Lancia Motor Club

Hi again All,

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to my cars and my new purchase has a set of non standard Y10 GT wheels fitted to it.  They have been refurbished, but I seem to remember that the GT wheels were a polished laquered  finish? Am I right or was I imagining this? Also where the holes a dark grey colour?

I'm thinking of keeping them on but getting them polished back to original condition if that was how they were originally?
Or do I try to source a set of the ones that were originally available as an option?

Cheers for any Suggestions and on how the GT alloys looked originally!

OK after a good look around, I've decided to get the wheels polished back to their former glory!

I'm not sure who to use though? Any advise mush appreciated!

Hi John. It's nice to have another enthusiast appreciating the Y10.

Having checked my brochures the wheels were diamond turned and lacquered so both your purist and aesthetic sensibilities can be satisfied. There was a firm (Pristine?) in Woburn Sands, Beds who used to do them but I haven't been over that way for some years.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

Frank

 Photos of my Y10 GTi with wheels refurbished by the Company in woburn Sands that frank recommended, I went through woburn Sands last year and they were still there.
I sold the GTi to alan Cooper and it was then sold to Jack Romano, but I think it's now gone to Lancia Heaven,When I bought it the gearchange was so bad you couldn't tell what gear you were in, this was sorted by replacing the mechanism bolted to the back of the gearbox, and all the bushes in the rods replaced.

Other photos are of my Y10 Fire taken back in the mid-late 1990's, after I'd had a lot of work carried out including rear lower wheelarch panels up to window level, the panels were supplied complete with the rear pillars, but weren't needed.
Probably some of the worst rot was behind the rear valance panel, originally it was the light blue of Ben's car, I decided to have it resprayed Lancia Blue.
The wheels shown are the Beta wheels I referred to earlier.
The Dedra was a 1994 LS, the Fulvia being my 1969 1.3 Rallye coupe, OH for the days when I had that many Lancias :'(

Just a note, although the Y10 alloy wheels look the same as the Dedra & Thema Wheels, they're not.

Brian
8227 8)

Fantastic, thanks a lot Frank, Brian! I'll deffinately look the guys in Berks up! Do you mind me asking how much I can expect to pay?

Absolutely love the photos of your collection Brian that GT looked fantastic.

I'm also a huge fan of the Dedra and keep toying with waiting for a mint example to pop up?! 

Right I'm off to look into getting my wheels sorted :)

Cheers again! John

Hello John,
Woburn sands is Beds not Berks, if I get a chance I'll run over there and get the details and prices for you, from what I remember I paid about £50 per wheel.

The GT was lovely although I'd have liked a pair of replacement doors as one of mine was bad at the bottom but I never found a pair,
I originally bought it as Diane wanted another Y10 after we sold her 'Fire', and from that point of view the GT was a mistake, because it has the Brazilian built 1301 cc Fiat cast iron lump instead of the Aluminium Fire engine, it alters the weighting of the steering, it made it so much heavier that Diane couldn't drive it, and it was a bugger for having to tug it around corners at even reasonable speeds, it just weighed up so much, this wasn't helped by bigger alloys and tyres.

Not many good Dedra's left out there now but they do occasionally turn up, having had 5, as well as being the Dedra Adviser for nearly 20 years my preference is for the 2.0 models, while the 1.8's are still lovely, they don't have some of the bells and whistles of the 2.0 but the cost of maintaining the with the twin cam engine is the same, although there's not a great deal of difference in performance.

If you don't mind LHD there's a greater choice, as well as the lovely SW, probably the best of these is the 2.0 Dedra integrale sw, while it's a 2.0, it's not a Turbo, and they were only produced for about 2 years. Dedra Turbos are even scarcer, and tend to have been well used.
Dedra were still available on the Continent until 1998 but with very restricted model choice,, the last ones had the alfa/fiat 1.6 twin cam , (which was used in Lybra)or the 1.9 turbo Diesel, the late ones also had the same dash/door pads etc of the New Delta, that never officially came here.
You can also find aircon, that was never an option in the UK RHD.

Dedra integrale saloon is the one to go for though if you want performance, but not many of these were built.

The Alcantara in Dedra was very good quality and lasted very well, usually only the side cheeks used to wear, on the other hand the cloth interiors were a mixed blessing that sometimes shredded.

Speaking from personal experience I had two automatics, and I must have been mad, the car and engine were fine, it was just that the Volkswagen electronic gearbox wasn't suited to the car at all, besides which the fuel consumption was abysmal, partly due to my driving, but it was invariably 10 mpg worse than my 2.0 manuals that I drove in the same manner.

