Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye 1969 - first ever project!!

[oliverlyon]

Hello Everyone,

I have just joined the forum today and am hoping to get a LOT of help and advice...

I have never restored a car before, have zero mechanical knowledge, however I have just embarked on a new project.

I live in Johannesburg, South Africa, and have bought a 1969 Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Rallye, in bits, with almost all parts present.

I have just completed stripping down the body completely, and am about to get this sent off to be bead blasted / sand blasted, any welding that needs doing done, and then primed.

Besides the engine work I have to do I have plenty of other side projects, the steering wheel needs restoring to its original glory, and today i got the dashboard out, I need to restore the veneer fronted wood.

If any of you have any tips on restoring the steering wheel and veneer fronted dashboard please let me know. Also if any of you have worked on these cars, know anything about them please let me know!

I need to locate someone to assist in putting the wiring lume back in / making a new one for the car, if anyone has any contacts in Johannesburg it would be appreciated ?

I also need to locate, and this is all I know is missing so far;
front grill
almost all badges from the inside and outside of the car
original wheels
front windscreen
Car stereo - original
Radiator
Gasket set
Rocker cover (current one is slightly damaged)

I am sure I will find more items missing as I go along!

Anyway please help me! once I have worked out how to post photos I will get some on here.

Cheers,

Olly

[oliverlyon]

See photos of project so far...





















I will keep you all updated, comments and tips please!

Olly

[oliverlyon]

Right, I have now completely stripped the body of the car out and it is going to be heading off to be sand / bead blasted and then welded and primed...

I have just stripped the steering wheel back to the wood, and am waiting for it to dry after washing it, before filling cracks, sanding and applying layers of varnish...

I am now wanting to start restoring the veneer dashboard, does anyone have any tips / the process for restoring a veneer dashboard ?

Olly

[Parisien]

Firstly Oliver, welcome to the finest Lancia forum in the known cosmos.

Great to see another newbie taking on a wonderful project of a Fulvia.

I am sure lots of guys will pass by and help . Lots of info to trawl through on the Fulvia section first!


P

[ncundy]

Welcome Oliver,

some of my experience:

dashboard; its plastic with a veneer cap. You can buy veneer that you iron on, pretty straight foward once you have found a match for the grain and colour. If you search the web you'll find plenty of places that sell the correct stuff. What you will need is some very sharp scalpels to get clean cuts, I would suggest medical scalpels if you can get them. Youtube is a good source of educational videos.

Not sure with the steering wheel as I've never done one, but again youtube is a good place to start.

Radio; there is no "original" as they were dealer fit (although the wiring is factory installed). So you want to look for a contemporary radio. Italian would be Voxon, Motorola for UK, Becker or Blaupunkt for Germany etc. Ebay is the best source - some are cheap some expensive, pays your money and takes your choice.

Neil

[D5177_55A]

I redid my dash with iron-on veneer from these guys:

http://www.veneersonline.co.uk/Iron_on_veneer_mahogany_p/i0mahoganysheet.htm

You get enough veneer to do 2 dashes – which was good as the first one I did buckled and I had to carve it off. I spent more time doing the second one and it came out without any bubbles etc. Iron on a medium heat with a linen tea towel on top on the veneer, veneer face up on the dash. Then left it to set under the weight of a couple of books for a few days, face down on a clean surface.

Then I used a Swann & Morton scalpel with 10A blades to cut out the apertures on the dash – changing the blade after each aperture cut. Then sanded it with very fine grade sandpaper to chamfer the edge of the veneer to the base plywood and the face of the veneered top surface. Then used a tacky rag to get rid of any dust and finally about 5 coats of ‘proper’ Gloss Varnish. Proper varnish is the spirit based stuff that needs sanding between coats; the water based stuff tends to go ‘milky’ after 3 coats, as I found out then I did the gear knob!

Take your time and it should be a job well done.

[Dilambdaman]

Hi Olly and welcome to the Forum. Can't recommended it highly enough for help, spares and advice.

The guy to contact in Johannesburg is Tony Seiler. Contact him at seiler@mweb.co.za and by all means mention my name by way of introduction.

