so if its good, stick some seat covers on to protect it!

 

Exhausts dont tend to last long for some reason, so when the first one goes, get a stainless replacement or you`ll be doing them every 2-3 years...

 

Brake calipers seize quite easily, I`d imagine those 2 will pull like ba***ds & will need stripping.

 

Mechanically, mine only suffered a single reliability problem, the dizzy pick up, plus the alternator went at about 80,000 miles, but I count that as wear & tear....

 

Electrically, it tended to blow OS brake light bulbs, needed replacement headlight bulb plugs (fit 4 relays to the headlight circuits to stop this & improve light output x5!), suffered occasional earthing issues with the numberplate lights (although it has a fibreglass tailgate, yours has a metal boot so shouldnt be an issue) & the drivers lock mech/locking solonoid went twice.

 

You can fit the 155`s wider wishbones & driveshafts for wider track & less understeer (they do understeer, especially in the wet), you can fit late Alfa (I think 147?) independent rear suspension too... You can even fit an Integrale 4wd system with little or no modification to the floorpan...

[scooters]

me me me me me me me.

 

Always wanted one, never had one but do have an early Croma -its cranky brother.

 

If they do come up for sale -legally -give me a shout, please

 

Aha! Duly noted Mr Bickle, you're top of the list if I secure them (and don't keep both). I imagine things will go quiet for a few weeks while we go through due process with the DVLA.

 

Didn't know you had a Croma in your collection. Nice. They all seemed to be pale metallic blue, if I recall, though I once considered buying a Cat C one in red before sense took over. Must be pretty scarce by now. The Dedra is smaller - it's on the Type 2 Fiat Tipo/Tempra/Coupe/Alfa 155 platform rather than the Type 4 Thema/Croma/Alfa 164/Saab 9000 - but still appealingly shite (to me at least).

 

Some photos (forgive crappy quality, it is very dark in the barn):

 

Lancia Dedra 2.0ie by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

Lancia Dedra 2.0 Turbo by Skizzer, on Flickr

 

 

They look pretty sound Martin,

 

top find! Fingers crossed they come your way.

 

rich

[Skizzer]

Thanks uk_senator for the top tips which I will file away carefully. Looking closely at some of the photos, the front discs have a pretty good coating of rust so I'm assuming new pads and probably discs all round will be an early investment, plus lots of fresh fluids. Persuading the brakes to let go in the first place may be a challenge. I'll post an update in a week or so after I've had a better look over them both. Getting excited at the prospect!

 

Cheers Scoot/Richard - you know I'll be mining your experience as well...

[scooters]

 

Cheers Scoot/Richard - you know I'll be mining your experience as well...

 

 

 

are you sure about this - given that my 'experience' is mostly based on my own warped interpretation of Bol/Nige/Cavette/Whitevanman's mechanical skills. Better going to source shurely!

[Skizzer]

Ha! Fair point. Actually I was thinking more of your experience of getting the wife to put up with a chronic tat habit. (Although to be fair, mine's been fairly good about having a crumbling Scirocco and a SORNed Golf on the drive, with various brake and suspension parts stacked in the hall. At least there's no Land Rover door in the dining room any more.)

[scooters]

Ha! Fair point. Actually I was thinking more of your experience of getting the wife to put up with a chronic tat habit. (Although to be fair, mine's been fairly good about having a crumbling Scirocco and a SORNed Golf on the drive, with various brake and suspension parts stacked in the hall. At least there's no Land Rover door in the dining room any more.)

 

put a couple of Tramadol in her morning tea - I could strip an engine in the living room on the cream carpet and she wouldn't notice with those babys in her napper!

[Skizzer]

Update - my friend has tracked down the owner of the two Dedras languishing in the barn, and he wants to keep them.

 

One got parked up after a head gasket failure and the other 'is a good runner' (yeah, I'm sure it's sweet as a nut after a few years abandoned in a shed). Apparently he's now arranging to have them moved: I have visions of this being to a field somewhere leading to a steady and prolonged death for both these rare and noble steeds while he never gets around to fixing them (a bit like me and the Scirocco, though I have some excuses for that). I hope I'm entirely wrong about this and that they are soon up and about.

