ncundy
21st January 2009, 04:55 AM
2822282328242825I’ll have a stab:
My name is Neil and I live in Derby in the UK. Coming from strong family engineering background I have been bought up with cars and car restoration. My father bought his first restoration project the year I was born, so my earliest memories are of playing in the garage “helping” my dad restore his 1927 Alvis 12/50. My father had a pretty well equipped workshop and the benefits of Rolls Royce training so using lathes, welding and “taking apart – putting back together” were part of my home education and of course played a large part in my entering the engineering profession. As a pretty avid reader of racing magazines and books that were always around the house, and being taken to many racing events with my parents I was always sort of aware of Lancias without being a huge fan. My earliest recollection of Lancia is being taken by my parents to see the 1973 Targa Florio. I bought with my pocket money a 1/12 scale Polistil model of Fulvia #14 which had won the 1972 Monte Carlo rally there – long since gone I’m afraid.
At university I wanted to buy a 60’s convertible – I looked at several Sunbeam Alpines and Triumph Heralds, but when I graduated reality sunk in. No money, large overdraft and what was left required to fund chasing girls, drinking and seeing bands! My father still had no real interest in Lancias, but two of his best friends were knowledgeable enthusiasts, so I was pointed the way of an off the road S2 Fulvia saloon for £500, and joined the LMC. Not the best posing machine at the age of 21 I grant, but with a radio/cd and amplifier installed, after a bit of welding and a half engine re-build I had wheels. I ran the car for 4 years, did nearly 100,000 miles in it and then passed it to my brother and moved up to a S2 1300 coupe – I had gotten the bug.
By now my father had got the bug as well. Totally impressed by the engineering prowess of Lancia and the quality of production he had bought as a retirement project a S4 Aurelia once owned by Mike Hawthorn, which he has subsequently fully restored. So we were now a bona fide Lancia family!
After running the Coupe for 3 years I passed it on to my brother (spot a theme ?) as the Saloon had quietly died – more weld than metal, and with my new found wealth (for which read: "ability to fill in a loan form" :p) bought a two year old 16V integrale. What a car, I ran that for 3 years (again about 60k miles) before I had a rather major accident (my fault) which wrote it off. Now engaged, my future wife would not let me buy another one so I bought a very late (1994) Thema Turbo. It was 2 years old when I bought it (£26k new) and with 50k miles on it I paid £5k !! I ran this for 8 years before moving to a Mazda RX8 and a Fiat Multipla.
Always wanting a Fanalone I had been saving and looking for about three years (and had had a garage and workshop built in anticipation;)). After looking at three or four in my price range – I couldn’t afford a rebuilt car, so I was looking for a project car – I had just about given up. As a last ditch attempt I put a wanted advert on Viva-Lancia and to my surprise I got a reply from a gentleman in Venice with a car that seemingly fitted the bill and at a price that I could afford. However I had a problem. At the time our second born was one month old, I was half way through a Masters degree and was due to go on secondment to India for a month – so frantic telephone calls followed and the day after I got back from India I was on a plane to Venice Treviso to look at the car. Conscious of the adage “a fool and his money are easily parted” I of course bought it on the spot. Getting it back was another adventure that involved work colleagues in Italy “talking” the lorry driver down, finding the seller had moved the car (no malice – just a misunderstanding) and dealing with Italian lorry driving regulations (you cannot drive a lorry on a Sunday or some such) but eventually it arrived at my house.
Now four years into the rebuild this is all but a distant memory. I do pretty much all the work myself apart from painting and welding, my brother is doing the same to my old Coupe and has a 1600 engine for it and my father still has the Aurelia and restores cars (a Riley MPH at the moment) in his retirement. Apart from a 6 month period between Thema and Fulvia I have had unbroken Lancia ownership although it’s a fair while since I drove one of my own. I wonder if in 30 years time my 2 year old son will post on here in a similar vein ? I’m trying hard to indoctrinate him :)
My name is Neil and I live in Derby in the UK. Coming from strong family engineering background I have been bought up with cars and car restoration. My father bought his first restoration project the year I was born, so my earliest memories are of playing in the garage “helping” my dad restore his 1927 Alvis 12/50. My father had a pretty well equipped workshop and the benefits of Rolls Royce training so using lathes, welding and “taking apart – putting back together” were part of my home education and of course played a large part in my entering the engineering profession. As a pretty avid reader of racing magazines and books that were always around the house, and being taken to many racing events with my parents I was always sort of aware of Lancias without being a huge fan. My earliest recollection of Lancia is being taken by my parents to see the 1973 Targa Florio. I bought with my pocket money a 1/12 scale Polistil model of Fulvia #14 which had won the 1972 Monte Carlo rally there – long since gone I’m afraid.
At university I wanted to buy a 60’s convertible – I looked at several Sunbeam Alpines and Triumph Heralds, but when I graduated reality sunk in. No money, large overdraft and what was left required to fund chasing girls, drinking and seeing bands! My father still had no real interest in Lancias, but two of his best friends were knowledgeable enthusiasts, so I was pointed the way of an off the road S2 Fulvia saloon for £500, and joined the LMC. Not the best posing machine at the age of 21 I grant, but with a radio/cd and amplifier installed, after a bit of welding and a half engine re-build I had wheels. I ran the car for 4 years, did nearly 100,000 miles in it and then passed it to my brother and moved up to a S2 1300 coupe – I had gotten the bug.
By now my father had got the bug as well. Totally impressed by the engineering prowess of Lancia and the quality of production he had bought as a retirement project a S4 Aurelia once owned by Mike Hawthorn, which he has subsequently fully restored. So we were now a bona fide Lancia family!
After running the Coupe for 3 years I passed it on to my brother (spot a theme ?) as the Saloon had quietly died – more weld than metal, and with my new found wealth (for which read: "ability to fill in a loan form" :p) bought a two year old 16V integrale. What a car, I ran that for 3 years (again about 60k miles) before I had a rather major accident (my fault) which wrote it off. Now engaged, my future wife would not let me buy another one so I bought a very late (1994) Thema Turbo. It was 2 years old when I bought it (£26k new) and with 50k miles on it I paid £5k !! I ran this for 8 years before moving to a Mazda RX8 and a Fiat Multipla.
Always wanting a Fanalone I had been saving and looking for about three years (and had had a garage and workshop built in anticipation;)). After looking at three or four in my price range – I couldn’t afford a rebuilt car, so I was looking for a project car – I had just about given up. As a last ditch attempt I put a wanted advert on Viva-Lancia and to my surprise I got a reply from a gentleman in Venice with a car that seemingly fitted the bill and at a price that I could afford. However I had a problem. At the time our second born was one month old, I was half way through a Masters degree and was due to go on secondment to India for a month – so frantic telephone calls followed and the day after I got back from India I was on a plane to Venice Treviso to look at the car. Conscious of the adage “a fool and his money are easily parted” I of course bought it on the spot. Getting it back was another adventure that involved work colleagues in Italy “talking” the lorry driver down, finding the seller had moved the car (no malice – just a misunderstanding) and dealing with Italian lorry driving regulations (you cannot drive a lorry on a Sunday or some such) but eventually it arrived at my house.
Now four years into the rebuild this is all but a distant memory. I do pretty much all the work myself apart from painting and welding, my brother is doing the same to my old Coupe and has a 1600 engine for it and my father still has the Aurelia and restores cars (a Riley MPH at the moment) in his retirement. Apart from a 6 month period between Thema and Fulvia I have had unbroken Lancia ownership although it’s a fair while since I drove one of my own. I wonder if in 30 years time my 2 year old son will post on here in a similar vein ? I’m trying hard to indoctrinate him :)