Dead or Alive

[blazer_one]

i have been using this forum now for nigh on 2 years and have found it a great place for infomation and to talk to fellow nutters about our love for the italian classics

so thanks to one and all.

anyway what do you think about this idea

since i have been putting the final touches to my vx coupe as i prepare for the many miles i plan to put on her for the first time in 15 years i have been wondering about her history.
also at my mot station one of the other customers noted to the garage owner that there are only 15 vx coupes registered.
Any ideas how he knows?
the production figures from lancia say that there was only 150 right hand drive vx's made.
i have got 2, well one now and was wondering if we could do a floating spreadsheet through the forum which we could add our cars to with as much info as we wanted to put.
it would be good to know how many alive cars there are left

i have a italian monte carlo book which lists every car in the back with the orginal owner who bought it and my monte is listed there with the previous owner who i bought the car off.

looking forward to your thoughts


simon

[rossocorsa]

there seem to be numerous coupé vx turning up on eBay from time to time TBH I have begun to wonder if that figure of 150 is correct or another Italian fairy story I have one (on sorn) and a local friend has another which is immaculate that's 4 already.....

incidentally that is alleged number of RHD imported to UK not total number of RHD made, there will be stats available at great expense that are based upon DVLA data I don't know how they decide if a car still exists or not though over the years I think many cars have been scrapped without them being told

[rossocorsa]

had a look back at the 2007 mot test pass/failure results it shows 69 betas from 83/4/5/6 registration years in total this would include coupe/hpe and possibly any trevis that were registered as 'beta trevi' this is mainland only doesn't include NI so I suppose by 2009 given that a few will have died possibly some have succumbed to scrappage (perish the thought) 15 coupé VX is not too far fetched (gievn that more will be injection cars) but of course there are a few cars that are off the road such as mine  which has sat dormant in a state of suspended restoration for years

[MattNoVAT]

In the three years that I was involved with breaking Integrales, Thema Turbos and VX's I think we, as a company, must have dismantled at least 8 VX's evenly split between Coupes and HPEs.

I think Lancia were fond of telling people that there were only limited numbers available for the UK market to generate a feeling of uniqueness, (this happened with the Stratos and later the Integrale had numerous "special limited editions".  VX Era would have seen Lancia on the backfoot because of the issues and they would have tried anything to sell a car.

I reckon it was a marketing ploy to make you feel a little bit privelidged if you drove "one of only 150"......

Plus Lancia's record keeping in the UK was rubbish!

I think only DVLA might be the ones that could answer that with any degree of accuracy.

 

[rossocorsa]

I don't think this was marketing no idea where the figures originate from but i think they were published well after the Beta was withdrawn from sale, I think that records will be poor as the importer changed from Lancia England to Fiat (GB) to Heron (Lancar) in the Beta period official records say that in total 2369 HPE VX and 1272 Coupé VX were built so whatever the coupé is a rare car

[Grundo]

Don't forget the NZ contingent of VX's. Anecdotally 30-40 or so were purchased from the UK and imported into NZ as they didn't sell in the UK. All the VX's in NZ are hence registered as 1985 cars here. 

I personally think there were only 150 RHD versions of the car, it does become a case of being so rare you notice them more and can put almost a name to all of them. I myself own three here in NZ and can name at least 8 others going in NZ and 5 others that have been scrapped - but thats it. You know of a lot but also trying to find bits for them is nigh on impossible now.

[rossocorsa]

just cusrious did NZ cars have recaro seats?

[Grundo]

I have only come across one with the full recaro seats. All others have the grey/black italian cloth trim on standard seats. Again an interesting fact given the marketing around all the UK ones having Recaros as standard.

[rossocorsa]

I have only come across one with the full recaro seats. All others have the grey/black italian cloth trim on standard seats. Again an interesting fact given the marketing around all the UK ones having Recaros as standard.

never seen a VX coupé UK registered without recaros so that kind of puts the unsold UK stock theory to rest, possible they could have originated in another country with RHD though

[Grundo]

Not really, they aren't in Australia or any other asian countries who drive on the left hand side. I am fairly sure from a good source that Colin Giltrap (a car mogul in NZ) bought a lot of them - maybe the lower specc'd version without the seats? Otherwise why NZ and not Australia?

[75coupe]

Maybe Aus never got any due to cost of ADR compliance (Australian design rules) or emmisions requirements? The IE models never made it to Oz either, the coupe/HPE lived on from '82 to"84 with the carb engine, although it had the last style grill, PAS, black chrome bits etc. I am no expert on this, just what I have observed.

[rossocorsa]

Not really, they aren't in Australia or any other asian countries who drive on the left hand side. I am fairly sure from a good source that Colin Giltrap (a car mogul in NZ) bought a lot of them - maybe the lower specc'd version without the seats? Otherwise why NZ and not Australia?

all UK cars were spec'd the same all coupés had recaros sunroof/electric windows without exception. Did they not have VX models in South Africa?? and what about  Thailand, Cyprus, Southern Ireland, Malta as other possible sources, did any receive RHD VX models??

[Pete]

Maybe Aus never got any due to cost of ADR compliance (Australian design rules) or emmisions requirements? The IE models never made it to Oz either, the coupe/HPE lived on from '82 to"84 with the carb engine, although it had the last style grill, PAS, black chrome bits etc. I am no expert on this, just what I have observed.

Did ADR only apply from 1989 'cos a car made before 1st Jan 1989 can be imported into Australia without restriction, whereas with a car made after that date you have to make the necessary alterations and jump through hoops to import it, or is the date restriction just due to the "competition to Australian companies" policy.