I bought my Beta Coupe (1980 2 Litre) early in 1990; it was the second of quite a few Lancias, mainly Betas and as a penniless 24 year old it was my "pride and joy". Before the Coupe arrived a brief 12 month affair with a Trevi started things. Shortly after I bought the Coupe I spent a bit of money to have various bits of rot attended to (new sills, repairs to rear turrets etc.) + a repaint. An HPE was purchased to provide daily transport for about four years and the Coupe was afforded the luxury of a garage and second car status. Just before the start of the new millenium my attentions switched from Lancias to Stuttgart's finest and the Coupe spent much of its next 13 years in any free or affordable storage I could find. Despite managing to get it MOT'd and using it briefly in 2006 it spent another five years in hibernation. Finally I have the space at home to look after and keep dry more than one car at a time so last year the Coupe made a welcome return. During the past twelve months I have refurbished brakes, replaced broken plastic bush in steering rack, upgraded ignition (rebuilt dizzy + replacement of Bosch amplifier with stronger signal trigger + coil), replaced rear exhaust section, stripped, cleaned and set carb and had head skimmed and rebuilt with new seals (was loosing coolant through no 4 cylinder). Finally car is MOTd and runs as well as it ever has – very, very pleased!
Here is car pic taken a few days ago - wish the weather would improve!
