Spanish Aurelia Project

[williamcorke]

I could do a swap for your 6th if you are interested.

Great offer Kevin, thanks!  I'll check the condition of the 6th wheels I've got before taking it up though, as I know that one of them is a bit out of true (very hard to balance indeed) and I don't want to mess you around.

[j886atv]

but with Google Reader all you have to do click 'add a subscription' and paste the url of the blog into the box (http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/).  In other words WordPress does allow RSS..

Done

Look forward to the updates

[Zetaman]

Please could you reveal the chassis number to add to my Aurelia Register?

Paul Mayo


lancialib@onetel.com

[williamcorke]

Please could you reveal the chassis number to add to my Aurelia Register?

Paul Mayo


lancialib@onetel.com

Hello Paul, the clue is in the address of the blog, quoted above... http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/

I responded on the 1st October to an email you sent me (via Geoff Goldberg), letting you know chassis numbers of my cars.  Did you not receive that email? I didn't get an acknowledgement of receipt.

William

[Zetaman]

Thank you William and apologies.  I did get your email and response pending.

Paul Mayo

[williamcorke]

http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/dismantling-underway/ - an update on what I've been doing with the car since it arrived.

With the taking-apart phase rolling along, I now have several boxes full of trim parts, and a stack of moth-eaten seats and trim panels.

It's clear that every single part and assembly on the car is going to have to come apart to be cleaned and woken-up... wherever there was grease, there's now solid gunk.

A daunting task?  Yes and no.  I will really know the car inside-out by the time it's up and running, and that's going to be a fun learning process.

William

[williamcorke]

Inevitably, it's been a little while since the last update.

Some progress though - a trip to Ron's last week means there is quite a lot of crossing out on the parts page of the blog.
http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/parts-list/

And the stripping and dismantling continues to chug along quite satisfactorily.  I'm telling myself the shell might be ready to go to body shop for minor work and paint in about 6 months.  Who knows, I could even be right about the timing, though that would be unusual...

Yesterday I made contact with a possible supplier for the missing horn button.  The exchange we 'enjoyed' is written up here;
http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/the-people-you-meet/

Question for you all.  Should I have published that piece (possibly a bit mean-minded and sour)?  Is it entertaining / potentially useful to others / pointless and should be taken down forthwith?

More seriously.  Is anyone here a certified Nardi wheel expert, and know the difference between a type 41 and type 42 wheel?  Has there been a definitive catalogue researched and published?

[peteracs]

Yesterday I made contact with a possible supplier for the missing horn button.  The exchange we 'enjoyed' is written up here;
http://b20no2959.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/the-people-you-meet/

Question for you all.  Should I have published that piece (possibly a bit mean-minded and sour)?  Is it entertaining / potentially useful to others / pointless and should be taken down forthwith?

William, more of this please, fairly brightens up the day, even though frustrating for you no doubt given that he appears to have significant knowledge about the Nardi wheels and cannot/would not be forthcoming in actually helping you. I thought you were very restrained given the provocation.

Peter

[the.cern]

Well done William for being so persistent and for 'keeping your cool' !!! An unbelievable attitude and such arrogance !!!

I must  have a close inspection of my wheel which has been pushed to the back of the (huge) heap of things to be restored/repaired/renovated or just generally fettled.

Good luck and please do keep us informed.

                    Andy

PS    I am acutely aware that it is some time since I last up-dated the thread on my car, not due to lack of action on the car but to my inability to make time to sit down at the computer and sort through photos and write of the latest happenings.

[GG]

William -

Have spent some time on Nardi documentation. To my knowledge, what you are looking for does not exist. There was a book on Nardi and the evolution of the wheels, done about 10 years ago- "Nardi Una Storia Di Automobili e volanti / a story of cars and steering-wheels" by Varisco, but its not the best piece of scholarship. It won't answer your questions in detail.

The recent book on Nardi cars, published by Negri Foundation, is a good book, with lots of information on the evolution of the cars. It is light on the wheels, and very light on Lancia collaboration.

As you know, Nardi was a kind of informal R&D facility for Lancia - and the information, product development and testing was a loose back and forth arrangement. It is hard to track down exactly.
As to which wheel on which car... that's tough to be sure. You are clearly on the right track, and it may well be that you have a later flat wheel (as do I) on your B20. Maybe your "friend" is right, maybe not. Where is he based? If in Italy, he may really have the facts at his fingertips and just writes snarky emails.

One other thing - Nardi made manifold setups (and cams, etc.) for the Aurelia. There were many different setups. One can imagine he had access to some ready-to-hand casting equipment, as I think last count was up to about 7 different manifold types for Aurelias, surprisingly.

If you want more details, let me know. But can't help further on the wheels, don't know anymore on them. 

Geoff

[GreenB20]

William, I note from your list of missing parts that you need rubber mats and a dynamo. May I suggest that you have a word with Peter Harding. He gets new mats and any rubber parts from Italy (for Aprilia too) and he has done a conversion kit for the Aurelia to change it to an alternator. Ed

[williamcorke]

Thanks to all for various responses, encouragement etc.

I think that my 'friend' as Geoff has dubbed them is a). a woman, or posing as one, and b). in the USA.  Here's their ebay store; http://myworld.ebay.com/wood-steering-wheels  100% positive feedback.  Can't argue with that.

The most frustrating aspect of the experience is the sense that 'wood-steering-wheels' has some real, detailed knowledge, but no inclination to share it.  Mind you, they don't know it all, thinking that a S6 type wheel is right for S4 (can you see my anorak from there?).

I'm due to drop my S6 B20 with Peter Harding in a couple of weeks for MoT and a various small jobs and will pick his brains for Nardi knowledge when I'm there.  I suspect he knows as much or more than anyone else in the UK about this subject.  I know Peter looks after 30+ Aurelias over here, which must be most of the UK 'in-use' population.

In a way it would be dull if a definitive Nardi catalogue raisonné had been done, and by definition less of a mystery tour. I'm a sucker for those. It's just a case of spotting the one-eyed man!

[DavidLaver]

Seven types of manifold...  It should have been no surprise.

As for that Ebay listing: time was I'd have bought a book just for those photos.  Amazing what the internet as done to bring such knowledge closer - but alas not quite close enough - that really would spoil the game - wouldn't it ?   What a character.  She'd fit right into a Scooby Doo episode.  As to the business I can understand why she has so much stock with a sales patter like that.

My vote is to keep the posting. 

David

[fay66]

She obviously missed the Charm School and customer relations classes!
keep posting William.

Brian
8227

[GG]

She went to charm school. You can't do the inverse without knowing something.

Pretty amazing. I wonder if he/she is vaguely sober. If he/she is American, I hope they are far far away.

William gets points for continued efforts, patience, and a bit of teasing....