Lancia Motor Club

Are these people good/reliable, anyone know please?
https://www.pieces-fulvia.com/
From a quick look their prices look ok, but other than that difficult to tell

I met them at retromobile and the guys from Lancia Club France reckoned they were serious. I haven't bought anything yet so can't comment personally

thanks, I will do some trialling by asking questions about certain parts and see how well they respond. Quite often these things come down to shipping costs, which are always ridiculous from Italy.....hopefully France less so....

Hmmm, shipping cheap in France, not in my experience compared to Germany or U.K., though Simon may be able to point you in a suitable direction.

Peter

well have just entered a trial order of 5 items totalling 146€, shipping then is 18€, so about £16. Not cheap but not ridiculous I would say.
The good thing is the way the site is set up allows you to do this quite easily and see the costs, which is helpful

Some prices look good, others not so! Will be interested to hear experiences. As I spend a bit of time in France with an address there they could be a useful supplier.

I ordered 4 items yesterday totalling 122.50 euros (including 11.50 euros for postage) and was notified they were sent out this morning & should arrive by Monday 14.05.18 at latest. Let's see how they perform.

This came up at a convenient time as I was about to buy new plugs. My old plugs which have been there for far longer than I thought were NGK BP6ES and are the perfect colour of greyish brown. It wasn't until I'd bought and paid for the new plugs 'for all 1300's' that I noticed they were NGK BR7ES. So slightly colder. Hope they don't soot up or make starting difficult. As mentioned, some prices look very reasonable. The bits that make you gulp a bit are just as bad elsewhere- brake master cylinders, wheel bearings etc.

my experience so far is good as a) they have a proper website where you can find things, see prices and so on, and b) they have answered questions very promptly...yet to order however, and accept the comment that you need to be careful with some prices, as with any supplier.

This compares to the main UK source of parts which doesn't have a parts/price/order website, and its a real pain having to ask each time what it is you want, then getting a price, then having to add VAT on, then going back to confirm you want to order, then getting an invoice and paying.....dark ages stuff!!

Yes, have to agree. For a specialist with a worldwide reputation they have the worst site in existence. Like the early days of the Web. I've never understood it.

I imagine part of the problem with putting £ sterling prices on 'the well known UK Lancia part supplier's'  website is the fact that much of what they sell must come from Italy and the £/€ exchange rate fluctuations over the years have been huge ranging from parity to €1 = £0.68.
And of course the main Italian based 'old Lancia parts' supplier operates in very much the same way.
Quiet difficult for them to  deal with this problem but of course not impossible if there is a will to do it.
As a consequence they must both lose out selling parts to those of us who like to research then buy online just as you have done.
In Italy there are a couple of Moto Guzzi Ercole parts suppliers who have most of their info online either on their website or in an ebay shop so it can be done. 

Chris 

Fair points about exchange rates, but if you have (for example) an Alfa Giulietta of the '50s-'60s, you are completely spoiled for choice of excellent online sellers. In the UK there's https://www.classicalfa.com/ (https://www.classicalfa.com/) and http://www.alfastop.co.uk/ (http://www.alfastop.co.uk/), my two favourites among many other reputable suppliers. And then there's OKParts in Germany and many others in Italy. Exchange rate doesn't stop any of these from publishing prices...

Going back 20 years Tanc used to pride himself on getting the same stuff as everyone else from the same places in Italy for a good deal less money.  I see he's an online parts site but not - as yet - for the older cars. 

He might have lost his enthusiasm to chase each deal, or it could be in his DNA and he's even better at it now.

http://www.tancbarratt.co.uk/

...while I'm down memory lane is Peter Harding retired now?   (I don't think he ever sold me any parts, but the stories were always good).

Quite correct William,
The 'problems' as I described them are  dealt with efficiently and effectively by lots of spare parts suppliers for many other foreign makes and models of car. I just thought I would show some support for our main British supplier as if they weren't there we would have problems of a different sort. Also I know from experience that they do try hard to find their own sources of supply who are quite often cheaper than the European suppliers.
And as for advice - it is freely given by the team there who have a lot of knowledge.
Chris  

Slightly sidetracking from a supplier in France I have bought a few things now from Ricambio in London - http://www.ricambio.co.uk/ - and have been happy with the service. When i spoke to them they said they are currently trying to get established in the Lancia, and especially Fulvia, market so have low margins. They do have an online purchase facility but also good customer service by phone. No connection, just a happy customer!

I've had some bits from Ricambio as well and was very happy with prices and service (even with the postage to France)

Re Omicron, I have recently bought a couple of things from them as well. A RHD throttle cable for less than £20 and a speedo cable for less than £35 - both have vat and post of course - and with post here were still cheaper than most French suppliers.

NB Cavalitto do not sell RHD throttle cables !

I wholeheartedly concur Chris, I am a regular and committed buyer from the main British supplier.
William

Chris, you probably realise I wasn't criticising them as a company as like you I've always had first class service and advice from them. They are so 'on the ball' in other areas that there must be a reason why they leave the site as it is. I think I mentioned once before that they might prefer a phone call to make sure you know exactly what it is you want to either save you reading a problem the wrong way or to save them messing about with returns for the same reason.

David, I bought an exhaust section many years ago from Tanc Barratt and the price was so cheap I wondered what it would be like. I wouldn't be surprised if that was about 16 years ago now and it's still there. I also bought a middle section from Omicron many years ago too. It was so shiny when it arrived that I phoned to check they hadn't accidentally sent me an S/S one for mild steel money. They hadn't, but it must have been very high quality steel because it still looks good.

My impression of the "main UK supplier" is that they aren't primarily a parts supplier so that isn't their focus in business terms. Setting up the sort of on-line experience you get elsewhere would require a significant business development in that direction. They have also told me that the number of parts customers who are mistaken about what they need makes it preferable to have a conversation about it before getting involved in sending parts out and dealing with returns.

Just thought I would comment here that I have bought some parts from the French supplier, really quick service from them. I placed the order online on Friday before the bank holiday and the package arrived on Wednesday. Haven't fitted the items yet to be able to comment on the quality but they look good.

Yes, I've used them since and they provide a good service. I noticed they also stock some rubber pieces etc that I haven't seen elsewhere.  At some point I'll get a Filter King from them.  They have the proper glass type and if you tell them the model they'll preset the pressure.

Thanks for that tip - I've not got to the fuel system on mine yet. I've been concentrating on getting it to stop before worrying about making it go!

Another update from me, one of the items I bought from France was a hub nut removal tool for the front hub. Tried using it and one of the three lugs snapped off with the other two bending so wasn't very impressed. However, they have given me a full refund and done it promptly so at least the response to a problem was good which means I will be happy to use them again.

Now hoping the quality of the replacement tool I have bought from Omicron is better - it should be as it was about twice the price!

same happened to me from our favourite UK supplier some 12 years ago. They (after some discussion) sent another out with an extra part - the steady bar, which worked perfectly)

A number of 'Lancia' brand OE hub tools came with our latest Fulvia and I was impressed with the quality of these tools as compared to my existing ones which I bought in the 70's from non-OE sources.
Chris