Greetings from Pennsylvania!

[Ryan]

Long time lurker here, finally decided to take the plunge and join up.

First let me say that the folks on this forum have some really nice looking Betas.  It's amazing to see the amount of hard work that goes into these cars. Well done.

I have had a slew of various Fiat/Lancias in the past 15 years.  The one that I am driving daily (through ice and snow, mind you) is a 1982 Zagato that I have been driving since 1998.  It was in the shop all last winter for a complete overhaul of the engine.  Special thanks going out to Beta Boyz. If it wasn't for them, I don't know what I'd do.

My Zag has black leather seats that are now waiting for a heated seat kit to come in, purchased from fleabay.  Working air conditioning that has been retrofitted to run off 134a and blows cool-ish in the peak summer months.  My car has what you folks refer to as the "I.E." 2.0 that starts as soon as the key turns.  Fresh Konis and suspension bushings all way round and a set of ice/snow tires waiting to get mounted up.  The car also has factory installed rust that I have been dealing with.  It is by no means as bad as some of the restorations I've seen here.  They must spray the roads in the UK with battery acid during the winter months, lol.  I stripped the problem areas to metal when I got it and treated it with a formula called Por15 that works pretty well.  It helps to make sure that those drain holes are unplugged as well.  The car has been restored to what I refer to as "1992 standards".  Meaning I have it looking like it would back in 1992 if it had been driven every day for ten years.  A decent 15 footer, you could say.
 
Anyway, glad to be aboard,
Ryan

[MattNoVAT]

Welcome Ryan, Good to have another US based Beta fan onboard with us.

Luckily we don't need battery acid thrown on our roads - just huge quantities of rock salt over the winter months.  (Thats why a good number of us lay the cars up over winter!)  Its a shame but it helps keep the rust a bay.

So you have the emissions control pipe (Smog pipe?) fitted to yours and the big fenders?

Do you have pictures of your Zagato and have you sent them to TonyLanciaBeta for the Classic Car show in November?  We are collecting Beta pictures from around the world as part of the display!

[Ryan]

If by "smog pipe" you are talking about the egr tube, then no it doesn't.  In the county that I live in there is only an annual visual check as far as emissions testing goes.  So, you could have a what "looks" like a cat in the exhaust line.  It doesn't have to do anything other than look like a catalytic convertor, if you catch my drift.  As far as the larger fenders, I think mine are the same as the cars that you all have over there. 

I understand that none of the UK Betas came equipped with leather seats.  Is this true?  I have never seen a beta that didn't have them.  The quality of leather that they used was really good.  You have to hit them every so often with leather oil to keep them from drying out and the seams have a habit of letting go.  Mine are in need of some restitching on the passenger side which I'll do myself.  I figure that it will give the chance to install those heated pads underneath.  Planting your backside in a cold seat in 20 degree F is better than a cup of coffee at waking you up in the morning.  Though, Id rather have the coffee instead.

As a side note, my grandmother is a citizen of the UK.  Even though she lives over on this side of the pond, I still get to go over there and visit with the rest of my relatives.  Every time I go, I cant help to marvel at all the cool cars that you all have over there.  My cousin's next door neighbor in Chingford has a Y10 and a Delta sporting the Martini livery.  My jaw damned near hit the ground when I saw the owner out front of his garage hosing it down.  I can't remember the guy's name, but he was cool enough to let me sit in it.