1974 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S
This rather eye-catching Fulvia came to us relatively late in its restoration journey. It had already been stripped back and received its fresh coat of the stunning “Giallo HF” paintwork (yep, this is the orangest “yellow” we’ve ever seen too!) and came to us for a few finishing jobs before being put back on the road. We’ve known its owner for a few years now and he’s a certified Italian car enthusiast (his Phase 1 916 GTV was also a visitor to one of our neighbours here in Norwich’s Little Italy), so we were only too pleased to help him bring this project to completion after many years.
Our first port of call was stripping the underside and taking care of some areas of corrosion. We then set about fully treating it with our favoured Dinitrol rust-proofing process, to ensure it remained as solid and fresh as possible for many years to come. By the time we’d added the new exhaust, some new brakes and tidied everything up, its underneath wasn’t far off being as shiny as its new livery on the topside!
After this, our attention turned to the 1.3 engine. We fitted two replacement Dellorto carb’s, treated it to a full check over and fresh service and that glorious V4 is back in full voice once again, after several years of silence. God, we love this crazy little V4 engine. The enjoyment of being privileged enough to work on one of these (as always with Lancia’s best efforts, the engineering was truly lightyears' ahead of its time) is equalled only by the unique pleasure of driving a well sorted Fulvia. After it was running sweetly, we treated the engine bay to some cosmetic finishing too - a coat of paint, everything cleaned up and then the rocker cover with its iconic script was treated to a nice refurbishment.
Next up is the refitting process and the final furlong before this painstaking restoration is complete. We truly cannot wait to see this one done - it’s going to be a very, very special car. If you want to track our progress with this stunning Fulvia, be sure to follow across social media and, for the next installment of the Workshop Diary, click Subscribe over on our Youtube channel!
Update 06/06/2020
With the car now up and running and structurally sorted, we’ve been able to focus on the aesthetic details. The most glaring problem to tackle inside, as with a lot of classic car restorations, was the headlining.
We stripped off all the old, saggy material and foam cushioning, carefully removing the fragile rods that hold the lining in place. This is a particularly fiddly part of the process, but when you’ve come this far there’s really little point in simply slapping up a new piece of vinyl over the tired padding. The latitudinal rods were then repaired and treated with anti-corrosion coatings (even parts hidden far away from can succumb to the rust bug on a 50-year-old Italian classic car!).
With everything stripped back and cleaned, we fitted new sound deadening to the roof and pillars before delicately threading the freshly refurbished guide rods through the brand new lining. Once this was fixed in place, the pillar trims were made up and fitted.
Although there’s still a long way to go on the interior (check back regularly for continuing updates on the build), the new headlining has already made a massive improvement to the cabin of this Fulvia.
UPDATE 04/07/21
This update should have been us unveiling the finished article in its full garish, Giallo HF glory. However, en route to its MoT (fresh from being fully cleaned and looking simply beautiful) we noticed some play in the steering. The car had been brought to us having been painted and as a rolling chassis, so we had never actually driven it before. We think something has just come loose over the past few years while its owner has been restoring it, so it shouldn’t be a lengthy delay. Soon we’ll be finished with her and her lucky owner can finally get to enjoy this little Fulvia. Until then, here are a few teasers….
Update 17/07/21
Here it is, after over a year of being worked on inbetween other projects with us, the headturning Giallo HF Lancia Fulvia is back together and on the road once more. It was so rewarding seeing its owner beaming to be back behind the wheel of his car, complete once more after such a long time with it in bits spread across different boxes.
Another Italian car back on the road with a little bit of italicar help, and a happy owner. That’s what it’s all about for us!
If you’d like us to take a look at your own Italian car, just send us a message here.
