Calling DJ.. Seperate Forum for the Dreaded 79 Lancia Beta

[Jim Fierst]

I would sincerely like you to consider setting up a separate Forum for the 79 Lancia Beta cars. The Augusta/ Belna currently has had no activity and I would suggest it as a possible repository for all the queries and comments that castigate these vehicles. A seperate forum entry would certainly purify the Lancia Beta posts and rid it of these bastard children and the castigation heaped on them. Those not wanting to have anything to do with the 79 could be comfortable that any post in the regular LB forum would not include these miscreants. Those of us who own them would feel comfortable answering each others questions and wallowing in whatever slime we deserve to be in for owning them. I am sure others owners of the 79 feel the same way.

[DJ]

Hi, Jim

That's not a bad idea. I can create sub-forums within any of the forums so there would be no need to scavenge another forum spot. Besides, someday I hope we'll be awash with Augusta/Belna owners so I'd better keep that forum available.

If we do that, I would propose that we split the existing Beta forum into 3 sub-forums.


Early Betas - through 1978
1979 Bastard Child Betas :-)
Late Betas - post 1979


Any others think this would be a good idea?

Any volunteers to help moderate the Beta forums? This would include helping me to read through all the existing Beta threads and move them into the new sub-forums.

[1,6 HF]

Actually, it doesn't sound like a great idea. Anything that applies to all Betas will get missed by those who're only checking "their" subforum. And if they're checking a 3 subforums, what's the point in subforums?

[Jim Keller]

I aggree with Ed, leave it as is.

Geeze, I know I make a lot of "one year only" sarcastic remarks, but I only ment them in fun and as a warning to what he was getting into restoring a 79. I didn't mean to get any feathes ruffled Jim, Sorry!, I'll stop being so negitive towards them in the future. I know they are just as good as the rest once you work out the "few" 79's only bugs as you have and ditch the emission crap and all. Plus they have good points over all the rest, like the hidden gas cap and all, Other than a few differences, they are the same as the rest! ha ha

If anything, you should be speaking up more on subjects involving 79's with advice on what to look for, what to thow out and modify, etc....since you have done so much with them, you know a heck of a lot more about them than I ever will! LOL

again, sorry!

[davidb]

I think Ed's correct. Succient too!

[rossocorsa]

can we have a separate forum for 'proper' Betas as well the ones sold outside NA without gas recirculation pumps, 5mph bumpers and the like........this '79 thing is uniquely North American
seriously I think it'd all get far too daft

[DJ]

I think I'm seeing a trend here...

[Jim Fierst]

Seriously guys it was just an attempt at some gallows humor by a 79 owner. I hope no one took it the wrong way. I really don't want a separate Forum.

[rossocorsa]

Seriously guys it was just an attempt at some gallows humor by a 79 owner. I hope no one took it the wrong way.

no ...but as a European I don't understand this 79 thing at all!!!!

[Jim Fierst]

I think you can sum it up that the dislike for the 79 is due to it emmisions strangled engine.Their HP was down in the 80's .The US emmision laws of the late 70' really hurt import manufacturer's. The 81/82 had the fuel injected engine and at least 15 more hp. They start, run and perform so much better that a stock 79. The cooling system is the 79's were smaller and they had a thermostat that bolted to the water pump that was difficult to remove. The79 Fiat 2L spiders are considered the worst of the Fiat Spiders to own for they had similar emmisions system. As a result of their relatively high price (as much as a Cadilliac) & poor performance a lot of the 79 LB's didn't sell and they were re-VIN numbered as 80 models which are also considered undesirable. Hopes this helps.

[SubGothius]

Actually, I don't think any Lancias were re-VIN'd as 1980s, and I have my suspicions whether any "1980" FIATs were really just '79s sold as '80 models by dealers desperate to get rid of lingering inventory. I've long had this suspicion that the weird 1979/"1980" models were actually a stalling tactic by FIAT N.A. waiting for the FI models to get DOT certified for sale in the US. They prolly knew the FI wasn't going to be ready for US sale until mid-'80 or so for the '81 model year, so they glutted the market with a surplus of '79s to tide dealers over until the FI models were here. That's just my opinion; I could be wrong.

[79ottozagato]

Actually,

I wouldn't mind a separate forum. Then, the ones who have one or truly want to help can visit.

While I may have the bastard child, that's not the reason that I bought it. I've always been fascinated by Lancias
that I've spotted over the years and felt comfortable enough to buy one. The previous owners took very good care
of the vehicle and I had no problem dropping the coin to get into the game knowing that it's a 30 year old vehicle
and things will break.

All feedback and help has been much appreciated.

