Lancia Beta Forum

I'm curious to know how many people there are out there either restoring a Beta, of any variation. Or running one as a daily driver.

I'm UK based and my 2l Coupe has been with me for over 20 years now, has been in twice for some serious welding work (10 years apart) and is finally off to have its paintwork done properly then its just refit of interior and front / rear screens.

As usual, there are always things to fettle. ;D

Its not used as a daily driver but as a high days and holiday car.

Mine's a rolling restortion mechanically it's pretty good but the body needs some TLC as the previous repairs wre done poorly (i'm being generous here !) - like yours it's probably never going to be 'finished', or at least not to the standard I'd like but my wallet can't afford. I'm toying with replacing it with a 16V Integrale later this year as you can't get a baby seat in a Spyder.

BTW your handle is familiar  - were you the guy building a Hawk Stratos in the back of AutoIntegrale a few years ago ?

Stuart

In 2008 I had to give up using my Trevi as daily driver for financial reasons (fuel consumption). Later in the year I got A1.6 HPE back from restoration. I have owned this beautiful black car from new (1983) but had to surrender it to the welder's torch after 23 years. Currently doing mechanical stuff and aiming to have it back on the road "soon".

Leo

My coupe's been with me since '87.  Engine was rebuilt at 100,000mls shortly before spending 10 years in a barn during the 90's.  He swallowed £4000 between '02 and '04 to get back on the road and was in daily use since then untill end of last Novemeber.  Now spending the winter months in my garage as I have use of a company car 'till July and there are a few minor snags that need sorting.  Been averaging about 10,000mls per year mostly over North York Moors but last year included an epic 4-day round trip from Yorkshire to Isle of Skye and back - all for a bottle of Talisker!

I recall your Handle too, I am indeed MattNoVat previously of the EvoForum from my Integrale / Evo days (1997 to 2003) Yes, I built a Hawk Stratos.  I finished that one, sold it to a chap in Italy where the car still resides, but its having a Dino 246 engine installed now.  I couldn't be without a project so I'm now building my second Hawk Stratos.

I'm based in the Wiltshire area, i've got a Beta HPE 2000ie, which i'm running as a road/track car, bought the car around September 2006 and had the car road legal by March 2008, by June i had the bodywork seen to, and now its just down to improvements  ::)

Car was reasonably solid underneath but the bodywork had seen better days, suprisingly not due to rust, but due to a hard life with many dents and scratches all over.

In the end, car needed an almost complete re-wire due to a history of bodges and many parts fitted, but since then have not had any electrical problems  ;D

Try to use the car weekly, but havn't found the time to recently. Only been out once in it, since its last time on track in November :-\

Well I thought I had better add something to the proceedings, as you can see i have a long list to work on.
So for 2009 i will have a rough but solid berlina MOTed while one HPE is touched up and another resprayed and put back together.

Maybe just maybe do the sills on the ES.

I must pull my finger (s) out of my bottom this year.

Well done Tony for the forum .

Mark

All my betas are gone! Lots of parts of them remain in my garage and I've started the sort out, forgotton half of what is there. The new look forum is great by the way.

Greetings all. I have a 2 litre which I bought new in 1981 and is still with me. It's not seriously rusty but needs a bit of cosmetic around the windscreen and the driver's door has a hole in the skin. No doubt these will continue blossoming and when I eventually do get round to fixing them and painting the car (it's lost it's shine all over now) I won't be suprised to find it's all much worse than I thought.
On the question of paint, have a nagging gremlin in the back of my mind that says at least it's original, so maybe don't paint. Saw a Healey once at Goodwood FOS in the car park that was pretty tatty, but solid, and a sticker on it said 'Mine's still the way it was made, is yours?' and I was quite impressed with that.
Mind you, the 'original' paint on my old Coupe isn't one coat: different panels have faded/gone matt at a different rate to others. I'll paint it one day.

I'm in Woking btw...would be nice to see where everyone else is when they post.

Hello All

Big improvement on the old site and I hope to be using it a lot more - I was a member on the old site, but have had other "distractions" over the last year or so and not visited it as much as I would have liked - 1 of my New Year resolutions is to get my VX Coupe back on the Road. She made the 1000-odd mile Round trip to LeMans in June 2007 and (sorry to say!) was put on SORN status about a month after I got back when the Tax and MOT ran out. It's been started regularly over the last 18 Months but there are a few bits such as rear brakes and the broken sunroof to attend to - Hopefully going to make a start on it March when it gets a bit warmer. Will post some pics in the Gallery and I'm based in Reading, Berkshire.
Cheers!

Cool - I went to LeMans in a 2000 Beta Spider 5 years ago, we were the only people there in a Beta and had dozens of people coming up to us and saying things like "My dad had one of those" or "Wow - not seen one of those for years!"  which was great fun. 

We were holed up in Maison Blanc and people seemed more interest in our Beta Spider than the raft of v8 TVR's who had parked next to us.

If you have sunroof issues, I've recently been renovating the sunroof on mine and finally found a easy to obtain replacement seal. (See the useful tips section)

The sunroof got Broken by my heavy handed co-driver on the way back from LM - It basically doesn't shut properly in line with the roof which I think is down to the little white plastic cams inside the sunroof - Fortunately I took a copy of the sunroof assembly instructions from the old site so will have a go at that when I get a chance.

Le Mans is great fun, been most years since 99 - Probably going to give it a miss this year what with the Euro rate and the way the economy (and my funds!) are.

Hello there ladies and gentlemen, two Beta coupes one blue '83i.e. and one red (must change colour :-\) 2l on twin forties, I'm afraid both in mid fix. I have used them as daily transport in the spring/summer. Not much wrong with either but Christmas break has halted proceedings. Both have the uprated suspension and engine bushes and improved sump baffling. Car on carbs has high lift cam, facet fuel pump, new brakes all round including stainless hoses, Corbeau high back touring seats and a few other bits and pieces. Corners unbelievably well and is very neutral, It reminds me of my old Alfasud ;D. Only better built ;)....  Blue i.e is standard aside from the replacement parts. I'm going to get the camera out and post so photies soon.

     Hello all. I am halfway around the world near Seattle Wa. Was a member on the old site but was content to read the threads over the past couple of years and learn alot as parts availability for my 79 Beta Coupe and 77 Scorpion is/are an issue. My 79 Coupe is a 2L driver w/ air conditioning however I have the dash ripped out while I am trying to find a replacement heater core, at this point.  Has an ANSA header and modified Fiat 124 ANSA muffler. Am patiently waiting for a guy over there in GB to put together a package including a S2 rear bumper and misc Euro parts for my car as I have an NOS stainless front bumper to go on but it is missing it's rubber moulding and mounts + turn signal assy's. I currently have a 78 and earlier front bumper (big rubber job) on it which does not wrap completely all the way around to the wheel well mouldings, but is close for now and it has a VX front air dam under it. Has a new weber on it w/ early non-emissions intake manifold and Koni's all around. I am biased towards my  Italian cars with about 1/2 being on-going driving projects and the others not runnning. Some of the discussions also apply to my Scorpion which I am currently building a 2L for using a Beta block w/ dual 42's on an Alquanti intake. I am very appreciative of this site and don't take it for granted. Thanks to all for contributing to this site and transferring the threads for future reference.    Brad Smith