Lancia Beta Forum

I was looking through various ads for all guises of Betas this morning and the number of cars offered that are "Not the usual..Blah, blah" leads me to wonder what IS the usual.
If so many offerings claim NOT to be, then surely by default, sound, almost rust-free examples needing either nothing or slight restoration ARE the normal and the rotten ones are the exception?
Be careful the sarcasm doesn't drip onto your shoes ;D

I think they have a slightly crumbly Beta but are judging it against the usual fully rust riddled Ford Escort  ::)

It is sad that sellers perpetuate the pub bore myth that Betas are more rust prone than other 70s cars.  Frankly, all steel 70s cars are rust buckets if you let them be.

Well said- just reading an article on the VW Scirocco on how bad their problems were a decade after the supposed Beta problem.

People only tend to keep the easy fact-bytes, not the fact that Lancia were pilloried for doing the right thing - more than most manufacturers would have done, albeit it was appallingly managed.

The beta is perhaps slightly below average for corrosion resistance, although some early cars were really bad most aren't too bad. Repairs can be hard work but I think that is the same with most 70s designs, most cars advertised probably need a lot of work to make them perfect rather depends on your personal standards.

There's a local garage owner who worked for the Datsun importers here in Ireland.
His job was to patch up the rust on the cars when they arrived fresh from the factory before they reached the showrooms.
I always felt Lancia got the brunt of the "rotten-from-new" stick as their market share was relatively small, they were considered upmarket and doesn't everyone enjoy seeing the well-heeled fools making bad choices, especially the venerable media!
My first car, a 1979 BL Mini, all of nine years old when I bought it was so structurally rotten that the passenger seat migrated into the rear with the floor section still attached and my then girlfriend (now long-suffering wife) lying on her back looking stunned and less than elegant with her attire around her head.
On another occasion, i was driving home from her house when I heard a crash, the n/s headlamp went dark and I nearly crapped myself. Convinced I'd struck a pedestrian or unlit cyclist I stopped and went back to do whatever i had to with my heart in my mouth.
What had really happened was the headlamp had fallen out complete with bowl and small section of the wing and I'd driven over it.
Have you seen what people pay for Mini's these days?
Take a look at any classic car mag. and see just what's available in the way of body panels for these horrible (give me an Escort any day) puddle jumpers and tell me Betas were the worst things from the 70's.
While I'm on a roll here, I should mention the whole "Electrics" thing as well.
I have a Mk1 Golf GTI and the wiring is disgraceful with sufficient water in the fuseboard to keep a couple of goldfish in, connections and even actual wires failing and I've been reliably told by folks who had them when they were current, that they were born that way.
Oh yeah, sills, inner and outer, strut turrets, doors and floors all give way to the incoming tide and there is a wealth of repair panels available for them too.
So tell me, what's so unique about the Beta again?
Oh yeah, they RUSTED :o

Just as a follow on, my wife's cousin's husband (sorry, bit tortuous I know), he used to manage/work for one of the small specialist armouring companies in the 80s, he was always amazed to see brand new Rolls Royces  arrive and when they stripped them down to install the armouring, found rusty panels straight out of the factory......

Peter

An old colleague of mine used to tell the story of his just pre-MOT Mk1 Golf. He went to France in it with all his family. While on the Motorway there there was a bang, he lost control and the car hit the armco. Luckily no one was hurt. The front strut turret had disintegrated, and the strut had come through the bonnet. The inside of the turret was unpainted and had rotted to tissue paper in 30 months.

I don't think even the early Beta Saloons could claim anything as bad as that?  

those early golfs weren't very well made I can remember my father looking at buying one new but the interior finish was awful for the inflated price, didn't they do a rather more successful and discrete program to sort out the rusty ones?

Don't know about you guys in the UK, but we're hammered here with an emissions-based sales and road tax system on post-2008 cars and your comment regarding considering buying a new VW left me doing my "man-maths".
Our daily driver is a 13 Y.O. lexus IS 200 and I was lately fantasising about replacing it with a new IS 220.
When I looked at the price, I realised I can construct a new 40x28 ft. workshop complete with lift, buy myself a decent 8 valve Integrale AND a '08 Alfa 159 and still have the price of a pint compared to the purchase price of the new IS!
I'd have space to work on the Alfa, which I'd prefer anyway and the Integrale for while I was having to work on said Alfa!
You can argue with me, but you can't argue with logic ;D

Good to see agreement from a fellow Red Dwarf afficianado.
May I show your response to Wifey who's convinced I'm NEVER right?