Zagato Competizione

[Sliding Pillar]

I'm with Colin on the Chromodoras, although I do think Fulvia Sports look better with the 1600HF alloys, but you do need to bend up the lip of the rear arch and fit HF front suspension to stop the tyres rubbing the body.
Here's a pic of my old 1600 Sport GKO 870L although for most of my ownership it had the reg No YAA 10. I think it is now the car owned by Daniel Wiedemann and mentioned in this months VL Adriatic Rally article. It had a cream leather interior, it was like this from new.

[zagatoboy]

Sorry, seem to have taken us off topic,
Brian, I'll take some pic's and post them up for everyone to admire when I get the car out next lol! Black alloys DO bring to mind all the 'Barry boys' with their 1.0 saxo's and huge black wheels worth more than the car! I just think the black gloss steels look right on the car with the white body and black bonnet stripe and fur interior, I'm not too sure how they would look with any other colour though. As for the alloys I was going to put them on e-bay, i've only got the four all with centre caps £250? they aren't mint but presentable as i had them painted about 6 months ago.
Sorry if it sounded like I was slagging Colins cars, I wasn't, (just the wheels) tee hee!
Just my humour!
Tony.

[CHENG]

Well gentlemen ( and ladies if reading ) , some very interesting comments on Zagato , especially on wheels, and as you have all said everybody has a preferance to colours and types of wheels, as fitted to their own cars, and as long as you are happy with your car that is the way it should be.
However I just would like to say something about another comment and again we all have our own opinions and no doubt we have all had good and bad experiences from garages and so called experts. I have a 1600 HF from 1972 which has an engine in it built by VERELANCIA to the specification that I wanted,( as I am an engineer and have sorted many cars over the years, but I do not have access to milling machines/ lathes and so on to do some of this work myself) right down to the last nut and bolt, and that is how it was done.  I went over to Holland to see Paul and discuss with him before he even saw my engine and to meet him , and as soon as I met him and saw his work shop and cars that was GOOD enough for me.It may have been a bit expensive but as I was 100% happy with what was delivered, then the price was not a problem. In fact that engine had 100 miles on it, before I drove the car from Oban to Turin in September 2006, and it was WELL driven all the way and never missed a beat.
However, this same engine had been built twice by so called Lancia Fulvia experts ( in the UK ) who claimed to know everything about them, and still the engine was POOR, I have driven 1300 Fulvias with more go in them. I am not here to put down or build up people, as I am sure we all have good and bad stories to tell about people, and we should all be happy about keeping our cars on the road.
Best regards, Ian Mcinnes.

[chugga boom]

hi ian, nice to see you on here, i can vouch for your engine as i remember you showing it me in turin , it sounded really nice and was built to a really high standard, neither of us had much luck with brakes on that trip though did we but what a trip, get some pictures of your cars up on here i'm looking forward to seeing your zagato project, all the best james

[ColinMarr]

Still off-topic I am afraid!

Well I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder, but I am surprised to read of ‘look awful’ and ‘look hideous’ when applied to any combination of Fulvia and wheels!

In my humble opinion all the options of wheels for all the variants of Fulvia are simply great, particularly when matched to the correct model variant. For sure, some are more beautiful than others and my personal list of preferences is:

Campagnolo
Cromodora 6J as fitted to 1600 HF Coupe
Cromodora 5.5J as fitted to 2000HF
S1 Steel, with large stainless hub caps and stainless rim-trims
S2 Steel with small centre cap.

As to the choice between 6J and 5.5J Cromodoras. For the first few years I ran my S1 Sport on 6Js. Although it looked good (see photo below taken by Adam Jefferson) I was tempted to try some 5.5Js and using the same 175/R/14 tyres I found a significant improvement in handling. With the 6Js the ride was somewhat harsh and lumpy - although I do have HF lower wishbones and wasn’t bothered about wheels fouling the wings. With the narrower 5.5Js the car is much more civilised and within my limits is still capable of track-day pleasure.

Colin

Edited two hours later: Sorry, forgot to add: Happy New Year!!!!

