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20th July 2012, 05:03 PM #1Senior Member
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Some pictures of my Italian classics
See attached some pictures of my various classic cars, albeit they are in various stages of restoration or to be restored. Included in the collection is my '69 Fiat AC 124 sport that I have owned since 1980. It is awaiting completion of its restoration, but thankfully is mostly done. Other cars in the collection include my '69 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super, about a 1/3 of the way through its restoration and finally my '69 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV S1. I used the GTV for around 12 years as my daily driver until putting it away in the garage to protect it from further decay. It needs a full restoration.
The daily drive these days is my '03 Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon. And yes the 156 can carry an aweful lot of timber/building materials for our house restoration projects, let alone other restoration projects (antiques).
Hence the cars restorations are on hold for the time being.
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20th July 2012 05:03 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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26th July 2012, 09:56 PM #2
Many years ago when still a legal Kiwi I had a 124 convertable Pinnafarinna body.LHD and a wild bright yellow.
Although there was 4 in the country at that time the other 3 were USA imports mine had come from Europe itself
Chick magnet.... hmmmmI would love to grow my own food, but I can not find bacon seeds
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27th July 2012, 02:19 PM #3Senior Member
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- Hobart
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Know what you mean Tony, and while I have never had a 124 spider, I have driven them and had a couple of mates who have owned them. One of my mates in Melbourne still does have his, bright red of course, he also has a modern 500 Abarth as well as a Series 1 850 coupe, and a 1500 sedan (but with a twin cam/5spd gearbox). He has previously had a range of 124 coupes, 128, X1/9 etc.
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27th July 2012, 06:21 PM #4Hewer of wood
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- Jan 2002
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- Melbourne, Aus.
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- 71
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The Italians do styling very well.
I once had an MV Agusta 125 motorbike. In the lounge room. Best place for it.Cheers, Ern
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5th August 2012, 09:06 PM #5Skwair2rownd
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- Nov 2007
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- Dundowran Beach
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- 76
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Oh drool!! What a stream of memories .
Lass I taught with in Broken Hill had a 124 Sports. Lovely vehicle indeed.
A good mate had an Alfa Giulia. Wonderful vehicle to drive and a great handler - for the times that is.
Another mate had the GTV. Hhe was a qualified engineer an d a genius mechanic. The GTV had some problems with The rear windows squirming loose. He figured a tow bar woul fix it. And it did!
This same fellow acquired a Massaerati that had been involved in a horror roll as the result of a burst tyre. The two honeymooning owners were killed. Bob took the vehicle, restored it and converted it to right hand drive.
I had actually seen the car shortly before the smash. I was driving to Mildura and was west of Hay. The car passed me as though I was standing still. Not long after it was heading back to Hay. A few minutes after this I saw A Jag on the side of the Highway with an obvious tyre problem. The owners of the Masserati had stopped to lend a hand and were on their way back from Hay when the tyre blew. The couple had apparently poured their savings into this car, only to come to grief while doing a good deed.
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6th August 2012, 01:37 PM #6Senior Member
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- Jul 2008
- Location
- Sydney
- Posts
- 244
I have a nice little Lancisa as my only Italian classic.
The only RHD version ever made.
Supercharged 2 litre twin cam rocket.
One of the last Group B cars.
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7th August 2012, 01:48 PM #7Senior Member
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- Mar 2009
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- Hobart
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- 497
Bloody hell Zuffen, you truely are one seriously lucky bugger to have that Lancia. What an awesome beast. I can well imagine that must put a huge grin on your face when you take it for a run.
My brother has a couple of rarish Lancias, well out here in Aus they are (Delta Integrale and a Pininfarina Flaminia GT), but not quite in your league.
My Italians are nice but no way as exotic as yours.
Know what you mean artme re the 124, let alone the Alfas. All lovely cars to drive, and slowly but surely starting to rise in value, (well really nice condition ones are).
Such a tragic story re the Maserati and it's previous owners. It is nice that something like that could be restored, but sad to hear what happened in its past life. For me, I think I might find it difficult to have such a car, given what happened, but perhaps in a way it is a bit of a tribute as well to them, as I would assume they too loved the car given how much they put into it.
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23rd August 2012, 02:17 PM #8SENIOR MEMBER
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- Aug 2012
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- Australia
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- 521
Wonderful 037 Zuffen! I wonder how many there are of these in Australia. I know/knew of one other 037 in Australia.
I am building up a Volumex charged engine at the moment..
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19th September 2012, 08:57 PM #9Senior Member
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- Jul 2008
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- Sydney
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- 244
To my knowledge there are no other real O37's in the country.
