Intro

[shaun pond]

DJ, thanks! I think adding this "Introductions" forum is a good thing.

I've been participating for about three and a half years, and I've gleaned some things about some of the other participants, but there are a lot of regular participants whom I know very little about. So a place where they can do recaps is welcome. So I'll try to kick it off:

My name is Shaun, and I'm a Lancista.

I've been interested in and involved in old cars all of my life, but I've only had a Lancia since mid 2005, when I bought a 1967 Lancia Fulvia Coupe Rallye 1.3.

http://albums.phanfare.com/3538292/1704400_1812065#imageID=-19891277

The car is both my daily driver and what I use to participate in old car tours and rallies here in California. I've put a total of about 40,000 miles on it since I bought it.

I'm lucky enough to live in an area (the San Francisco Bay Area) with great Lancia roads nearby and a lot of low-buck, high fun old car events. In 2008, I figure that I was able to do around 3,000 miles (not counting transit mileage) in events for pre-75 cars like the California Melee and the SoCal TT500.

Up until this year, I'd grown accustomed to usually being the only Lancia on the run. But in '08 I was fortunate enough to do at least four events where I got to run in company with some other Lancias (Fulvias, a Beta sedan, and a Scorpion). These included regular forum participant "1,6HF" in his stunning 1,6HF. I'm hoping to see him and other Lancisti on the roads this year.

I like to take snapshots at these events. These are not in any danger of being mistaking for Jesse Alexander's work; I just like to have momentos of good times and interesting cars and people. They are online here: http://albums.phanfare.com/fulviacam.

I do some of my own work on the Fulvia. Right now, the car's laid up in the garage waiting for me to finish putting in some badly needed new tie rod ends. I rely on Lancia expert and all round good guy Jaan Hjorth in Berkeley (http://www.eddinsmoto.com/) for work that clearly exceeds my technical abilities (and/or level of courage) or which requires special tools (Lancia seemed to absolutely love special tooling; look at the "Engineering" section of Jaan's site for some examples of the stuff he has to make to work on trannies).

That's it, really. Thanks.

Now, how 'bout hearing from the rest of you?

[shaun pond]

Neil and Ed,

Thanks for the back-stories! I have a ways to go with my Lancia ownership experience before I can approach either of you.

Ed, you mentioned your photo albums. Are any of these online? Pictures from the 1980 race would be interesting to see. I'm also growing more interested in a Beta (as a supplement to, not replacement of, my Fulvia), so snaps featuring those would be appreciated as well.

Neil, I just noticed that you recently updated your restoration album site (http://geocities.com/neil.cundy@btinternet.com/Site_Map.html) with some new engine disassembly pictures. Thank you for these. However, you may have inspired (or perhaps the word I want is "terrorized") me into dropping the sump to see what sort of grunge is residing in my motor.

Last, and totally off topic, I also just noticed that Lancia has posted an online link to a 2009 calendar
http://www.lancia.com/cgi-bin/lancia.dll/LANCIA_COM/news/news.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1805162147.1232563659@@@ @&BV_EngineID=ccccadegfhkjejkcefecejgdfkhdfjl.0&contentOID=1074424755. Two calendars, actually. One black and white one, primarily featuring a PF Flavia, and a color one with somewhat broader representation of Lancia models.

As an addendum to my intro, I want to add that I am probably the very last Lancista to learn that Lancia has a Facebook page, barring only perhaps some Aprilia owner living in Patagonia without benefit of internet service...

[1,6 HF]

Ed, you mentioned your photo albums. Are any of these online? Pictures from the 1980 race would be interesting to see. ...

Shaun, the albums are on this forum; the main menu at the upper left has a tab for "All Photo Albums".

I only have a handful of color shots of the Montecarlo Turbos from that race. Those were pre-digital days, so all the photos going out over the AP or UPI wire were b&w; we got all the Kodak Tri-X we could eat, and we had a darkroom on the 1st Floor of the control tower (2nd Floor was TV, and 3rd was timing & scoring / race control) and we used drum scanners and a telephone handset modem. Our job was b&w; we only got paid for shots that went out over the wire, so we literally couldn't afford to miss something by shooting color for ourselves, so color went in the 3rd camera, without a motor drive (or the 2nd if you were willing to risk missing something by having to change the b&w roll in the 1st). Sometimes I'd be concentrating so much I'd forget I was carrying a color camera at all.

So some races I have a lot of color, and some I have very little. I've got a lot of b&w of the Montecarlos, but it's (obviously) all negs. At some point when I have some free time (insert laughter here), I may get ambitious and dig them out and scan them in reverse. If I do, you'll see them in my album. In the meantime, you'll find a few color shots there.

[shaun pond]

Ed, thanks.

I found the color snaps after I'd posted my query. Thanks for posting them.

And thanks for the jaunt down Memory Lane. Tri-X film, drum scanners, and handset cradle modems. Somehow seems a long time ago...

Your B&Ws will certainly be appreciated, when you get the *laughter* spare time *more laughter* to scan them in and post them.

What I'd really want to see, though, is a snapshot of you doing a victory dance in the press paddock next to your Beta after the Lancia victory. If the moment wasn't captured then, we can re-create it next time we're on a rally together, and post it on Facebook.

Regards

[1,6 HF]

Your B&Ws will certainly be appreciated, when you get the *laughter* spare time *more laughter* to scan them in and post them.

Amazingly enough, I actually found the negs; there are now some b&w shots in the album.

But enough of that. Who's next?