Delta Consortium?

[Rob]

As we all know, the standard early Deltas (1979 to 1992) have always stood in the shadow of their famous integrale big brother & unfortunately have not survived in the same numbers. Finding parts that are specific to standard early Deltas is becoming increasingly hard especially the series 1 models (1979 to 1986). I was thinking recently how handy it would be to have a kind of Delta Consortium where owners could help each other out sourcing hard to find parts etc. Is there any other Delta owners in the club or on this forum who think the same?

Cheers, Rob

[Delta James]

Agreed. I own a mk 1 Delta HF turbo carb parts are impossible to find and most come from Italy. Which means long waits and expensive shipping costs. It does seem the fuel injection delta and quattro parts are a lot easier to get hold of

[Kevinlincs]

It would be nice, but would need a lot of effort and cost to store and itemise parts rather than just have a pile of parts.
The Thema/Dedra consortium already have people and storage in place, maybe an approach to have the Delta added to it may help all concernned?
I know from using their services lately that it's a pretty thankless task that they very willingly provide, the small annual membership fee to allow access to parts (mostly used parts, some new) is a real help. If the same could be done with Delta parts then the additional memberhsip fees would allow them to more cover their costs, so that could well be an avenue worth persuing..

[Rob]

Thanks for your comments Delta James, yes finding parts for mk 1 Deltas must be a challenge & working with the Dedra & Thema consortium is a great idea Kev as buying & storing parts can be an expensive business. I was thinking we could start with getting owners of front wheel drive (1979 to 1992) Deltas together in one place on say a WhatsApp group / Facebook group. Some of us have spares stashed away in the loft / garage & if one of the members was after a particular part they could post it on the app to see if someone has that part in their 'stash' or knows of a person or business where they could buy it. It would be a great start if we could all get together in one space  .

Cheers, Rob

[fay66]

Thanks for your comments Delta James, yes finding parts for mk 1 Deltas must be a challenge & working with the Dedra & Thema consortium is a great idea Kev as buying & storing parts can be an expensive business. I was thinking we could start with getting owners of front wheel drive (1979 to 1992) Deltas together in one place on say a WhatsApp group / Facebook group. Some of us have spares stashed away in the loft / garage & if one of the members was after a particular part they could post it on the app to see if someone has that part in their 'stash' or knows of a person or business where they could buy it. It would be a great start if we could all get together in one space  .

Cheers, Rob

One point to bear in mind is that TDC was formed by Thema Consortium and Dedra Consortiums when both models were current vehicles 25 or so years ago, and have been breaking cars and collecting parts all that time.
While Delta has been out of production for even longer, and the cars to break etc are no longer there.
Dave Abbett and TDC may be of assistance in advising how to go about obtaining service items, but I honestly don't think they could help more than that.
But no longer being involved with Tdc for the past 12 years or so I could be wrong.
If you could get owners to pool there parts that would be great, but classic cars owners tend to jealously guard their own parts.
As a case in point a few years ago I let my spare  fan motor go to someone who had problems, a few weeks later mine packed up and I've been trying to find one at an affordable price ever since, so I'd be very reluctant to part with any parts now unless  I had spares above my own possible needs..
Good luck.
Brian
8227

[lancialulu]

The club would look favourably at supporting such an initiative. Obviously a proposal would need to be made. As an owner if a 831 Delta (1.6GTi.e.) that I use as a daily driver in France I can vouch for the issues of finding parts just to keep it mechanically on point. However, these parts are still available if you know where to look. Other stuff such as trim are not! That is where breaking cars is so vital if only there were good cars to break. The Gamma Consortium operates on finding the occasional car to break. It has been breaking cars for decades carefully selecting the good and vital parts. It needs storage for these which is the biggest problem. Also a consortium should be based on a group of like minded people and have its own constitution etc.

Rob are you interested in taking the lead? If so put a notice in VL as a starting point.

[Rob]

Yes we all guard our collection of spare parts Brian but sometimes we have parts for models that we no longer own or we might know of an individual or business where parts could be bought from. 

[Rob]

The club would look favourably at supporting such an initiative. Obviously a proposal would need to be made. As an owner if a 831 Delta (1.6GTi.e.) that I use as a daily driver in France I can vouch for the issues of finding parts just to keep it mechanically on point. However, these parts are still available if you know where to look. Other stuff such as trim are not! That is where breaking cars is so vital if only there were good cars to break. The Gamma Consortium operates on finding the occasional car to break. It has been breaking cars for decades carefully selecting the good and vital parts. It needs storage for these which is the biggest problem. Also a consortium should be based on a group of like minded people and have its own constitution etc.

Rob are you interested in taking the lead? If so put a notice in VL as a starting point.

Yes I'd be happy to take the lead Lancia Lulu  . I'll contact VL & put a notice in.

[Rob]

I emailed Jack Romano a couple of days ago & asked him what he thought about having a Delta Consortium. He said that there's already a Delta register / advice service that is run by Andrew Plater. It's funny that I've been a LMC member for 25 years & never noticed it  .

[038tipo]

Actually Rob.
I run the Delta HF register.
I think Andrew offers technical advice.
Not 100%sure he still does it .
I think some people may be put off by what happened the last time it was tried.
I do not want to go  over it again. Sorry to say..
Paul Baker

[Rob]

OK Paul thanks for letting me know. I think I'll park the idea for the time being.

Cheers, Rob