This one was here once before for a rally in NZ.
I've owned it for 5 years and driven it once.
We've just completed a 4 year engine rebuild that cost more than most new Commodores!
These engines are nasty little things. You can't grind the crank and the supercharger plumbing is such that cylinders 1 & 2 run lean and 3 & 4 run rich. This is why they didn't last too long.
We've put a lot if work into a new intake and EFi system (all bolt on/bolt off and easilly returned to factory) so the engine will last a bit longer and will be easier to drive.
When we pulled the engine down it had 4 different brand exhaust valves. The engine was supposedly rebuilt just before we purchased it but I think they cut a few too many corners.
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5th November 2012, 11:35 AM #10SENIOR MEMBER
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- Aug 2012
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- Australia
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You may well be the "other one" I was thinking of. A fellow over on F-chat in the Aussie section has one. Given you mentioned the manifold, I guess you and him are the same people. I have read over on the other board (assuming you are the same person) about the issues you went through getting the 037. It is a real eye opener and to be honest I had no idea "this sort of stuff" went on. I do know however know two separate individuals in Italy re-casting the 16valve heads in 131 or 037 spec. I expect to see some show up as genuine with "full history"..
I have dropped well north of 15k (and still going) on my Beta engine alone. I am not even working with 16 valves! I know the pain of "unobtainable" parts. Even with the Beta's there are parts that are not available anymore, such as tri-metal bearings in standard size. Then there are the little things like water pumps (Fiat used different profile pumps between models which is a nightmare in itself), not to mention the fact that there are no parts (outside of bearings) for the superchargers. That said, I am not alone. Apparently there is a similar situation for old air cooled VW's.
I just spent the weekend (actually about 6 weekends in total) fabricating a new set of stainless headers and stainless top water rail for the engine. The engine has all custom pulleys (right down to the water pump pulley), rebuilt Volumex, forged rods/pistons (own design), kent camshaft, full port job, big valves inc sodium cooled ex valves, custom baffled sump with trapdoor, megajolt ignition, keyholed crankshaft, lightened flywheel, mocal oil cooler, moroso accumulator, custom carb to vx manifold, electronic fuel pump, full data logger etc. Every nut and bolt in this engine has been replaced for new.
My "next year" project is a 16 valve head and "cam flip" and custom manifold with fuel injection.
One question: What were hardest parts to source for your build?
I guess it is Nitrided. Sounds like a typical 2ltr 8v crankshaft. You wont want to score the crank! I don't suppose there are many of these lying around these days!
Interesting that you mention cylinders 1 & 2 running lean and 3 & 4 running rich. The Volumex manifold setup runs lean on #4. I wonder if the 037 and Volumex manifolds are similar? I know the 037 runs a larger blower (Volumetico) - I have been trying to hunt one down!
I will resolve my own lean condition when I move to EFI next year. That said, I intend on data-logging (wideband on each primary and EGT) to get some data on the condition.
It would be great to see some of the work you have done on this. There is a fellow over at Guy Crofts website that is a bit of an inspiration on the Volumex manifold development. He fabricated up an EFI manifold for his VX. It was a nice piece of work.
Scary stuff! It really makes me wonder why someone would do that. I guess (I have not read my 037 book for some time) that 037's run sodium cooled exhaust valves which are expensive. Why someone would do it on such a collectable and valuable car is beyond me.
It would be great if you could share some photos of your build. Given how rare 037's are it is a real treat to find one lurking here in Australia!
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5th November 2012, 01:41 PM #11Senior Member
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- Jul 2008
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- Sydney
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- 244
Variant,
It's one and the same car.
My mate Gerry did all the legwork to buy it and used my money to pay for it.
Legally the car is mine and when it sells the money is mine but I have little interest in driving it and he always wanted an O37 so my wife and I said buy it and we'll pay.
Sounds like a wierd relationship but we've been great mates for 20 or so years and we had some spare cash so did it.
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6th November 2012, 09:35 AM #12SENIOR MEMBER
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7th November 2012, 06:17 PM #13Senior Member
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- Sydney
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I don't have much in the way of photos but I'll drop down the the storage facility and get some.
When there I may even drive it!
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14th November 2012, 07:02 PM #14SENIOR MEMBER
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- Aug 2012
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- Australia
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- 521
Fantastic!
If I may suggest another investment to add to your collection... Lancia Delta S4 - four of these Rallye Legends at one Hillclimb Race - "the" Group B Rally Car - YouTube
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