Hello all. This 1600 Coupe is the fifth Lancia Beta that I have owned. The others were a 1981 2000 Spider, a 1983 HPE Volumex, a 1983 HPE ie spares car, and a veeeeeerrrryyyy rusty 1300 Coupe that used to bend when going around corners and had been awarded the World's most imaginative MOT by someone.
I bought this 1979 1600 Coupe in 2017, but it spent most of the period from February 2018 until October 2020 in a barn or in a workshop. Its clutch failed in early 2018, shortly before I went to work overseas, so the car went into a dry barn and stayed there until after I returned to the UK earlier this year. It then got stuck for many weeks at a local garage that had too much work on, but it has been back on the road for the last two weeks, with a fresh MOT.
The car was Ziebarted by its first owner, a Mrs Garland who lived near Aberdeen. The car went to the Isle of Man in 1983 and came back to the UK some time before I bought it. The bootlid has been welded at some point, and I had the front suspension turrets and one wheel arch welded soon after buying the car. Most of the car's metal and paint are original. The indicated mileage is around 51,000 miles and the car runs well. It is shortly to get an Amedon Amethyst ignition set. The mustard yellow seats have suffered from sun damage to the rear headsets, and the cover of the driver's seat has split in three places. As a temporary measure, the car has a set of tailored seat covers in beige faux-leather. The oil temperature gauge does not work, but the other gauges do. Its wiper stalk has been replaced by a panel switch, as the stalk broke off. The car is shortly to get a new set of Pirelli Cinturatos or Dunlop Sport Classics, depending on which are available.
The car shares barn space with a 1962 Lancia Appia Berlina, a 1973 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe 1800, a 1981 Lotus Eclat (project), a 1983 Land Rover Series III 88, and also a 1982 Moto Morini 350 Sport and a 1982 Moto Guzzi V50 Monza.
The car has a twin that is up for auction at Brightwells with no reserve.
I am waiting for a new V5 to arrive and will then change the car's VED status to historic, and put its 1979 T plates on it (white and yellow plates - none of that ahistorical black plate nonsense). My Fiat needs welding to its sills and suspension mounts, so the Beta and the Appia (which is almost rust free and is mostly original) will be this winter's classic cars for use on fine days, followed by hosing down.
