Your honest opinions-is it worth the work?

[droptop]

I recently bought a facelift '79 spider in seemingly very good condition and have had it for two weeks now.
I got to give it a proper going over and the following is a list of faults I've found.
Is it a good project or a scrapper/donor car.
I have a lot of the parts already and I'm doing all the mechanical work myself but I will have to get someone to do the bodywork,i.e. panel prep and painting.
The sills I can fit myself as well as repairing the wings, doors and behind the convertible top but the scuttle panel will have to be done by someone professional.
Anyway, here's the list for your perusal.

Engine :
Full service inc. all fluids inc. gear oil, filters, sparkplugs, HT leads, dizzy cap and rotor, belts and teensioner and water pump and thermostat

Electrical :
Wiper motor/linkage needs replacing (I have a couple of spares)
Side lights/tail lights/no. plate and instrument lights not working
Indicators only work when hazzard switch is ON but hazzards don't work.
Headlamps are Lucas sealed beam units
Screen washer pump broken

Interior :
Passenger side door card bulging and distorted making it difficult to use the window winder.
Neither window winder actually works
Driver's door lock sticky with either inside or outside handle
Boot lock neds fettling as the button doesn't appear to sit properly in the hole

Bodywork :
Rot in lower front wings at sills
Outer sills rotten back to "B" pillars
Bootlid and bonnet need attention/replacing
Scuttle panel bubbling at bottom of windscreen
Rear section behind convertible top bubbling.
Fronts of doors have some rust on the hinge panels
Drivers door needs new chrome strip with glass seal/scraper
Headlight surrounds not properly fitting. Could be due to the headlamp "conversion"
Convertible top seems to be the original and could do with replacing but the frame is exceptionally good
Bonnet rubber seal missing
Door seals torn/worn

Exhaust :
Rotten/home made

Wheels/tyres
Wheels have ben nicely refurbished with the original "L" centre caps present and in good condition but the tyres are perished and cracked

I haven't checked the brakes and suspension bushings or engine mounts but the car drives extremely well and has better brakes than my other one.
The gear linkage has been repaired with new parts and the gearchange is very smooth
Aside from the door card, the interior is in fantastic condition but I am a little wary of the carpet which is a black/grey mottled thing with no rubber heel pads on either side but it fits too well to be something concocted out of a carpet store stock and the pile seems to be automotive grade.

Don't get me wrong, the car is still presentable and very drivable but I'm more concerned with structural integrith with the shabby sills than with the appearence and as i said at the start, I have many of the parts already and a lot of the work is easy, cheap and would be done to a car in any condition if I don't have a service history for it.
So what do you think?
I'm not easily offended and I have a contingency plan if it's not worth restoring as it can provide my other car with better doors, bumpers and a host of small items common to both it and my series 1 car and then a day of listing stuff on ebay


 

[Hawk]

You need to define "worth the work".

If you want to make money then absolutely not.  If you want the satisfcation of keeping another Beta on the road and are prepared to spend time and money doing it, then yes.

Have a chat to a few on here though and make sure you go into it eyes wide open - pro bodywork repairs and subsequent painting can work out to be VERY expensive.   

[peteracs]

For me, it all comes down the the effort/money you are prepared to spend on it.

For sure the decision is based on what you want it for i.e. keep/sell. If you intend keeping, then the cost for the specialist work i.e. bodywork, respray will be based on your free cash and how you spend it. If you were aiming to sell, then I would guess it would cost more to do than what you will get for it.

From what you say it sounds like it can be saved, but needs to be with someone who wants it for themselves and is happy to pay for the work to be done. Personally I would prefer you sell it (if that is the option) as an ongoing project rather than part it if it is that solid a car.

