Fulvia S2 Berlina KPD 569K

[neil-yaj396]

Just enjoy it as it is, years ago we didn't give a s**t what it looked like, but just enjoyed them

Here Here!

[DavidLaver]

Having had a rant on the Flavia Berlina thread I'll get it off my chest here.  Its a personal view, something I've come to over time.

"if we go that far we will have spent well in excess of what she will be worth"

That only makes sense (or not...) if you do the work and then sell it.  It will be most worthwhile if you and your family (and friends) enjoy and appreciate the car all the more for it being in better cosmetic condition, use it all the more, keep it for many full and happy years.  There's no need to go crazy with it: door skins, machine polish (and spray can touch ins where it goes through), interior all the same colour?  It could be a full respray and having proven the mechanicals and proven you like and enjoy and will use it why not?  Perhaps there's a colour combination you'd prefer?

I got "stuck" with the same logic with a scruffy Fiat 124 Coupe I had.  It will be no surprise that women think about money differently and Sara's view was that if I wanted her to go in it then ripped and stained seats needed to be improved, and if she was going to be seen in it then all the same colour blue would be a start.  If we were going to keep it and use it then it needed that money spent and it would be well spent.  I just couldn't put money into that car and it went out on a couple of extended loans before being sold to a friend of a friend.  He's a friend of mine now and was in touch just last week.  She tried the "but any modern car depreciates so what's the difference" but something held me back.  "We don't keep a budget of restaurants and hotels" (double income no kids - ahh....) didn't do it.

Twenty years on a scruffy Flavia Sport - and the budget is the same as "beers" and "days out" and "staycation" and "meeting up with friends" and parts are the same as "books and picture"s and it is most certainly not run on a balance sheet basis and hours and money are not going to be tracked.  I still feel ill remembering some of the Aurelia totals so - for me - I just can't add it up.

If you just can't bring yourself to spend on it, and we can't all point at expensive Fulvia Berlinas (Sedans?) and persuade you its worth more than you think, then how about buying Richards Fulvia Zagato with his Berlina (Sedan?) back as a part-ex?  If that doesn't appeal (low seat, no room in the back, small boot, lack of gravitas, bit flash, poor view, worry about parking it in town) then that rather tells how much you appreciate the space and usability and CHARM of the car you have there...

On the other hand that Zagato is one of the good ones and could provide very smart day to day Fulvia motoring while being "as good as money in the bank" with great scope for capital gains.  Less useful as a taxi but longer legs for touring.  Four speed and all the other S1 delights as well.

David

[ncundy]

I look at it as a hobby. My definition of a hobby is spending my own money on something I enjoy - the return being just that..enjoyment. I've friends whose hobbies are golf (spend ~£3k a year on fees, tours, new equipment), football (similar on home and away games, travel, after match beers, keeping up with the new kit etc), horses (don't ask but if you think Omicron are expensive try bloody vets fees!!). No one ever asks them what the horse is worth at the end of it. If over time the car becomes worth more than was spent on it then thats a bonus, never the raison d'etre.

I ask myself "can I afford it ?" when I want to spend some money on my hobby, never asked myself "what RoI will I get?"

It seems a peculiarity of our hobby that some people see it differently. Try reading the threads on Bring a Trailer, most of it seems not to be car enthusiats but amature investers stating the obvious (it'll cost more than its worth) and overlooking the obvious (for most of us its money spent for enjoyment) and makes for depressing reading. Thankfully it does not seem to have got too much of a hold in the UK, and long may it continue.

[DavidLaver]

Aside from Bring A Trailer and the monthly classic car press there's cover in the general press and that's percolated into the chattering classes having an interest.


David

[Dilambdaman]

Whoa!! didn't mean to start a drum banging session!

Remember why I bought the car, simply to provide Fulvia transport for the Seilers over from SA for Fulvia 50 and very pleased they were with it. Initially I never intended to keep it long term as the Dilambda and Fanalone take up most of my spare time and cash to keep them on the road. Both of these cars would probably wash their faces were I to sell them on because as David points out, we have done most of the restoration work ourselves. However, I agree entirely that making a profit is not the driving force behind our passion for Lancia, I can't remember in 40 years of buying and selling them ever making any money on them. But, given the reason behind buying the berlina I would like not to lose too much when I pass it on hence my comments re the viability of carrying out lots of work.

However, for the moment we are hugely enjoying using it almost as our everyday transport and not giving a toot for its scruffy bodywork. Just amazed at the interest it generates wherever we go. So, if it's still here come the winter I might be tempted to tinker with it and who knows, it could be with us long term.

Apologies for stirring up a hornets nest 

Robin.

[fay66]

Robin,
No apologies needed, we're just a passionate lot

Brian
8227

[Parisien]

Robin,
No apologies needed, we're just a passionate lot

Brian
8227

+ 1

If its a rant....its a rant......if its clarification...or fuller rationalising of members thoughts and why we do things a certain way.......thats fine too.......its what the forum is about, doing it mostly real time makes it much more interesting than putting it on paper or waiting for a face to face moment to bring it up


P

[Dilambdaman]

Happily bowling along at 60mph today when there is a sudden horrendous clattering from the nearside rear corner. By the time we stop the noise has ceased and on investigation I find damage to the rear wing and door and a missing stainless steel wheel trim. Tramp back up the road and find it in the grass verge, see picture!

It mast have looked from behind like Boadicea's chariot and fortunate that we were not anywhere near pedestrians!

Robin.

[simonandjuliet]

It may prove difficult to refit  ......

[the.cern]

Simon, I don't agree, after the fanalone it will be a doddle !!!!!!!

                   Andy

[DavidLaver]

Well there's a challange.

[Dilambdaman]

Visited Gordon Cripps who lives just outside Rye in East Sussex and who was the last but one owner of KPD. He supplied me with a perfect replacement wheel trim complete with the correct fixing screws. Many thanks Gordon.

What a delightful gentleman he is! We had met before but this time spent longer together sharing our mutual love of Lancia. Whilst living in SA he visited the Lancia factory in Turin on three occasions to collect a new Fulvia and has some lovely stories about the experience.

I'm still undecided about future plans for the car but the longer it stays with us the more attached we become to it and I can't rule out embarking on the renovation of the bodywork over this winter. 

Robin.

[Richard Fridd]

Good idea Robin

[Dilambdaman]

MOT recently and the tester took one look at KPD and offered to write the failure certificate there and then. Good job I know him well! Soon shut up when he started the test and eventually said " Well, I'm going to have to pass it" He who laughs last and all that eh?

So, another nudge towards a rolling restoration? Made all the worse (or better?) when David Laver emailed to alert me to some Fulvia spares on Ebay including 4 x S2 Berlina doors. As you maybe aware from another thread I've bought them and very good they are too, with only light surface rust in the usual places and no holes.

An added bonus in that being from a lhd car there is a mirror on the passenger door which matches the one on KPD's driver's door. something Margaret has been asking for since we bought the car.

Onward and upwards then perhaps? KPD makes a good everyday run around and we get great pleasure from using it. There, almost talked myself into it!  

Robin.

[Parisien]

Well done Robin...another one in the eye for officialdom and the non-Lancisti types...........AKA...98.99% of general population


Have you other pics of KPD on the forum?


OOOOOooopppsss...sorry just went back to start of thread.....


P