1979 1600 Coupe

[GerardJPC]

The car spent the night out.  Very heavy frost first thing this morning.  The frost is now covered in about 3 cms of snow.  I wound the window up as the snow started

[GerardJPC]

The car is today getting Amedon Amethyst mappable ignition, which I've had on my Fiat 124 for a while and is a good thing.

I shall take some photos, as the tatty mustard coloured seats now have well made and close fitting beige vinyl covers made by a woman in Turin.  Next: new tyres, and a bit of minor paintwork.

I also need to replace or fix the coolant expansion tank, as it has tiny cracks on the top and is leaking a bit.   Hey, at least the clock now lights up.

[GerardJPC]

I add that I found some notes made by F/L Garland MC OBE or his wife when they had the car.  It had done 45,000 miles by 1990.  It is now showing what appears to be a genuine 50,500 miles, so evidently wasn't used a lot between 1990 and F/L Garland's death in 2016.

I am still trying to get the car back onto its UK T plate.

[peteracs]

I also need to replace or fix the coolant expansion tank, as it has tiny cracks on the top and is leaking a bit.   Hey, at least the clock now lights up.

Hi Gerard

I have a spare one if you need it.

Peter

[GerardJPC]

Fabulous, thanks Peter, I will email you.

[GerardJPC]

Seat covers.  Not perfect, but not too bad, and a lot cheaper than a retrim.

[Neil-yaj396]

Very good. Probably not even noticeable as covers from outside the car?

[frankxhv773t]

Those do look rather good. I notice the rear seat backrests and the headrests look a bit loose fitting. I wonder if some foam padding under the covers would plump them up a bit.

[GerardJPC]

That might work.  The covers look better in real life than they do in photos. and, yes, from outside they hardly look like covers.   The mismatch with the door inserts isn't as annoying as I thought it would be, but I may try to find a match.

[WestonE]

I think careful use of a hairdryer might get the creases out and let the covers settle for an even better look. Of course if we had warm sunny days!!

[GerardJPC]

Thanks for top tipz!


The car now has an Aldon Amethyst mappable ignition system, a new exhaust centre section, and new Pirelli P1s.  So I am off out to play.

[mangocrazy]

The car now has an Aldon Amethyst mappable ignition system, a new exhaust centre section, and new Pirelli P1s.  So I am off out to play.

Hi Gererd, Can you provide a link to the mappable ignition? I Googled Aldon Amethyst  but only got lots of references to crystals...

[GerardJPC]

http://www.aldonamethyst.co.uk/

[GerardJPC]

I am a fan of these Amethyst systems.  I have one on my Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, which is a rorty beast.  The Beta needs more fine tuning, but already feels more lively.  The new tyres are great, and the car no longer sounds like a bag of spanners.  The mid section of the exhaust was in a bad state and rattling and rasping badly.  The tail section has one small hole but this has been covered.  I might paint it later today, although if the sun comes out I might ride my old Italian motorbike, which I put on charge last night.

[mangocrazy]

Hi Gerard,

That looks very interesting and I'll certainly bear it in mind. Once the engine that I'm laboriously preparing is fitted to the Spider I will initially use the distributor that I have had refurbished at HH Ignition, as that is a known quantity to get the car up and running. I will also be using an MSD Ignition box and matching coil, and I'm not sure how that would play with the Aldon mappable ignition. I imagine it would be fine, but would need to check with Aldon.

Ultimately something like the Aldon would be a better solution than a distributor simply because of its accuracy, repeatability and configurability. But when I commission the new engine and ancillaries I think it's best to keep it simple and possibly move to mappable ignition once everything else is bedded in and working as intended.

Thanks for the link - much appreciated. Liking the Italian motorbikes from the 80s! Mine are 90s/00s...

[Jono]

Gerard, am living vicariously through this topic about your Beta. Looking on with slight envy. My 2000 Coupe I purchased back in Sep 20 has spent more time in the repair workshop and on the back of recovery trucks. Latest is an incontinent fuel tank, see 'filthy fuel tank' topic... Hey ho, I'll get there one day. On the plus side it is totally structurally sound and never welded. Lhd, from Florence. Silver with olive green fabric, 1977. 145,000 kms. Desperate to be out enjoying it. Jono

[GerardJPC]

I hope you get there soon!  Pics please!

This 1600 was used by me in late 2017 and early 2018 but it went into a barn at that point while I went to work overseas for two years.  Then last  March I came home, and the garage that took the car in to do the clutch had it for months because of too much work.  I eventually got the car back on the road last autumn and since then my visiting mechanic has been slowly improving the car.   The car has had welding to the boot lid in the past, and when I bought it I had some welding done at the front suspension turrets and near the offside front and rear wheel arches, but the Ziebarting when new and, I assume, the care given to the car when it was on the Isle of Man have kept it pretty sound.  The recorded mileage of not much over 50,000 is probably genuine, and the car feels pretty together.

For the rest of this year's projects, there is work to be done on my Appia (brakes), and I await possibly bad news on how rusty my Fiat is underneath the cheap blowover that someone gave it a few years ago.  I also have in mind to get my Lotus engine rebuilt, but for that I need my mechanic to sort out the workshop at his place, and have the car trailered to him.  I am for some reason that I cannot fathom being tempted by a Mazda Luce, a very rare saloon car that has a half Italian half BMW neue klasse looking body designed by Bertone (a design rejected by Alfa).  It is mechanically similar to a Dolomite 1850.  I like very rare and odd cars.  Is anybody anywhere near Bradford?

PS:  I should NOT buy any more cars.  For the same money as some probably boring Japanese family car that nobody has ever heard of I could get a scruffy but mechanically sound Alfetta GT 1800 that I know of, or a very good Hillman Imp, or a  fancy Riley-badged ADO16 or whatever.   My first lottery win car would be a Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, with a Lamborghini Espada to follow.

[Jono]

I have some good pics of my Beta on this tablet but sadly I am quite simple minded and don't understand how to transfer them. On the subject of unusual, slightly esoteric cars, I had a Citroen GS for 10 years - sold last year - I miss it very much. It epitimised reliability, with it's air-cooled, flat-four engine. Never once let me down, off road, motorway, it never complained. Am a long way from Bradford, basking on the beach in Brighton, Sussex. Jono

[GerardJPC]

This image uploading site is free.

https://imgbb.com/

Upload to that site, then copy and paste the forum link.

Citroen made very cool and technically interesting cars for so long (often let down by nondescript engines), but nowadays makes rather dull cars.

The mad Mazda is in Bradford, which is an eight hour round trip from where I am.

[Neil-yaj396]

Gerard

I live near/in Bradford if you want me to look at the Luce. I would suggest however that you are right in that your money would be better spent elsewhere!

Neil