 

Oh well

[nigel bickle]

Try & keep in touch.

 

The instant reaction of '''OMG -punters sniffing around my P&J''' may diminish slowly as the hassle of moving them, combined with a dawning realization of the cost of repair against value may cause a '''reconsider''.

 

You'd be pretty pissed if you saw them both on Ebay in 2 months -without having had a chance....

[nigel bickle]

PS

 

Here's the ol Croma -for info.

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I’m going to try and get my Croma MOT’d in the next couple of weeks. Needs the uppy-downy tickover sorted, brakes freed & cleaned and i’ve got a set of nearly-new Michelin Energys and a new cambelt to go on.

[HillmanImp]

Hopefully you will get lucky like Nigel says. If they have been there for years, the heart may say he wants to keep them but in reality the practicality of it might over-rule him (what I mean by this is, if he is married).

[scooters]

Martin - you need to find out if he's got a 'Finance Director'....if he does then make sure that Jut (that's the new landlord, Skizzer's mate) sends him a storage bill and addresses it to the wife including a note saying how you are still interested in buying the cars

 

As Hillman Imp says, that could do the trick

[Skizzer]

Just when I'd started to forget about this, the owner decided he would be happy to sell me one of the Dedras after all. The turbo, in fact. Apparently his predecessor owner replaced the head gasket but without bothering to reskim the head, so it pisses water out of the joint but does run. He took the car off the bloke's hands and laid it up alongside its non-turbo sister. Since my mate has now taken on the lease of the barn they're in, Lancia man is selling me the car for basically weighbridge money so it's one less vehicle for him to have the hassle of moving/storing/eBaying.

 

It's staying where it is for the moment while I finish a client project and move house, then I'll give it some proper attention after Christmas. Very much looking forward to getting it sorted, which shouldn't take too much doing. Better pics and reports will follow in due course...

[Shep Shepherd]

Well done! I look forward to seeing more of the car

[scooters]

lob in a ottle of K-Seal - bung it through an MOT ans use it until you can be arsed to skim the head!

[Skizzer]

Thanks chaps!

 

I'd somehow missed the previous couple of posts before my update on this thread until a minute ago, due to a lot of running around last week - so thanks for the advice about staying in touch etc, you were proved right

 

Nigel, that Croma is the tits. Top.

 

Rich, I'll give it a go with your patented K-Seal bodge and let you know what happens...

[scooters]

PS

 

Here's the ol Croma -for info.

 

 

 

that's lovely nigel - I especially like the headlamp wipers - what are these like to drive?

[nigel bickle]

2 bottles of k seal -one wont do it.

 

What are they like to drive? Very un Fiat. Not too quick, bit rolly on corners, very comfy. Anodine. Turbos a different car though. But thats why its been put away 3 years. No rush to get it out

[Pete-M]

Um, I think you'd be better off fixing the engine properly. It's an Integrale lump in a lower state of tune innit? They do not take kindly to being bodged. I found that one out rather expensively.

[Skizzer]

Fair point Pete. Unless the car turns out to be a basket case on closer inspection, which is possible but not expected, I'd quite like to get it to a reasonable state of togetherness. So K-Seal bodge = good if it means I can get to a friendly neighbourhood MOT station and head-skimming operative of choice, but bad if it clogs up the arteries of a delicate Italian engine block in a permanent way. I'm just off to the Stupid Question thread to ask that one...

[R9UKE]

I'm envious of this. Top quality tat and an excellent winter project discovered completely by accident. Nice move man

 

Must start peaking in to these Irish barns, Safrane V6 pleaaasssse

[roc24vIII]

Fair point Pete. Unless the car turns out to be a basket case on closer inspection, which is possible but not expected, I'd quite like to get it to a reasonable state of togetherness. So K-Seal bodge = good if it means I can get to a friendly neighbourhood MOT station and head-skimming operative of choice, but bad if it clogs up the arteries of a delicate Italian engine block in a permanent way. I'm just off to the Stupid Question thread to ask that one...

 

K-Seal shouldn't clog anything TBH, it's a bit better than some of the stuff around.