RE: Shed Of The Week
Discussion
The Abarth 030 had a Fiat V6, sourced from the 130 coupe, tuned to around 285BHP.
The 030 and 037 really bear no comparison with a Monte, all they have in common is the cabin. Both cars were spaceframe-based out-and-out racers, designed to win races and promote the brand. As well as a spaceframe layout, both cars had longitudinally-mounted engines – if you combine this (Monte is obviously transverse) with the spaceframe, there is no precedent set for the Monte – we’re talking different cars altogether.
I’ve seen Montes fitted with Ferrari-based 8.32 engines as well as Alfa V6. Personally, neither interests me – I’d take an 037-style 4-pot with blower, or Integrale-style 4-pot + turbo any day. Whilst it lacks the refinement of Maranello’s 32-valve V8, the Thema Turbo gets to 60 slightly quicker! Not knocking the 8.32 in any way (great car), but a Monte is not a Ferrari! Nor is it an Alfa!
At one side of the scale you have the “Café Racer”, on the other side you have Supercars such as a Ferrari; the Monte sits somewhere in the middle, and – personally – I prefer to keep it there. Turbos and Blowers are good fun and they won’t screw up your handling, which a V8 or V6 undoubtedly will (people who’ve driven the converted cars say they require a more laid-back driving approach – and although they have plenty of power, they’re not as nimble around the corners).
The fantastic Monte that won its class at Le Mans and came 2nd overall had a 4-pot transverse-mounted turbo engine. Around a circuit, a Monte with a tuned (blown and or turbo-ed) engine + lightweight body panels + Leda suspension will be quicker than a V6 or V8-equipped car – the designers intended it to have a 4-pot. The standard car *can* be tail-happy – I wouldn’t want to put any more weight in the rear than is necessary…
If you want to keep the spirit of the original car, you can find (they are v. rare, but do exist) a rusty Volumetrico 131 (4-door) pretty cheaply… It would make an interesting conversion for any Monte or Beta. It has a 16-valve head with Volumetrico blower – about 140BHP as standard, but – obviously – can be tuned to much more.
The 030 and 037 really bear no comparison with a Monte, all they have in common is the cabin. Both cars were spaceframe-based out-and-out racers, designed to win races and promote the brand. As well as a spaceframe layout, both cars had longitudinally-mounted engines – if you combine this (Monte is obviously transverse) with the spaceframe, there is no precedent set for the Monte – we’re talking different cars altogether.
I’ve seen Montes fitted with Ferrari-based 8.32 engines as well as Alfa V6. Personally, neither interests me – I’d take an 037-style 4-pot with blower, or Integrale-style 4-pot + turbo any day. Whilst it lacks the refinement of Maranello’s 32-valve V8, the Thema Turbo gets to 60 slightly quicker! Not knocking the 8.32 in any way (great car), but a Monte is not a Ferrari! Nor is it an Alfa!
At one side of the scale you have the “Café Racer”, on the other side you have Supercars such as a Ferrari; the Monte sits somewhere in the middle, and – personally – I prefer to keep it there. Turbos and Blowers are good fun and they won’t screw up your handling, which a V8 or V6 undoubtedly will (people who’ve driven the converted cars say they require a more laid-back driving approach – and although they have plenty of power, they’re not as nimble around the corners).
The fantastic Monte that won its class at Le Mans and came 2nd overall had a 4-pot transverse-mounted turbo engine. Around a circuit, a Monte with a tuned (blown and or turbo-ed) engine + lightweight body panels + Leda suspension will be quicker than a V6 or V8-equipped car – the designers intended it to have a 4-pot. The standard car *can* be tail-happy – I wouldn’t want to put any more weight in the rear than is necessary…
If you want to keep the spirit of the original car, you can find (they are v. rare, but do exist) a rusty Volumetrico 131 (4-door) pretty cheaply… It would make an interesting conversion for any Monte or Beta. It has a 16-valve head with Volumetrico blower – about 140BHP as standard, but – obviously – can be tuned to much more.
BTW - The Abarth 030 was the very first "Monte". It was a styling exercise, designed to compete in the Giro D'Italia (longitudinal engine _ + spaceframe).
The Fiat X1/20 was the production-version of the Monte, which was virtually identical to the Lancia-badged version (transverse engine + struts)
Guy Morenhout makes 030 replicas... The car is fantastically ugly, but - strangely - I want one...
The Fiat X1/20 was the production-version of the Monte, which was virtually identical to the Lancia-badged version (transverse engine + struts)
Guy Morenhout makes 030 replicas... The car is fantastically ugly, but - strangely - I want one...
i ran one of these for a couple of years , mine was an earlyer carb version ,, great fun car nothing ever really went wrong with it 
shouldbworking said:
As I understand it the original prototype of the monte (or x1/20 as it was dubbed then), was fitted with an alfa v6, pity it never made it into the production version.
I have seen a monte with one retrofitted and it looked absolutely brutal, a real beast to be tamed.
That's nothing.I have seen a monte with one retrofitted and it looked absolutely brutal, a real beast to be tamed.
