Lancia Beta Berlina 1800 S1 1975

[Ghibli]

Hi!
I got myself a Lancia Beta Berlina 1800 this summer. I heard the story of the car and saw a couple of dark pics and then I was sold. Problem was that it was 350km away from me and I didn´t have no room for it (still don´t..), and worse, to be honest, no time. Anyway – the car was in traffic 1975-1981 (6years), after that it got traded in for another car at a dealer. The dealer kept it, and after a couple of years the Lancia along with some other old trade-in-italians got moved to a storage. Time went on and the next generation cardealer had no interest in the old cars, they had to go. That´s when I saw it. This was summer 2014, and the Lancia had then been out of traffic for 33 years..
If/when the car is approved at “Mot” or besiktning as we say in Sweden – which actually shouldn´t be so far away if you just look at what needs to be done, I THINK this will be the only S1 Beta Berlina in Sweden.
I knew the car would be a restorationpoject after so many years – and of course there´s job to be done. But it´s quite a nice feeling when pushing  the car outside for the first time in a lot of years. The brakes seemed to work (except for the handbrake) which was nice. Although we didn´t try to start it we did put a battery in it to see what to expect from the electrics. Big disappointment at first – except for the front headlights nothing seemed to work.. 
This is a pic from the old storage when we picked it up

[Ghibli]

More from the same time..

[Ghibli]

Engine

[Ghibli]

Wellwell, brought the car home. Had a friend/mechanic change the cambelt. We also installed new sparkplugs, an ignitioncable, a new fuelfilter, some fuellines etc. After looking at the fusebox, the connections in the fusebox got cleaned. Succes! The car started, the engine runs great with even values on compressiontest. Feels nice and solid in engine/gearbox/clutch.  Whats even nicer – all the electrics work. Every lamp, switch and instrument. Even the wipers for the headlamps!

[Ghibli]

more

[Ghibli]

right side

[Ghibli]

Left side

[Ghibli]

The car has (sometime long ago) had a tectyletreatment on the chassis. It´s rustfree underneath and also in the mountings of rear shocks and engine etc. Thank god it´s been kept inside all these years… The exterior of the car looks a bit sad though. It has rust spots on the edges of the fenders, on the doors lower edges, round the rearviewmirrors, Little on the windowframes etc. Every little spot has had time to grow during the years. It also has a little dent on the right side reardoor from an opening door probably. Rustwise nothing really serious though, it´s all on the surface and shouldn´t need more than careful grinding before a new paint. (no welding), even if it looks a bit booring today. On the upside; the "non visional condition", and the fact that the car is totally complete. All the hubcaps and every button is where it should be. It´s never been repaired, And there is a sunroof on the car! (original). Cool feature with handgas and choke!  
When I was looking through the interior, on the driverside there´s a little trashbin on the floor. In there was the little torch. It has probably just fell down from it´s position under the dash sometime during the years.
On the downside; except from the somewhat poor exterior – the exhaust was crappy of course. Removed the old – now looking for a new/better! Brakes needs going through of course after so many years standing. Some hoses have dry cracks in them. After that – it´s off to Mot! ….. But unfortunately there´s absolutely no time for it at all right now. Job, house, family and another hobbycar is consuming all of my time, so looks like the Lancia will become a 10-year-project... Hope I find a place for it, so I don´t feel I need to sell it. I like the old hunchback. At the moment it´s in my only garage, with the dailydrivers outside and the other hobbycar 15kms away, in a barn… Not optimal.

[MattNoVAT]

Thats a great find you have there, the Berlina is growing on me as time passes.


Whats the plan for the car?  Clean up and sell or keep it?

[Ghibli]

Well, I never buy a car just to sell it, even if this one was everthing but planned and bought unseen. What I would
 like is to get it in traffic again and keep it. Just the small time/room-problem that could make me go the other way..

[cheeky monkey]

What a lovely car.. I hope you get through the besiktning test.
Good news that so much functions still and the interior looks great.
Theres some nice FIATs in the first storage photo you show. Hope they go to a good home too.

[rossocorsa]

Nice looking car in a great colour, I always felt that the first series berlinas have something about their style that was lacking in the later more fussy looking models

[angelom]

Congratulations on "Humpy"    . Its rare to see them, but I know there are many out there. 

The Torch looks a treat, I know a lot of beta owners that would love one of those including myself. !

[Ghibli]

Nice looking car in a great colour, I always felt that the first series berlinas have something about their style that was lacking in the later more fussy looking models

Thanks! Yes, I agree about the first series cars. They look more "slim" and basic.
About the colour; that´s one of the things that convinced me of buying. I like metallic blue on cars from the 70:s. But I can´t seem to find the colourcode for it. The car has it´s originalpaint, but I´m not sure what code it is. This forum has a REALLY great thread on this topic by the way, but even if looking there it´s a bit hard to find. I have seen what I think might be a code on a plate in the trunk. If so, I think it said 32 (?). But I can´t seem to confirm that the Berlinas had this code -75, specially not in comb with the nice diarrhea-coloured interior.

Well. No rush in finding that I guess. Not sure what my plans concerning the exteriour will be with the car. Complete paintjob would be the only alternative to get it real nice - but the car might loose a bit of character then..?

[MattNoVAT]

Try these links - might be helpful......

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_codes_lancia.htm

http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2141.msg12933#msg12933

[Ghibli]

Try these links - might be helpful......

http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/colour_codes_lancia.htm

http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2141.msg12933#msg12933

Thanks!

I´ll have a look

[rossocorsa]

I think it is blu Vincennes will check the code later

[Ghibli]

After looking at the links above; You are probably right about the color. Just need to find the code for it.
Beautiful name that. Blu vincennes.