1981 Lancia Beta Zagato rebuild

[MrMold]

I just recently bought this Lancia for $600.00 U.S. It only has 13,000 miles on it, but hasn't been driven in 20 some years. Brakes are seized, mice have been living in it, but the frame is sound and there's only minimal body rust. I'm hoping that this will be a fun project.

[HFStuart]

That car might be rarer than you think.

The stripes and black wheels are original and make it one of 500 Limited Edition Zagatos - the grill should also have the chrome bits coloured gold and you should (mice permitting) have black leather.

Nice one - and welcome.

[MattNoVAT]

You could be a very lucky fellow having a HiFi there, would be nice to see pics of the car in all it's glory.

Welcome to the forum, there is a huge amount of knowledge on here, the search button is your friend and there are plenty of Beta fans here will to help out with advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[peteracs]

Interesting reading Brian Long's book on this car, he says they were made in 79, but this car looks to have a FI engine, so dates it to 81 as per the registration date mentioned, so maybe they had a protracted build time for this version?

Also is this a different version to the UK HIFi car which I thought Tickford produced? From what I had read this was a US only version produced at the factory and the HiFi was refurb from cars in the UK?

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Yes, this is a late US ie Spider (Zagato), I think the stripes are a bit of a coincidence, the HiFi was a UK thing and Coupes, not Spiders?

[rossocorsa]

I can't  remember off the top of my head but I think the black gold livery was very popular at the time and was extended, it is good if it's injection as the 79 cars are regarded as by far the worst of the NA market cars due to weird emission gear

[MrMold]

Here are more pictures. Yes, it's a FI engine. I do however think it's pretty amazing that this car has more features than my 2001 Honda Civic.




.....and yes, it has a bad fender. The frame is fine, but not the fender. I already have one on the way. I also have no ignition key, so that too will have to be remedied.

[peteracs]

I can't  remember off the top of my head but I think the black gold livery was very popular at the time and was extended, it is good if it's injection as the 79 cars are regarded as by far the worst of the NA market cars due to weird emission gear

There is a thread running on Lancisti which is of a similar car, and comments suggest that the original 500 were carb cars of 79, they then ran an unlimited run of FI cars with the same colour scheme in 81 albeit with different wheel colouring.

See

http://www.lancisti.net/forum/showthread.php?7767-Zagato-for-sale-in-Portland-Oregon-Special-Edition&p=54864#post54864

Peter