Finally your left with the 1600 that is much simpler & cheaper to maintain, very good specifications for the cost new, with good performance and longevity, I know of at least two that exceeded 250,000 miles with no major problems, downsides were drum brakes on the back and solid discs on the front.

Brian
8227 8)

This is a picture of a late Y10 Turbo with alloys, much better than the GTie ones where the lacquer always peels allowing corrosion to set in.

Hi Sliding!
 Great photo, not your car by any chance is it or another members?  Yes i like those wheels as well, i actually saw a few on the internet for sale but i really like the look of the diamond cut ones with lacquer.  I do know what you mean though I've seen so many of them looking shabby.  Hopefully mine will last once i get them refurbished as my Y10 is stored in a heated garage and will only come out to play once in a while. :)

Hello John,
Woburn sands is Beds not Berks, if I get a chance I'll run over there and get the details and prices for you, from what I remember I paid about £50 per wheel.

The GT was lovely although I'd have liked a pair of replacement doors as one of mine was bad at the bottom but I never found a pair,
I originally bought it as Diane wanted another Y10 after we sold her 'Fire', and from that point of view the GT was a mistake, because it has the Brazilian built 1301 cc Fiat cast iron lump instead of the Aluminium Fire engine, it alters the weighting of the steering, it made it so much heavier that Diane couldn't drive it, and it was a bugger for having to tug it around corners at even reasonable speeds, it just weighed up so much, this wasn't helped by bigger alloys and tyres.

Not many good Dedra's left out there now but they do occasionally turn up, having had 5, as well as being the Dedra Adviser for nearly 20 years my preference is for the 2.0 models, while the 1.8's are still lovely, they don't have some of the bells and whistles of the 2.0 but the cost of maintaining the with the twin cam engine is the same, although there's not a great deal of difference in performance.

If you don't mind LHD there's a greater choice, as well as the lovely SW, probably the best of these is the 2.0 Dedra integrale sw, while it's a 2.0, it's not a Turbo, and they were only produced for about 2 years. Dedra Turbos are even scarcer, and tend to have been well used.
Dedra were still available on the Continent until 1998 but with very restricted model choice,, the last ones had the alfa/fiat 1.6 twin cam , (which was used in Lybra)or the 1.9 turbo Diesel, the late ones also had the same dash/door pads etc of the New Delta, that never officially came here.
You can also find aircon, that was never an option in the UK RHD.

Dedra integrale saloon is the one to go for though if you want performance, but not many of these were built.

The Alcantara in Dedra was very good quality and lasted very well, usually only the side cheeks used to wear, on the other hand the cloth interiors were a mixed blessing that sometimes shredded.

Speaking from personal experience I had two automatics, and I must have been mad, the car and engine were fine, it was just that the Volkswagen electronic gearbox wasn't suited to the car at all, besides which the fuel consumption was abysmal, partly due to my driving, but it was invariably 10 mpg worse than my 2.0 manuals that I drove in the same manner.

Finally your left with the 1600 that is much simpler & cheaper to maintain, very good specifications for the cost new, with good performance and longevity, I know of at least two that exceeded 250,000 miles with no major problems, downsides were drum brakes on the back and solid discs on the front.

Brian


Hmm had to copy and paste your last comment Brian as it wouldn't quote it for some reason?

Thanks a lot for the low down on the Dedra.  I'd give a leg and maybe even an arm for an quattro version.  Oh and thanks for offering to go past Prestine and enquire about my wheels.  I couldn't resist sending them an e-mail yesterday and so hopefully i'll get something back tomorrow?  I thought the wheels on mine were 14"  but realised when looking today that they are 13"  hopefully may it a little cheaper for them to fix?!

I've spent the day trying to sort out my Petrol pump, the braided pipe from the sender in the tank to the pump was badly corroded and even split in a few places!  fortunately the rest of the hoses have been replaced.  I'm going to put a photo on of my other job, the back bumper!

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers

John

If you come up to Bedfordshire you could visit and I will make you envious with my Dedra SW (though it has just gone on SORN till I can replace the rusty rear axle beam for the MOT)

Had to make a fleeting visit to Prestine Frank, but would deffinately like to come and see your Dedra!  Got my wheels back and all I can say is unbelievable transformation, they look really amazing, I can't stop looking at them! Pics to follow :)

Now treating them to some rim wax :)

Looks brand new ;D

Absolutely stunning John. It looks like you are going to have an absolute beauty of a Y10 when you have finished.

Frank

Cheers Brian, Tim.  Here's hoping I manage to get it all done in time for a possible show at the NEC :)