What you want is an X1/9 with Alfa 3lt V6 shoehorned into it.
My dad had one of these as a firm's car. Beautiful, it was. I was five at the time. It had all the options and i remember the full length 'webasto' sunroof; my brother and I used to stand on the back seat with out heads out of it.
It was reliable for the first year (he bought it new). In the second year i remember the exhaust falling off on a family holiday and we had to rope it back on to get home.
After two years it was declared unroadworthy by an MOT garage and scrapped due to the rust. Awful.
Only a very brave man would buy one after twenty years.....
It was reliable for the first year (he bought it new). In the second year i remember the exhaust falling off on a family holiday and we had to rope it back on to get home.
After two years it was declared unroadworthy by an MOT garage and scrapped due to the rust. Awful.
Only a very brave man would buy one after twenty years.....
rayb74 said:
I have had two coupes and a HPE Volumex. Great cars with the looks to match. I took one of the coupes for an M.O.T. And the tester was quite horrified to see how good condition the body work was on it.
I encountered a similar bigot when I took my Montecarlo for an MOT at the local Nissan garage. The inspector said, "There's no way it should be legal to run a Lancia of this age on the road" - he wasn't joking! What a tosser! He eventually failed the car because one of the headlights was about a degree out of alignment, but he couldn't find any other faults.
Experiences such as these make you realise what a powerful force the media is...and your typical journo is invariably the kind of person who should least be given that kind of influence...
Edited by flat16 on Monday 6th August 18:50
I had a brace of X-1/9s. The later was a Bertone painted in two-pack mica blue and was perfectly sound body-wise. The earlier gold one had the usual patches.
I sadly never got 'round to an x-1/20 or a coupe and I have a Prelude VTi instead.
If I didn't have too much on my plate, I'd be tempted...
I sadly never got 'round to an x-1/20 or a coupe and I have a Prelude VTi instead.
If I didn't have too much on my plate, I'd be tempted...
Pwig said:
Customer of mine had an engine fall out of a 6 month old lancia, can't remember which model, but he did say the dealer at the time wasn't surprised.
6-month old Lancia? Even if you applied no galvanisation whatsoever and parked the car next to a salt mine every night, there's no way an engine could fall out of any car solely due to rust after 6 months. Unless someone has photos (something the media has never presented us with), I call BS on the whole 'engine falling out' story.
It's true that the cars are highly prone to rust, but the engine story is just another case of the tabloids feeding the masses falsities, just as plausible as the London Bus on the Moon.
Show me the evidence, not secondhand hearsay.
flat16 said:
Pwig said:
Customer of mine had an engine fall out of a 6 month old lancia, can't remember which model, but he did say the dealer at the time wasn't surprised.
6-month old Lancia? Even if you applied no galvanisation whatsoever and parked the car next to a salt mine every night, there's no way an engine could fall out of any car solely due to rust after 6 months. Unless someone has photos (something the media has never presented us with), I call BS on the whole 'engine falling out' story.
It's true that the cars are highly prone to rust, but the engine story is just another case of the tabloids feeding the masses falsities, just as plausible as the London Bus on the Moon.
Show me the evidence, not secondhand hearsay.
Funnily enough, no-one mentioned the ARB pulling out of the bulkhead due to corrosion on W116 S-Classes. That holds the upper wishbones on, bit like a Rover P6 & writes off most old S-Classes. But M-B is religiously worshipped & their 70s crap NEVER suffered tin-worm, did it?
Mind you, the 70s italians could dissolve with amazing alacrity, nonetheless.
I had a 1976 1600 HPE (PHK608R)series 1 1/2 - rear suspension turrets collapsed and the arch pulled away from the wing so you could look up from the rear wheel and see through the rear side window! Bought 1984 sold 1986. Replaced with a 1600 Sedan (SYB952W), superb car, little rust only sold because I could afford an HPEie!
This was 1983 car (YWE931Y) bought 1988 (took me 6 months to find the right one!). This was my favourite ever car. When I sold it in 1994 it was still almost rust free (slight bubbling on bottom of drivers door skin) and over 100,000 miles having had no body or major mechanical repairs, (wheel bearings, starter motor etc)
Sold only as family was expanding!
However a friend of mine had an S reg 1978 (ie Series 2) Coupe in 1979, ie 1 year old, that had the front sub frame bolts pull out of the body, ripping it out from under the floor pan under normal, (ok- hard) acceleration, smashing almost the whole engine bay and sending the car through a hedge in to a field! He got a full refund.
This was 1983 car (YWE931Y) bought 1988 (took me 6 months to find the right one!). This was my favourite ever car. When I sold it in 1994 it was still almost rust free (slight bubbling on bottom of drivers door skin) and over 100,000 miles having had no body or major mechanical repairs, (wheel bearings, starter motor etc)
Sold only as family was expanding!
However a friend of mine had an S reg 1978 (ie Series 2) Coupe in 1979, ie 1 year old, that had the front sub frame bolts pull out of the body, ripping it out from under the floor pan under normal, (ok- hard) acceleration, smashing almost the whole engine bay and sending the car through a hedge in to a field! He got a full refund.
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