Our old 81 Coupes coming home Friday! Woo! Hoo!

[Jim Keller]

After talking to Dennis about it for the last several years off and on, (damn Beta people can be Sooooo wishy washy! LOL), I finally ponnied up and bought my old 81 Coupe back, he is driving it down for me on Friday. I am excited sine it's been a year or so since a Beta has sat in the garage, this house has just taken too much of my abilities and money till now. All I have to offer for pictures is Dennis's web site link to the pictures he has posted, you can see it here:
http://dennisjones.tripod.com/Lancia/Lancia.html

Yo, Dan C., if your reading this, I need a boat load of your parts ASAP! <grin> I'll be a emailin ya!

Woulda posted this sooner, but I'm a dumb a@# and it took me a while to figure out how to get logged back on to post since, mainly because I've been wrapped up in the house and selling off this POS Fiero in parts on eVilbay to pay for the Coupe!

I do have one question, since I was the second owner of this car, then sold it to Dennis and now back to me, am I still considered the "second" owner, or do I have to say I am the fourth owner, or second-fourth owner of it? ha ha ha

[1,6 HF]

Jim

Congratulations! My '81 Beta coupe (daily driver) is probably the only car I've ever regretted selling. Always nice to get one back.

[Jim Keller]

Funny you mentioned your "81 daily driver" as this one was also my daily until I couldn't push a clutch and throw a shifter around regularly due to spinal problems and had to sell it to pay for an automatic car. Now however, it will be my toy, driven only on good spine days and will recieve the same going over thru the next few years Zagman, (our good 82 Zagato that is well known), got over the 7 plus years we had it. First thing is first, gotta get the mechanicals sorted then off to the body shop for a nice fresh GM Appliance white with low gloss black highlight graphics. My body shop buddy and I are already in talks about what all we will be doing to it to make it sportier/racier looking, like bubbled wheel wells, front air damn, rear valance and wing etc....there is a picture of a black one in, I think, Brian Long's book that was built for, I think, the DaFatta brothers I plan to model the body mods after

[davidb]

Congrads Jim !

[KeppelmanJ]

Well, the pleasures of repeat ownership can go farther than you've imagined, I bet. There's is a '98 BMW F650 that I was the second, fourth, and sixth owners of. I suppose if I knew where it was today I'd buy it again too!

[jp]

Congratulations Jim!
can't wait to see the changes

JP

[Jim Keller]

Aaaaaaah, she is home. Posting late, (it was here by 1:30pm Friday), but I had to drive it up the road and back then crawl all over and under it looking for things I need to address so by time I was done playing around, (as those of you who know my spine and joint problems will understand), I wasn't in any shape to sit here at the computer and say anything about it. Now, after driving it a little bit plus being on my feet way too much as of late doing the Fiero eBaying thing to pay for the Coupe, my clutch knee swelled to the size of a grape fruit from last Wed to yeterday so I have to stay off the clutch and my feet for a few days so it can recover......hell gettin old ain't it?! ha ha

It came home absolutely no worse for wear over the last 6 years being gone, all you guys who bothered Dennis over the last few years about buying it then backing away, well, thank you and YOU SCREWED UP! ha ha ha ha! It's a hell of a nice car still and Dennis was Waaay under selling it! as well as making the rust sound MUCH worse than it really is!

Dennis and his wife took very good care of her while she was gone. I wasnt' sure how long she had been gone but the title revield I sold it to them in August of 2001 so it's been right at 6 years, just before my first spinal fusion surgery. Looks like a few minor mechanical things, (leaking O2 exhaust section from missing stud and blown out gasket and feels like vaccum advance is gone), stitch the passenger seat seams as usual with any Beta, a good detail cleaning, mainly the engine bay area, in particularly the lower section of the engine from leaks over the years, then just fix the minor rocker panel rust and she'll be good to go for fun or show. Baring the exhaust leak, she is good to go for all but show right now actually, although, she still looks great for a show, just wouldn't win any trophies with the tad bit-o-rust on the rockers and a couple bubbles on the fender lips, super easy fixes for that. Struts feel a bit soft, not sure if I just need to adjust them tighter or if I'm going to have to send them off to Koni for a rebuild as I haven't looked close at them.

Other than that, I think she is very happy to have my ugly ass back in her seats! (I know I have been on cloud nine! <evil grin>), especially since I now have about three times the garage room and not only will she not be used as a daily anymore like I and the first owner used her for, but gets her own comfy area, (not just a spot, but a whole area!), in the garage! LOL, Jeeps pissed, (actually my wife), cause it got kicked to the curb, but hey, they'er made for the outdoors! wifes and Jeeps right?! ha ha ha.....she'll get used to scraping her windows again, she's had to most of our marriage anyway due to one or another toy in the garage.
Off to nurse my back and leg so I can go play tomorrow, gotta go get the insurance, title and tags done first thing in the morning, then over to the muffler shop to have my buddy struggle with the manifold and get that fixed, then if tht goes quick enough, over to my uhpolstery shop buddies to have him yank the passenger seat an stitch that up. Hopefully, I can get all that done by days end as I will leave the seat at the uhpolsterers cause that will take him a few days to get to and finish up. Rest of the interior is like new cept the hole behind the sun visor in the head liner, not sure what I am going to do about that since you only see it with the visor in the down position, if I do a new headliner, I'm going to do it in perforatd black, (like a Zagato), instead of this gray cloth, I think it would look better like that since everything else inside is black. I'll post a picture or two over this next week when I get a chance.
Even the kids are screaming happy!