I worked as a mechanic/MOT tester for JD Ross,Etchinghill,Kent between 79 and 81/82.
During that time the trade-in offer was running, and I acquired a forecourt trade-in 76' 1600 Coupe. PFG76R i think, in Lancia Blue.
Rusy front wings and front panel were swiftly swopped from a 74 Coupe which Lancia had bought back!
Quick paint jobs on both cars and they never knew a thing!
I recall what a joy it was to drive the brand new cars,so tight and quick! They were all carb models....the dealer
closed down before the IE was introduced. The Delta 1.3 was introduced whilst I was there,what a lovely car that was,and with so much more to come inside that bodyshell!
I had to fit a factory a/c kit to a LHD HPE registered in Andorra. That was a 3 day job back then.
We became experts at diagnosing wheel bearing hum! Got it right 98% of the time!
Also learnt how to strip a gearbox in-situ [see gearbox thread]
When this dealer closed I moved to Johannesburg,and after 2 years at a VW dealer,I moved to TAK and spent another 2 years on more Betas,Deltas and Themas. One 8.32 was owned by the MD and we converted it to RHD.I recall we couldn't match the leather for the dash, so the interior was fully re-trimmed! As far as i've ever known,it was the only one in the world at the time,maybe theres another by now?
Sadly,us mere mechanics in JHB wern't treated very well,so I opted to leave and enter the security business instead.
I loved the cars though,and was a frequent visitor back to TAK,and 2 years after leaving bought a White 1980 2.0 HPE.
I used it for work,tools in the back etc,and ran it for 3 years,clocking up some 150k miles, during which gearbox bearings and big-end bearings were renewed,all in-situ. No rust issues in JHB either! I retired the HPE from work duties and then retrimmed her in grey leather using an old Singer machine i'd acquired.
I want another Beta,and i'm considering getting one from JHB in the future.
Sadly i've no pics of my wonderful Lancia experiences, only fond memories!
