Lancia Beta Forum

Hi all,
the name's Chris, I live in Lincs and have too many cars. I've literally (and unexpectedly) won an auction for a Beta Spider on ebay, so will likely be asking you for advice very shortly ;)
It won't be my first Lancia, I've had Thema Turbo in the past, but this will be my first older Lancia.

I've not seen the car in the metal, I just put a speculative bid on this one on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1979-LANCIA-BETA-SPYDER-SPIDER-CONVERTIBLE-GUM-BALL-RALLY-MOT-TAX-NO-RESERVE-/251195745601?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=jBqVk9QJt1J98h59iygTTgrh6gU%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc) expecting to get outbid as tbh, I really want an HPE, but the Spider's a start.
I'll likely be after a few parts, so will be scouring the spares section after collection next weekend.

My current shopping list is:
Seats (F&R) & I think possibly a new hood.

I use the same username most places, so if you've seen the name elsewhere its likely me, as I'm on a few forums

Cheers
Chris

Welcome Chris,
You've come to the right place.
Hope you really enjoy the car.

Hi Chris

Welcome to the forum, where are you in Lincs? I am near Newark and also have a Spyder and a few spares.

Also have you seen this website re your new car?

http://www.jamjee.co.uk/scott/scottwallis/monkeyrun/ (http://www.jamjee.co.uk/scott/scottwallis/monkeyrun/)

Peter

Thanks for the welcome Peter/thecolonel

Peter,
I'm not far from Newark, I live near Navenby just off the A607 Grantham Lincoln Rd. Are there any local meets? If you see me around, wave/yell at me ;)

Thanks for the link I hadn't seen that. Theres more info there than there was on the ebay ad and it looks like a good number of potential failures have happened and been repaired (fingers crossed).

Is this you ???
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/investments-uk?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1181 (http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/investments-uk?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1181)

Hello to you too Dr Acula.

No. That appears to be a car dealer from the other side of the county.

Just the easy to find and cheap bits then ;)  

If you want some fabric Spyder rear seats, drop me a PM

Good luck and welcome

Hes fron the Lincs area hence I thought it was you.

Oh. hello by the way.  ;D

Welcome to the Beta forum Chris,

What are your plans for the car?  Are you going to enter it for similar events, return it to its original form or something in between?

 Hi Matt
No real plans for the car at present. I think after I see it in the metal I'll decide. I'm leaning towards normalising at present however if I like the seats and stickers they might stay.
I'm not planning any rally type things at present.

Just out of interest do the spiders generally drive/handle anything like the HPE's?

Hi Chris

If it is of any help, earlier this year I purchased a spyder which had coupe seats fitted. I decided to change the seats an have now got the cloth coupe seats sitting in my garage taking up room. These seats fit the spyder but the coupe rear seats have a headrest which partially fouls the hood on the spyder. If you (or anyone else) would like these seats, totally free, then please let me know. I am based in Hertfordshire and the only problem would be that they would have to be picked up from me. I have already posted these seats on the forum but no takers!

Best wishes

Tim

Hawk/Tim
Seats - yes please, I'll drop you pm's later.
If I do get Tims seats and don't use them, they will be available to another forum user foc.

Chris

The handling of the spiders is very similar to the coupes. Despite the lack of a roof the structure is no less stiff and the weight i about th same too, the spiders are a touch heavier. The HPE is on a slightly longer wheelbase so is a bit more stable / less agile (take your pick!) but there's not much in in really.

With any of them the back end is very happy to play (in standard set up at least) and understeer isn't too bad. Depending on how you enter the corner you can pretty much chose the attitude you want. If you get a chace pick up one of the roadtest compilations (Beta Gold Portfolio is OK) There's a lot of good info in them.

very convenient location for any twin cam owner just a stones throw from Guy Croft!!

Hi Chris

You have a couple of PMs

Peter

Thanks all for the warm welcome  ;D

Collection is now planned for Sunday morning, and I shall (hopefully) be driving it 140 miles home ... I'm looking forward to the drive home.

The cars home, it made the 140 mile trip without issue. There are a few faults with the car, but none that stop it from being using.
I'm off to the garage tomorrow to put it on the ramps and have a proper look around. I'll do a Members Cars thread with pics afterwards ;)