Peter

[droptop]

I'd have no desire to attempt to do all the work with the intention of making money as I'd buy a well sorted car for probably 50% of the finished price of this one.
Personally, I'm very wary of so-called "unfinished projects" as I'm sure are most people as in my mind they always ring alarm bells of someone starting something and discovering it's beyond help.
I know this isn't alweays the case but I tend to skip over ads offering such cars.
I'm under no illusions regarding the cost of the bodywork and paint and the logistics of getting a bonnet and bootlid from the UK to Ireland is a costly project in itself as I'm almost 100% certain I won't find either here where I could simply go and collect them.
The mechanicals aren't an issue and the only costs involved are the actual parts I don't have myself.
I'm happiest covered in grease and knuckle blood as it's as removed from my daj job as I'm comfortable with.
I'm an electrical contractor and when I get home, I don't even want to change a light bulb around the house (the workshop is of course a different matter)

I suppose the real question I am asking is whether the car is salvagable or not. After that, it's simply a matter of budgeting both money and materials and keeping it on the road while I do the work in logical steps until it's time to start cutting and welding, removing windscreen and interior and dragging it to the body shop and I get the sense from both replies that I'm not dealing with a basket case which is really what I wanted to know.

I consider the responses as positive and encouraging and my mind is made up that I've done the right thing in buying it.

Still going to swap the doors and bumpers with my series 1 items though as that car is my passion and this one should produce a very decent standard unmodified car over the next couple of years, health and funds permitting

Let the games begin.......

[peteracs]

Hi

Some photos would of course help the comments....

Peter

[droptop]

Hi

Some photos would of course help the comments....

Peter

Here's one of the oh, so original engine bay including the original copper ignition leads:
I'll post some more  as soon as I get a dry evening (I'm in Ireland after all) as my garage is so full, i don't have room to swing a camera!

The black areasat the point where the inner wings disappears into the scuttle panel is oldrustproofing, not rust!

[rossocorsa]

For a spider it sounds pretty good to me, most are seriously rotten. So long as you do it for
your own benefit rather than profit it's fine but bear in mind if working on a budget but wanting to do a really good job it could take quite a long time ....but probably not as long as my vx currently running at about 12 years and counting!

[droptop]

For a spider it sounds pretty good to me, most are seriously rotten. So long as you do it for
your own benefit rather than profit it's fine but bear in mind if working on a budget but wanting to do a really good job it could take quite a long time ....but probably not as long as my vx currently running at about 12 years and counting!

I built my house in 1986 and I'm still doing stuff to and around it so 12 years li like a bklink to me
Bloody good job I have a patient wife.
Oh yeah, going to look at a Fiat Coupe potential project today but I haven't told her THAT yet.
Time enough if I buy it
My daughter recons I should chance buying an Integrale just to see how long I could have it before wifey notices...
She mightn't notice the car but she would miss being able to buy the groceries for the next decade!

One other thing.
Are the outer sills structural/stressed on the spider or can I drive it pending repairs?
I imagine lack of roof means they are, but I'm an optomist

[HFStuart]

The outer sills form a unit with the inner sill and a plate that runs down the middle. They are very much structural.

(Sorry)

[droptop]

I'd be the sorry one sitting on the road in a bent car!
Time to go shopping for a MIG!
Welder that is, not an Israeil fighter plane, although........
I will have to attack the sills sooner rather than later and get over that hurdle.
It'll be plain sailing after that

[Hawk]

It'll be plain sailing after that

You will need that optimism and then some

Good luck to you.

[spud]

Droptop- Go for it!! It all sounds perfectly doable, even the bodywork.
I'm a time-served spray painter and although I don't do the job professionally any more I do have all the gear in my garage (spray guns, compressor, masks etc etc) and I do my own painting. What I will tell you is this: "time served" means four years of life spent on a pittance of a wage... I learnt the job in weeks. I'm not including welding in this statement, but the theory of bodywork repair, which is repairing dents, undulations and ripples in panels, filling (or lead loading), rubbing down, priming and painting is mostly common sense and anyone who is practically minded can learn how to do it very quickly. What takes the time is learning how to do it properly, or at least to a standard good enough to be satisfied with the results of your efforts. But, if you have an eye for the detail needed, you can do and redo any repairs/painting etc dozens of times yourself, until you're happy with it, and it would still be waaaay cheaper than paying a bodyshop. And you'll have learnt skills along the way. The prices bodyshops often charge is insane. The garage at the bottom of my road wanted £1,500 to spray a fully prepared car for me a few years ago... all they had to do was wash it off, mask it up and apply the paint! Outrageous. The paint only cost me £100 and I did it myself. If you have the garage space, invest in a compressor and a couple of sprayguns, a good quality mask and do the whole thing yourself from beginning to end. The satisfaction you'll get is unbeatable!!

