Lancia Montecarlo S1
Location - Ascot, Berkshire
| Mileage: | 49605 |
|---|
Much as it pains me to do, my unfinished project is for sale, as I'm finally admitting that I don't have the time to complete it and so I would like to find another enthusiast to take it on.
I bought this S1 Montecarlo back in 1989 having looked at lots, and although typically ragged around the edges, this one hadn't suffered the front-end damage that was so typical. It had already had the brake-modification done that was so important on the S1 to prevent them locking-up in the wet. This S1 has/had the folding spider canvas roof and the glass rear 'flying' buttresses.
In June 1989, having just spent £700 on a new Ansa 4-outlet exhaust, 6 days later I was unlucky enough to encounter a drink-driver in a stolen pick-up truck. He hit me hard from behind, leaving the back end a little mashed and bent, and the car undrivable. I pulled him from the truck and several hours later he was found to be four times over the legal drink-drive limit. He didn't even remember stealing the truck. He was already banned from driving for drink-driving, and typically, got off with a suspended sentence!
22-months later I finally extracted an insurance pay out and had some restoration done. The rear-end was re-jigged and straightened, and at the same time I had new outer steel sills fitted, as well as fibre-glass copy wings fitted all around, plus replacement fibre-glass bonnet, as well as front & rear bumpers. Twin headlamps were also fitted at this time too.
The engine was stripped and re-built as well, and new twin 45 sidedraught carbs were fitted to a custom straight-through inlet manifold, getting rid of the right-angle in the original and creating a far better flow. Driving it at this stage up a long private drive it was very rapid indeed!
Unfortunately a house purchase and a family have got in the way of the project in the intervening 22 years, a roof slate smashed the windscreen in a storm, mice have chewed the HT leads, and it hasn't now run for 18 years. The rain has got in and there are sorry looking rust holes that are way, way, way beyond my restoration skills.
I have mostly kept it wrapped under a tarpaulin (hence the wooden slats for support) and invested in a carbon double-bubble roof a few years ago too.
The stripped out interior is in boxes in the attic, and all glass apart from the windscreen is present. I have the original bootlid, still with a dent from the accident, plus a spare Fiat engine that is on offer with the car. I think I have one S2 glazed 1/4-light complete with drill-hole for a mirror somewhere too, as well as two window-mount S2 mirrors. Some parts may be missing overall though please note, as it has been shuffled around over the past 20 years or so. There's no straight engine cover nor rear-light panel or lights as I didn't get around to sourcing new ones.
This car will need a serious amount of work by an enthusiast, and will need collecting on a full car trailer as I doubt it will tow on a dolly. You'll probably need a winch too as its long been planted in the front garden in the forlorn hope that it might have grown back to life!
Seller Contact Info:
eBay ID: Member ID garyroberts1968
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