I bought the Pininfarina coupe in southern California in 1995. Back in Italy, it's known as Lancia Beta Monte Carlo. Mine's in a bad shape w/ the factory shock absorbers & its twin-cam engine busted. I drove 100 miles to Orange County to have it fixed.
After an extensive overhauled, softer Fiat shocks fitted in the front and Koni gas shocks in the rear, my coupe was lowered by 2" & ground clearance to 5".
I pulled over at a gas station. The height of the trash bin easily dwarfed my canvas top. The softop came w/ a $400 pair of rubber straps. Sold off the used ones to my fellow Lancia afficianados for $100 each.
Replaced stock manifold w/ a $350 custom-made free-flow header bought from a shop in upstate New York. This coupe wasn't street legal in California.
I drove to upstate New York back in 1996 across Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and turned north to New York. The journey, supposedly, took me a week and 2,500 miles but my carb blew near a small town before New Orleans.
Waited 2 days to ship a Weber from Texas. I was cash-strapped but a friendly local Frenchie offered me his cabin in the bayou. God blessed him. Luck beholds when I found an Italian mechanic (of all places!) to replace the carb. The guy at Chrysler couldn't tell.
1981 Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Series 2 in KL. I believe the original color was dark blue. Still retain many OEM exterior parts except for the missing nose emblem.
Side body still straight. The owner told me he hasn't crashed the car yet. However, his car requires many new trimmings.
Rear is very straight. The emblem is still attached to the trunk. No visible body rust & the undercarriage is rust-free as well.
All wheel caps are gone. The side mirror is a painted after-market stuff. I always prefer the Series II over my Scorpion as the bumpers & fixed square lamps look really matching.
After-market cold air intake & K&N filter. What's with the blue, red & yellow? Bad color coordinations, phew!
The door panels were upholstered too plainly. Should have done the interior in red leather & carpet instead. Overall condition is only good.
Clean trunk but it requires a good vacuuming. All the tanks are intact & I hope the wipers work.
A picture of a Lancia037 rally sponsored by Martini in the 70s. Beware: Many mechanics pretend to know the vehicle. Once, a Jaguar guy stood at the nose of the coupe waiting for me to pop the hood. I told him it's mid-engine so he walked to the rear to lift the trunk straight up with both hands! Sorry bud, the trunk went up sideway.
Posted by: kokokrunch
04/26/2009, 02:56am
nice car and very rare on the road. 5*