Andrew.

[Ammy]

Agree with everything said by Spud. I am a retired Water engineer with absolutely no finishing experience whatsoever but did a complete respray on my Spyder 20 years ago and it still looks excellent.  Don't forget , if you make a mistake or you're not satisfied with the finish,  you can always start again. This is where the patience comes in.  Mistakes only mean you'll put more paint on and as a final resort you'll have so much paint you can mechanically "polish" to an excellent finish. Compared with having it done by a professional, the cost is peanuts but the satisfaction immense.

[droptop]

I appreciate the encouragment fellas.
I've repaired small areas of damage on a few of my daily drivers over the years and I'm coming around to thinking you're right.
A friend of mine is an excellent body man and as he's no longer in the business himself, I'm certain he will be a source of sound advice for the task in hand.
As for the investment of time and money, it would prove to be a great return indeed as my other spider will need a respray in the next couple of years as well so a few hundred spent will be thousands saved!

[spud]

I appreciate the encouragment fellas.
...I'm coming around to thinking you're right.
...a few hundred spent will be thousands saved!

That's the spirit!! This is what owning a classic car is all about. You'll feel closer to the car if you do it this way. It will be more 'personal'. Sure, dropping it off somewhere and picking it up looking like new is thrilling enough, can't deny it... but doing it yourself... much better!!

Andrew.

[droptop]

I appreciate the encouragment fellas.
...I'm coming around to thinking you're right.
...a few hundred spent will be thousands saved!

That's the spirit!! This is what owning a classic car is all about. You'll feel closer to the car if you do it this way. It will be more 'personal'. Sure, dropping it off somewhere and picking it up looking like new is thrilling enough, can't deny it... but doing it yourself... much better!!

Andrew.

It was never going to be a drop off/cpllect situation to a major extent anyway.
I couldn't afford the luxury of that even if i were willing and unless you could find someone who had experience of lancias, I simply wouldn't trust anyone to be sympathetic when handling the removal of trim, etc. as most of this stuff is really irreplacable at any price.
I had intended to do all the stripping and welding myself plus the spraying of those areas that don't require a flawless finish such as floor pans, inside panels and the likes.
Thankfully, I'm now fired up enough to "give it a lash" as a local saying goes.
To celebrate my new-found determination, I went out this afternoon and attacked the outer sills with a point pein hammer and found that what I thought to be disintegrating metal was in fact mostly layers of paint and stone chip protectant with only the drivers sill having any penetration at all-A small amount at the base of the "B" pillar and some where the front wing (which is rotten at the bottom) joins it.
I'm annoyed with myself for recently having sold no less than THREE wings in near perfect condition with no rust anywhere on them and now I have to go in search.
Still, it could be a lot worse and the biggest challenges facing me now are the acquisition of a respectable bonnet and boot lid!
A good saturday afternoon for me by any standard>

[peteracs]

Hi

How bad is your boot lid? I have one which is not perfect, but may be an improvement on what you have, will try to photo it tomorrow for you.

Peter

[droptop]

Hi

How bad is your boot lid? I have one which is not perfect, but may be an improvement on what you have, will try to photo it tomorrow for you.

Peter

Thanks peter.
My boot lid is rotten at the seams and along the trailing edge between the outer and inner skins.
The boot lid is more of a problem than it should be as I will have to get one from the UK whereas I stand some chance of finding a bonnet in Ireland as the bonnet was common to several models whereas a spider boot lid is exclusively that!