Colin

[zagatoboy]

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL !

TONY.

[lancialulu]

Happy new year to all sport drivers!

I concur with Colin on wheels as I too like the 6j's on both the sport and coupe but for the delicate handling of the sport (mine's a 1600 with HF suspension) the 5.5j's are the more effective. My 1600 HF is set up for the track with lowered front and Koni's etc so 6j's and a small steering wheel make for a completely different drive....

Best for 2010 and many good driving miles. Anyone up for the Great North Weekend??

Tim

[Richard Fridd]

as mentioned elsewhere i have fitted flavia 2000 steel wheels with enlarged centre holes to my s1 sport [standard wheel arches]5Jx 14 with 175 tyres which i am more than happy with in cost/ fit/clearance/appearance.they are painted silver with no hubcaps[still need one more hubcap if any body has one for sale]best regards richard

[ColinMarr]

I think it’s time to remember that we do have in the UK at least one genuine original Competizione – specifically the car owned by Neale Shepherd. And what a wonderful thing it is! Here below are photos of it taken at the 2009 AGM. Rumour has it that since then the engine has been fitted with a blower.

Colin

[DavidLaver]

Wonderful details on that car.  I'd assumed it was a recent labour of love to get it to that spec.  Did the originals have the hatch mechanism or is that a retro fit?

My favorites remain the road spec S1s on the narrow tyres with hubcaps.  Also the large wheel and "grandfather clock pendulum" gear lever.

David

[Richard Fridd]

marvelous pics! where can i find one of those front number plate surrounds as pictured on the road spec s1?best regards richard

[fay66]

Hi Colin, It's not a rumour, it's a fact, If you look carefully, below the air filter you can just make out the body of the blower, in this recent photo from Neale  

Brian
8227

[fay66]

Wonderful details on that car.  I'd assumed it was a recent labour of love to get it to that spec.  Did the originals have the hatch mechanism or is that a retro fit?

My favorites remain the road spec S1s on the narrow tyres with hubcaps.  Also the large wheel and "grandfather clock pendulum" gear lever.

David

Must admit I'm with you 100% on the series 1 Fulvia Coupe with the 4 speed box and the long gear lever, it was so sturdy you could have used it as a pry bar! lovely to drive, I see you had a Rallye Coupe S, did you have the chrome rings? as I can just make out the studs on the wheel rim, I think they set the wheels off very nicely.
Photo was Brooklands about 1998.

Brian 8227

[DavidLaver]

Some more pics of a lovely early car.

http://www.eddinsmoto.com/id106.htm

David

[Neale]

I've read the comments on Fulvia wheels with interest, and I think that several options have received little mention, the 13" and 14" "works" type Campagnola wheels (5.5 and 6") and the 13" x 5.5" steel wheels that were available as period items.  Both of these look nice on the Fulvia Sport, and the steel wheels give the car a rather nice squat appearance, but are relatively heavy.

In addition regarding Roddys comments about the unknown RHD shell at Vere Lancia, it could just be a steel S1 car devoid of clothes, and possibly Paul has used the 1200 alloy body on it, this is a viable but involved route to getting an alloy shell on a steel car. Paul bought a steel car from me when he bought the three alloy cars.

The supercharger on the competizione works quite well, this is mounted on a 1500 engine (1600 block etc with nitrided 1300 crank using BDA narrow journal big ends) that in naturally aspirated form gave better performance than the standard 1600 HF engine the car had for a while. Coupled with a set of Bacci Romano close ratio gears (great ratios but B noisy) the car pulls quite well, but a rolling road session is needed to finalise carb settings (suck through Weber 48IDF) to improve the pick-up in top gear.  I hope it will deliver about the power of a variante 1016 fanalone when it is sorted out. The next option might be to try the blower on a bigger engine or blow harder!  Meanwhile the brakes are dire, so some new period calipers may be the answer as the Dunlop units are great if you use the car a lot but can get grumpy if not in frequent use. 

Regarding Vere Lancia Paul is about to try a 2 litre fulvia engine, so this should be an interesting developement if a success.  Neale