Do keep us informed of progress.

Robin.

[Justin McArdle]

Hi Oliver

Best of luck with your restoration. I'm similarly mechanically challenged and look forward to seeing your progress. Best of luck!!

[DavidLaver]

The steering wheel looks pretty good in that photo.  Has the wood split or come away at all?  If not sanding down and varnish might be all it needs.

David

[oliverlyon]

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for all of the replies, tips and advice already!

Thanks for the dashboard tips, I will either go with the company you have used before or try to find a local company here in Johannesburg.

Robin, I have emailed Tony, mentioned you had put me in touch, will let you know how i get on.

David, I have now stripped the steering wheel down using an aerosol paint stripper and wire wool. I washed it in soapy water and am now leaving it to dry for a week. I am then going to find the correct coloured filler for the cracks. Once this has dried i will start the sanding process, and then apply layer of lacquer followed by sanding 5 - 10 times, until she looks beautiful again!

Will be working on the car this weekend so will upload more photos.

Olly

[oliverlyon]

One more question I have a pretty good idea of when the car was made - 1969, does anyone know how i can find out more history about my specific car ?

[fay66]

One more question I have a pretty good idea of when the car was made - 1969, does anyone know how i can find out more history about my specific car ?

Hi Oliver,
If you follow the discussion on this link http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5435.msg38563#msg38563 a number of documents came to light that even Lancia Italy didn't know still existed, if you look at page 3 of the documents the second line down is for 818.331 and it confirms your Rallye coupe was built in 1968, somewhere towards the back end of the year.
Regarding finding out further history, was it built in SA? if so there's probably a plate on the offside inner wing stating built by Daihatsu.in SA.
If you have the original Registration number then you must have a government Department that holds vehicle records, can you get the previous owners from them and try to trace them, possibly through the SA Lancia Club as they may well recognise the vehicle.
In the end though you might just have to accept as I did with my 2c that had been off the road for 21 years that you may not be able to find out a lot of it's history, I was lucky in that I had an address for the first and only previous owner, but all the documentation had been lost.
I haven't been able to recover any of this, but what I have made sure of since owning "Fay" is that I record everything, keep all my bills etc, and take lots of photos!, so I now have a complete record from 1997 and two Lever arch Files full that will eventually go with her when she is finally sold or whatever.
Good Luck.

Brian

8227

[oliverlyon]

Brian, funny you should mention Daihatsu! See below...



I am taking loads of photos and keeping a diary, I am planning on making a journal / picture book of the project.

Olly

[fay66]

Brian, funny you should mention Daihatsu! See below...



I am taking loads of photos and keeping a diary, I am planning on making a journal / picture book of the project.

Olly

Hi Oliver,
 I only know because a friend bought an ex SA Fulvia here in the UK and has the same plate, you will probably also find a number stamped around the suspension mounting near the plate.

I wrote to whoever it is who has the Daihatsu plant now in SA in the hope they could give me more information on the car but I never received a reply, although his Series 2 Fulvia looked immaculate, when he started to get work done on it, it turned out to be a money pit as a lot of it had been bodged and hidden, It was a company in Capetown who shipped it and other cars over here and that situation is a real case of 'Let the buyer beware'!
See http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3316.0
And
http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3871.0

Brian
8227

[oliverlyon]

Hey guys,

Brian, thanks for the heads up, the car is almost completely stripped down now and is looking pretty good.

Today i had a great day at a classic car meet at Victory Park Johannesburg, great to see what my car is potentially going to look like. I also met with the man who is collecting my body and other parts tomorrow, and will return it to me in approx 6 months, looking like new!





Feeling inspired by talking to enthusiasts and seeing other Lancias i got home and now the car is now completely stripped down, the engine and gear box separated from the subframe, and opened up, no major issues so far...









The person who is going to be working on my car needs to know what colour i want it in approx 1 months time, does anyone know where i can get the list of the colours which were available for this car ?

What are your thoughts with regards to choosing a colour and maintaining the value and desirability of the car ? does it just need to be the original colour this car was, or does it not matter as long as it is a Lancia colour from that time ?

Cheers,

Olly