New Fulvia on eBay in the US - South Carolina

[Ed Levin]

Randy, I don't think he's trying to hide anything; he asked me where to find the engine number--I was fooled by that one the first time, too. In the meantime, here's what I've learned:

I've confirmed that the chassis plate is 818.130.001395, which would have been built in 1965. Of course, 1.2 Coupes were available as late as 1969, but this is only the 395th Coupe, so it must have been built in the first couple months' production. As I mentioned, the heads are 818.140 (1.2HF) and, as I said, I'm still waiting for the engine block number. The dash has an oil temp gauge in place of the clock.

The owner believes that the car was restored some time in the 90's, but he's only owned it for less than 2 years, and does not know who did the work. It's possible that the restorer cobbled together a couple of cars into one 'Frankenfulvia'. But you’re quite correct to point out that there's another possible explanation--one that explains irregularities with chassis numbers and registered build dates for a number of US Fulvias.

For those who don’t know the story, the US essentially cut off all imports of Fulvias (and many other interesting cars) beginning 1 January 1968, when new safety & emissions laws took effect. In order to import a Fulvia, it had to be a 1967 or earlier. But Lancia never stamped the build date on the chassis plate, so any number of later S1 Fulvias miraculously acquired a substitute chassis plate that suggested a build date before 1 Jan '68, while others miraculously acquired "substitute" paperwork attesting to a pre-1968 build date. I have a number of Fulvias in the US registry with registrations indicating 1967 and chassis numbers that must have been built later than that. Now, of course, all Fulvias are over 25 years old, so this is no longer an issue. But, back then, people did all sorts of things to bring cars in past the Federal authorities.

[Randy Adams]

Huib will undoubtedly be able to clarify this, but my understanding is that the 818.140 number on the cylinder heads only signifies that it is a variant of head originally developed for the 1.2HF but adopted for all of the 1.3 engines. Right now, I cannot remember if my 818.130 car had a head with the 818.140 number or an 818.130 number. I think it was the latter. But my 818.302 engine definitely had the 818.140 head on it and I was told that was entirely normal. It makes sense to me; that's probably when the size of the valves was increased and possibly even the combustion chamber changed size.

Yes, whatever is (or was) done to bring more Fulvias into the U.S. is okay by me so long as it is not a stolen car. My own sloppy expedient of just throwing a Flaminia registration and license plate on my 1968 car worked ok. My thought was that any law enforcement officer who could bust me on the discrepancy was someone I'd want to go out and have a beer with! (I also knew that any law enforcement officer who knew that an 824.10 number could not go on a Fulvia Sport would be just about certain to forget to give a ticket to his fellow Lanciste).

[Peter Cripps]

Ed, Randy,

Very interesting. Was the 1968 cutoff ever removed? Surely not every Fulvia imported after 1968 would have required some form of VIN shenanigans?

Peter

[Ed Levin]

Peter Cripps wrote:
>
> Ed, Randy,
>
> Very interesting. Was the 1968 cutoff ever removed? Surely
> not every Fulvia imported after 1968 would have required some
> form of VIN shenanigans?
>
> Peter

Some of the 1968 "safety" measures have been rescinded; it's once again legal to have halogen non-sealed-beam headlights, or headlights under covers. But most of them are still in effect, like mandatory shoulder belts, impact bumpers, and, more critically, mandatory crash testing and certification.

Cars manufactured after 1968, that were not legally importable because they were not tested and certified by the manufacturer, cannot be imported later. Until they're 25 years old. Once a car is 25 years old, it can be legally imported no matter what.

But it's not always that simple--with our federal system, there may still be problems registering in some particular state. California used to waive its mandatory emissions testing for any car over 30 years old. That meant you could import any car over 30 yeasr old and license it in California. However, in 2005, California froze the 30-year waiver; not it only waives smog testing for cars manufactured before 1975, even though the feds will let you import any car manufactured before 1983.

Of course, because this is the Fulvia Forum, that California distinction doesn't much matter; you can import any Fulvia into the US, and you can register all but the very last Fulvias in California. In most other states, you can register even the very last ones.

Anyway, that's why my US Fulvia registry has a disproportionate number of 1967 Fulvias, and so few 1968 ones. And it's why I tend to take the "official" model year of any mid- to late-'60s US Fulvia with a grain of salt. Fortunately, as Randy pointed out, most of the authorities here wouldn't know a switched chassis plate if they stared straight at a Flaminia plate on a Fulvia...

[Huib Geurink]

The partnumbers cast onto various engine components reflect the VIN of the type of car they were first used on just like any other part on the car. Quite a few Fulvia parts have an original Flavia number.

The 818.130 used the 818.100 (berlina 2C) head.
The 818.140 head went onto 818.140 and the 1300's. It is some time ago I compared the two but what I remember is a difference in port diameter. Everything else is I think the same.

If you check the books you will probably find that the change from 818.100 head to 818.140 head went together with the change from the cast 4 to 1 exhaust manifold to the 4 to 2 manifold and a change from 32 mm carbs to 35 mm carbs.

[william vd Sman]

The combustionchamber of the 818.100 head is smaller than the 818.140 head. The compressionratio is higher if you install this berlina casting on a 1300 engine. For that reason famous Italian engine tuners often used the 818.100 head on 1300 HF competition engines. Only the ports and valves had to be enlarged which is less work than welding up the combustionchamber so it seemed.

[Chasm61]

Ed Levin wrote:
>
> ...However, in 2005, California froze the 30-year
> waiver; now it only waives smog testing for cars manufactured
> before 1975, even though the feds will let you import any car
> manufactured before 1983.
>
> Of course, because this is the Fulvia Forum, that California
> distinction doesn't much matter; you can import any Fulvia
> into the US, and you can register all but the very last
> Fulvias in California.

Holy cow! So my 1975 Fulvia could not be taken back to California with me, if I ever chose to move back from Texas to my home state. I was not aware of that state restriction, and probably would have found this to be another reason to look longer/harder for an older HF, Rallye, etc. Oh well, live and learn!

[Ed Levin]

It may not be hopeless; it depends upon what paperwork you have indicating that it was built in 1975.

A '1975' car could easily have been built in 1974; if you can demonstrate this somehow, there's no issue (good luck, the factory records no longer exist, from what I've been told). If you have no paperwork either way, and there's no build date on the chassis plate (which there almost certainly isn't), you could take it to your local DMV and try to re-register it as a 1974.

If it's that close, there's almost always a way to deal with it. Just don't wait until you're back in California to try an figure it out.

[Huib Geurink]

There is an exact date on the cilinder head next to exhaust port 1

[Peter Cripps]

I think a 1975 car would be smog exempt in California, see:

BAR site


Strictly speaking, it's exempt from inspection, not from the requirement to have all original smog equipment in place. Ha ha.

Peter