Lancia Motor Club

112553284651  ebay listing number  I smell a rat Roll Eyes  sure it's been on before

The seller regularly lists interesting cars in France, always without reserve; I can only assume he has someone on hand to up the bidding if needed, as several cars have 'sold', only to reappear from the same seller some months' later ...

Pity there are not more pictures.
It looks like an early flat rad saloon, with later grille, the correct wheel on the spare, but early series Aprilia solid disc wheels.

I smelt a rat as well, but fortune favours the brave thought I so I made a bid which I didn't expect to win - but it did.  So Jennie and I drove down to Bourg-en-Bresse only half expecting to find an Augusta there but it was and now it is back in Wiltshire.  It is a flat side model but with the later sloping rad and the later front wings. The VIN plate reads 31 3777 ( I presume the "31" shows it's an Augusta rather than a Belna)  so I'm guessing that it was built at just the time they were changing to the later style body which means that either an earlier owner updated it or it came off the line like that. Anyway. I fitted a new battery, coil and plugs and she runs! The clutch works, the brakes work etc. The body as in excellent condition with no rust or welding apparent so it looks like we have, indeed, been favoured by fortune. Obviously, it has the wrong wheels but I quite like them and I see them as part of the car's history.  It now needs at least one new tyre, a pair of new front indicator lamps and some mirrors.  I'm still waiting for the "Import Pack" to arrive from DVLA so will not have plates for a few weeks.  I'm going to need some help with the technical side as I have no workshop manual or other tech docs and things like the partial flow oil filter are a complete mystery to me. I'm not even sure how the sliding pillars get oil on these early cars but I'll get under it today and have a good look.

Fortune does indeed favour the brave, well done and congrats on both finding that the car existed and then that its more or less as described!


P

Lovely!

Brilliant Charles. Your first port of call is Morris Parry!! He and James know all there is to know about Gussies!!!!

                          Andy

Excellent - looks like a great car !

I would second the Parry's (Morris and James) as your first call, they have the knowledge , experience and a lot of the bits

I am very pleased for you Charles, and will hold my hands up that I was wrong. No offence intended. Roger

The radiator surround shows that it's an Augusta, not a Belna, as do the headlights. Looks like a fine car to me.
 Regards, John

What a nice looking quality purchase. Much fun to be had in the future I suspect.
Chris

I have now sorted the electrics, got it registered with the DVLA and fitted the plates, sorted the Weber 30 DO carb (which was a bit of a mystery) and have finally got it on the road with encouraging results.  However, when I got the car I noticed that the propshaft was only held on to the gearbox forks by one nut and bolt.  I found two more suitable ones and thought "job jobbed"  but then I looked at the workshop manual which says (see attached picture) that when reattaching the prop shaft to the gearbox you should not forget to install the centralising forks.  Unfortunately, whoever last had it apart did indeed forget the centalising forks as they are missing (but are present on the shaft to Diff coupling).  So I need a centralising forks unit; can anyone help please?  Charles

Charles.
Try James Parry for the centring plate TAV 11a 34, -1716.

Interesting car late radiator shell & wings but no waist line moulding on the body & bonnet also  disk wheels as on early cars.

Don

Thanks Don, I will try James.  Apparently the car came out of the factory in February 1934 around the time that the switch from the flat body ocurred.  This begs the question, was the car upgraded by one of its owners at some time or was the factory in the middle of the switch over and happend to send it out like this.  The wheels are not actually the early Augusta disc wheels but are, I believe, early Aprillia wheels which perhaps indicates an owner upgrade at some point. In any case, my attitude is that the car is what it is - history and all - and I will not seek to restore its "originality".

Charles

Defiantly keep it as it is, the tyres will be larger on aprilia wheels but the hub caps are the same as early Augusta.  I think the later update is most likely.

Look forward to seeing it in the metal.

Don

I expect that you all know this, but oven cleaner really does work wonders on fouled plugs.  I just could not get the Augusta to run properly under load and kept stripping and rebuilding the Weber carb that is fitted - about which I could find no info.  The plugs were new, the coil was new and the points were perfect.  I just happened to be discussing the problem with Mr Green of the Green spark plug co who explained that modern petrol with modern plugs in old low compression engines is not a good combination.  Apparently, spark plug manufactures stopped glazing the insulator noses in modern plugs because modern computer controlled injection systems do not flood engines.  Of course, I had been experimenting with the enrichment(starter) device which would have wetted the plugs on various occasions.  He recommended trying oven cleaner which I did and - wonder of wonders - she runs beautifully now.

You will have to share with us your preferred brand of oven cleaner Charles.

Hello,

Please find attached information about the Weber30DR carburettor. The description is for the vertical vesrsion, but the function for the 30DO is the same.

I hope that helps

regards  Karl

Kari, thank you so much.  I have got the car running well now but the information that you have provided will help me to understand exactly how it all works so that I won't need to flounder around endlessly next time - thank you.
In answer to Frank's question, Mr Green advised using any spray-on oven cleaner and leaving over night before rinsing off.  We didn't have any spray-on stuff but I found an old plastic bottle of Betterware "Oven Clens" in the back of a cupboard.  The instructions advised painting it on and leaving it half an hour - which I did. Then washed and dried the plugs and hey-presto the car was transformed.  Apparently wire brushing is no good and sand blasting only makes the problem worse in the long run because it roughens the insulator tip.

Thank you Charles. I'll check the back of the cupboard under the sink.

Out Shopping!

I thought you were a Waitrose man?!

My engine started to mis-fire the other day and at first I thought it must be plug fouling again so I did the trick with the oven cleaner but it made no difference.  I checked the fuel supply and I checked the plug lead connections, all to no avail.  Then it ceased to function altogether so I checked for a spark and there was none. I checked the points gap which was fine so I changed the coil, still nothing.  So I got out my multimeter to check for voltage at the coil - it was there. Then I found that there was continuity between the sprung contact of the points and the distributor body and low and behold I found what you see in the photograph, the spring had snapped and was making contact with the dizzy casing. A new set of points from GSP co. (they are the same as for the Porshe 356) and all was well again.  But in nearly 60 years of motoring I have never known this to happen before which is why I am reporting here. 

I had 2 go on my Appia furgoncino .... I'd never seen it before either