I'd like to be a part of the group but if it's nothing but bitter responses
and lectures on how stupid I was to buy the wretched thing that gets old pretty fast.

Respectfully.

[DJ]

As Lancias already seem to be a bastard child in general anyway, does being a bastard child Lancia make a 79 Beta a double bastard? :scratch:

I appreciate the feedback from everyone. As I was the previous owner of Jim Fierst's 79 Zagato, I can certainly understand how tiresome it gets to have your car constantly berated. Maybe I can work a little harder to quash and/or clean that all up a bit.

But knowing the folks here pretty well, I know that none of it was intentionally derisive. But perhaps it has gone a bit too far from time to time.

For now I'll leave the forum as-is. I think that, as a whole, the cross-pollination of information between owners of all variants is a good and positive thing.

One thing that any of you can do though is to create a new social group (http://lancisti.net/forum/group.php) here for any type of car variant, geographic location, club, etc. This is a feature here that hasn't been used much yet but allows users to have a more direct, private, and compartmentalized space for interaction on whatever level or for whatever reason they wish. Check it out if you haven't already.

[Jim Keller]

Yea Mark, my goodness, I was not trying to do any lecturing to you or trying to insult/make you feel bad, (And I didn't see ANY post claiming you were "stupid", in fact it's the opposite, I have found over the years, dumb people don't buy Lancias typically! they only buy Chevy, Ford or Dodge's! LOL), I was just sittin around the camp fire chatting about what you may or may not be up against, you know, trying to help by metioning the things/expenses you may or may not run ino while restoring or driving it depending on what the PO has already addressed. And letting you know that IMHO, the 81 may be the better one to restore and deserves a close look to check it's condition before stripping it, compare both bodies closely as that is where you will have 50 to 75% of your restoration costs, the interiors and most trim will swap to either but welding up a rusty body or sub-frame is difficult, BTDT, and expensive if you hire it done.

The reason I recomended restoring the 81 over the 79 is we have had 29 Zagato's, 6 Coupes, (Some Zags and Coupes were parts cars, some bought, repaired/restored/resold, not all for us to keep), and two Scorpions, I loved my good 82 Zagato and my 81 Coupe the most of all of them, (look over my photo albums here to see the good ag and driver Coupe), so I just really prefer and always encourage the fuel injection 2.0. It has enough torque to take off easily in 2nd gear, then stick it in 4th at 25 MPH while lazily driving around town stop light to stop light, and then speed up to 65MPH fairly quick in 4th from 25MPH when you hit the city limits with no complaints or shudder, yes I am a lazy driver! LOL, (Hey!, I have my good reasons for wanting to limit my shifting or clutching), and, again, IMHO, are the most reliable of the Betas for all round use, show car, Autocrosser, daily or what ever you want to use it for. Our good Zag, which I had dialed in to near perfection, got about 24 MPG around town and I pulled down no less than 32 MPG and hit over 34 MPg many times on the freeway driving a steady 70 to 85 MPH from here to places like the Carlisle Import Kit/Replicar Nationals in Pa and such, a carbed car won't do that and still perform

Don't worry! <smile> Any of the negitives of a 79 are easy to modify/improve/or replace, or you can keep it stock even if desired, we truely are all here, for the most part, to walk you thru anything you get hung up on, Jim Fierst being probably the most go to guy as he has done a lot on his 79 and I have only had one, a junk yard rear ended total I bought souly for a parts car.

It's pretty much just that one year only fuel, ignition or cooling part, that's really the only differences, for the most part, due to the emissions, that again, are easy to get around in most cases and/or still pass emission tests if tuned well, the rest of the car is pretty much identical to the 81-82 with the bonus of the cleaner looking hidden gas filler cap.

Yes, Tye, many 79 Betas were "Indeed" re-"titled" as 80's, (I'm pretty sure the VIN numbers remained the same, only the year of the vehical was changed/amended on the titles and paper work, and only in a few states that allow that to be done, (Ohio is one of those, or at least was back then), Lancia did not import any 1980 cars, however you do see 80 models for sale with 1980 as the model year on the title, those are 79's that were re-titled as 80's. That was actually a common practice, not sure it is allowed today.

[rossocorsa]

this year thing happened a lot after the rust scandal over here but there was no fiddle, if a manufacturer here says a car is 'new' that's good enough for the authorities!! the HiFi edition was a direct effort to tart up rust ridden old stock (probably why they've all disappeared without trace I've only seen one tatty one in the last 15 years or so) it's very difficult to tell the year of manufacture of betas prior to the injection models. I had a 79 built berlina that was first reg in 1981 they sat in fields for a long time