RE: SOTW: Lancia Beta Coupe 2000ie
Discussion
In the later years Fiat did very little to push Lancia's success in rallying/motorsport into marketing Lancia as a sporting brand, primarily because they considered Alfa to represent the sporting flag for the Fiat Group and Lancia as their manufacturer of luxury cars. I have many happy memories of watching the LC2's in the 1000kms at Silverstone and the Delta S4's on the Lombard RAC stages.Lancia imho have had far more presence in motorsport than Alfa over the years, rallying and Group C sports cars etc. If only they'd have been marketed in the same way Subaru built up there image.
Edited by Evo on Monday 7th December 13:34
Evo said:
Lancia imho have had far more presence in motorsport than Alfa over the years, rallying and Group C sports cars etc.
Not sure I'd agree, with Alfa's history of road-racing, grand prix and sportscar racing, F1, as well as various touring car championships (ETCC, DTM, BTCC) from the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and '00s. 
LuS1fer said:
FOURRONE said:
Not wishing to be a troll but if these or any other Lancia were any good they would still be trading in this country now,the truth is rust and shocking build quality tarnished the companies reputation and that was what finished it for them here
So, like Alfa, Fiat, Ford, Vauxhall, all Jap companies... Have a look round at the cars that actually have survived from the 70's and you'll see it's very few because they all rusted. The Alfasud I had rusted everywhere, including the day all the radiator fins all rusted and fell out. The fact this one survived seems to suggest it's no worse than any other.Edited by FOURRONE on Monday 7th December 09:50
It's apparent in the MGB; Some of the the early cars with good quality steel are still on their original panels, however the later cars with the cheaper steel are reputable for rusting badly.
Edited by Beirut Taxi on Monday 7th December 19:28
This is the SOTW that finally made me register with pistonheads. The X1/9 had me quite excited a few weeks ago too.
I test drove a resprayed 2 litre carb HPE in the 1980s. The vendor suggested I phoned around for quotes but it was one of those cases where the insurance would be as much as the car.
The HPE drove a treat in the lanes. It was a bit weird having my father sat in the back with the vendor in the passenger seat and this thing just seemed to sit on the road, was very responsive and rode well too....
I love that rear third quarter view of the HPE, the glasshouse, the slatted C pillar cover and that little bustle and the pretty rear lights. I am a bum man.
The Alfa V Lancia in the racing heritage stakes is a difficult one.
I test drove a resprayed 2 litre carb HPE in the 1980s. The vendor suggested I phoned around for quotes but it was one of those cases where the insurance would be as much as the car.
The HPE drove a treat in the lanes. It was a bit weird having my father sat in the back with the vendor in the passenger seat and this thing just seemed to sit on the road, was very responsive and rode well too....
I love that rear third quarter view of the HPE, the glasshouse, the slatted C pillar cover and that little bustle and the pretty rear lights. I am a bum man.
The Alfa V Lancia in the racing heritage stakes is a difficult one.
papercup said:
My dad had one of these in red as his firm's car in 1977, i remember it well as I was 5 and it had a full-length Webasto sunroof. One of my first car memories is stuck in a traffic jam on the M4 near Heathrow with the sunroof open and me and my brother standing on the back seat with our heads out of the roof, and Concorde coming into land right over us. Amazing.
The car wasn't, however. I remember us coming home from my Grandma's house and the exhaust mounts rotted through and the exhaust fell off the car. We tied it up with string and limped home. The car was less than two years old.
At between two and three years old it was pronounced unroadworthy and unsafe to drive by an MOT station and scrapped.
It never got to three years old.
I'm quoting my own post here as 6 pages in we seem to have ridiculous posts suggesting that Lancias didn't rust any more than anything else at the time, and any stories about rot must have been made up by the press, or were just hearsay. My dad had a new firms' car every 3 years and nothing else was written off under three years old due to rust. Around the same time my mum had a Polski Fiat and laughable though it was, that wasn't declared unroadworthy before its first MOT either.The car wasn't, however. I remember us coming home from my Grandma's house and the exhaust mounts rotted through and the exhaust fell off the car. We tied it up with string and limped home. The car was less than two years old.
At between two and three years old it was pronounced unroadworthy and unsafe to drive by an MOT station and scrapped.
It never got to three years old.
Get some perspective; they got that reputation because of real events and real people's experiences.
I also had a car that was written off by an MOT station due to rust. It was a 1980 Triumph Dolomite. But it was written off in 1990; it did 10 years against the Lancias 2. Thats why Lancia got a reputation, and it was deserved.
Cool cars for sure, but lets not let the rose-tinted specs run riot.
Sadly your rust story is not unique. My father had a friend who bought a Lancia Gamma. It was a lovely lovely thing, but it didn't manage 3 years either.
It failed its first MOT on rust and this was so shocking to everyone at the time that I remember it well, even though I was a kid then.
Lancias did rust far more than other cars, but like this one, were often good looking and desirable small sports cars.
I wonder how many of todays survivors were rust proofed / dinitroled by their first owners?
David
It failed its first MOT on rust and this was so shocking to everyone at the time that I remember it well, even though I was a kid then.
Lancias did rust far more than other cars, but like this one, were often good looking and desirable small sports cars.
I wonder how many of todays survivors were rust proofed / dinitroled by their first owners?
David
Years ago I had a Beta 2000 Coupe...1979 one I think. Lovely engine, but nothing else on it functioned properly. The key even snapped off in the ignition. The sunroof leaked, the oil-filled struts leaked, the gearchange was awful, the brakes were suicidal...they locked up under the slightest pressure. I had the AA out on a weekly basis with that car. Very pretty though. My brother had a Monte Carlo and that was worse.
The Fulvia however...series 1 Rallye with lightweight panels...or better still an Aurelia....I'd definitely have one of those.
The Fulvia however...series 1 Rallye with lightweight panels...or better still an Aurelia....I'd definitely have one of those.
Years ago I had a Beta 2000 Coupe...1979 one I think. Lovely engine, but nothing else on it functioned properly. The key even snapped off in the ignition. The sunroof leaked, the oil-filled struts leaked, the gearchange was awful, the brakes were suicidal...they locked up under the slightest pressure. I had the AA out on a weekly basis with that car. Very pretty though. My brother had a Monte Carlo and that was worse.
The Fulvia however...series 1 Rallye with lightweight panels...or better still an Aurelia....I'd definitely have one of those.
The Fulvia however...series 1 Rallye with lightweight panels...or better still an Aurelia....I'd definitely have one of those.
fortyfiver said:
A quick note on reliability. I just started my VX Coupe for the first time in 2 years (my XJC gets all the love these days). Started first time after recharging the battery and sounds great with CSC exhaust manifold. Coming up for sale very soon...
Having owned a Beta Spider, I'm a touch ashamed to admit I know nothing about the VX Coupe.I seem to have missed it. What's the difference between this and a normal Coupe?
mybrainhurts said:
fortyfiver said:
A quick note on reliability. I just started my VX Coupe for the first time in 2 years (my XJC gets all the love these days). Started first time after recharging the battery and sounds great with CSC exhaust manifold. Coming up for sale very soon...
Having owned a Beta Spider, I'm a touch ashamed to admit I know nothing about the VX Coupe.I seem to have missed it. What's the difference between this and a normal Coupe?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff