Greetings from Japan

[neromoto]

Thanks for adding me.
I am a member of the LMC and the Gamma Consortium.
I own several Lancia but this is the first time I have bought Beta.(1975 HPE 1600).
The car is still being transported in a container and has not yet arrived in Japan.
Probably HPE has not been imported into Japan until now.
Thank you for your continued support.

Masataka / Japan

[SanRemo78]

Welcome to this forum Masataka, hopefully your car will arrive soon and you can post some photographs of this early HPE! Apart from the Gamma (Coupe or Saloon) which others do you have?

I have a Beta Coupe under restoration and a Stratos replica.

Guy

[neromoto]

Hello SanRemo78

Thank you for your reply.
I have both Gamma(Coupe S2 '82 and Berlina S1 '78), Flaminia Convertible '63 and Coupe '60, Thema 8.32 '90 and Toyota Corolla .
I will be going to the UK again this year to attend the Gamma Consortium AGM in September.

Masataka Okamoto

[peteracs]

Hi Masataka

Welcome, that is quite a collection.

Is the HPE a Series 1?

Peter

[Nigel]

Hello Masataka,

I came to the Gamma event in Lenham in my HPE where
we met.
Glad you've found an early HPE, looking forward to seeing the photos.

Best regards
Nigel

[neromoto]

Hello Peteracs
It looks just like your HPE.
The VIN number is BF0 and the engine number is B000, so it should be an S2.
However, there are parts of this car that appear to be S1.Is there S1.5 between S1 and S2
The documentation shows a white body with a red interior. However, this car has a green interior.
I have not seen this car yet, so I am not sure of the details.

Hello Nigel
Yes, I met you two years ago.
At that time I had no idea I would buy HPE.
I am sorry I did not have a conversation with you.
Are you coming to the AGM again this year? The location is Arundel.

Masataka

[peteracs]

Hi

I see a Series 1 rear hatch and wonder if the engine bay has the mounts for the small shocks which were added on S2?

Also did the 1600 come with the single piece headlights? The front side light lenses are all clear unlike original I think.

I suspect you will have some work to do on it. I suggest a set of stainless rear side window frames as it looks like the ones on it are original and they always rust at the bottom.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Hi Peter & Masataka, my first HPE was a 1978 car so later than this one and was also a 1600. No sunroof but it had the single piece glass fronted headlights like this car. Mine had the later bonnet with the raised centre section and the tailgate lock was central, not low down on the right as with this car. I notice it's missing the lock from this. If you can find a lock then it can be dismantled and reassembled to match the rest of the locks but you might need some extra "pins" to do this - Peter showed me how, it's not too difficult!

My car also had the same fabulous interior, it looks like the yellow cloth rather than red to me! Do you have the triangular shaped cushions for the back seats? They often go missing.

On the subject of rear windows there was a change between the early and later cars. The upper B post has a pair of slots to accept a tag on the leading edge of the frame so you see a painted surface between the front door frame and the rear window on the early cars. The later ones had a stainless channel attached to the window frame that clips over the upper B post and is held in place with a couple of screws and covered by the door seal. Hopefully your window frames are solid and don't need work but if they do I'd suggest getting two sets shipped so you can experiment and see if you can remove a set of channels and fabricate the locating tags to keep it looking nice and original!

Guy

[rossocorsa]

Hi

I see a Series 1 rear hatch and wonder if the engine bay has the mounts for the small shocks which were added on S2?

Also did the 1600 come with the single piece headlights? The front side light lenses are all clear unlike original I think.

I suspect you will have some work to do on it. I suggest a set of stainless rear side window frames as it looks like the ones on it are original and they always rust at the bottom.

Peter

All HPE had single piece lights, the clear indicators are Italian market, typical for Italian cars up to about 1975 ish

[SanRemo78]

All HPE had single piece lights, the clear indicators are Italian market, typical for Italian cars up to about 1975 ish
[/quote]

Are the clear front lights the indicator with a separate sidelight?

I just noticed this car has side rubbing strips from the last series car, hopefully stuck on and removable and no drilled holes for the clips...

[neromoto]

Thank you all for a lot of information.
This car is from Italy,and currently passing near Cape Town on a container ship.
And it will arrive to Japan at the end of June.
 The colour in the picture is bad but the interior is green.
The rubber mouldings on the sides are fitted with S3 parts.
The rear triangular cushion is probably missing.
Anyway, I will update in July.

Regards
Masataka

[rossocorsa]

All HPE had single piece lights, the clear indicators are Italian market, typical for Italian cars up to about 1975 ish

Are the clear front lights the indicator with a separate sidelight?
[/quote]

I'll try to get it my series 1 brochure to check 100% on the indicator lenses.

[peteracs]

Hi

The Series 2 parts book just shows bi coloured lenses listed, so may be S1?

Also I had not realised that all HPE came with the single piece lights, mine had individual ones which look like they were taken from a Berlina which also had adjustable lights.

I am going to use a set of stainless framed side windows. The original stainless attachment to the B pillar often breaks away from the main frame so I am going to have a pair of lugs welded on to replicate the original early ones an domaway with this attachment.

Peter

[Nigel]

Hello Nigel
Yes, I met you two years ago.
At that time I had no idea I would buy HPE.
I am sorry I did not have a conversation with you.
Are you coming to the AGM again this year? The location is Arundel.

Masataka

That would make a nice drive so maybe I will! Well done on your HPE, I hope you
have fun with it.

Best regards, Nigel

[rossocorsa]

Hi

The Series 2 parts book just shows bi coloured lenses listed, so may be S1?

Also I had not realised that all HPE came with the single piece lights, mine had individual ones which look like they were taken from a Berlina which also had adjustable lights.

I am going to use a set of stainless framed side windows. The original stainless attachment to the B pillar often breaks away from the main frame so I am going to have a pair of lugs welded on to replicate the original early ones an domaway with this attachment.

Peter

The parts books do take a bit of hard work to read sometimes, the entry reference front indicator/sidelight  does only show bicolour options BUT the annotation H against every part number says from 1600 HPE 6984 2000HPE 6286, so prior to this there was another option(?) that is not shown. There is another annotation F that says for numbers prior to this for the home market to order replacement in PAIRS. This makes sense that early Italian market 2nd series might have been fitted with clear lenses. I guess that they just used clear lenses for the Italian market until exhaustion and then going forward only supplied bicolour ones. The parts books continue to tie my brain into knots!

Series 1 cars definitely came with clear indicators in Italy and other countries with bicolour only for specific destinations.