International Lancia Forums

Hello everyone, I’m about to restore a 1963 GT Touring Coupé.

I’ve been looking for information on the procedure to remove the aluminium body from the chassis, but so far, I’ve only found a few, useless photos.

The body shop noticed that the body is bolted in some areas, but in others (such as the front section), they can’t figure out how it’s attached. Is there anyone who has taken pictures of the various mounting points and could share them?

Does a factory bodywork manual exist that outlines the procedure?

Thanks in advance

To my knowledge, there is no factory information on "decoupling" the body from the chassis. In fact, this is not commonly done, and I have not really seen information on the attachment details. There was a friend in Holland who fully restored a Zagato Super Sport, and they pulled the body off the chassis. It was quite an elaborate bit of work, probably about 10 years ago, but it did allow for a very proper restoration.

Dear fgsavoia, I am new to this forum and hope I can contribute in sharing my experience.

Any competent shop with knowledge of the Superleggera body construction method will know how this is done, but let me summarize for you: The aluminum skin is mainly folded at the edges around a steel frame. To remove the skin, it is necessary to straighten the folded edges to free up the skin. The skin is also attached to the windscreen lower edge by rivets. The rivets need to be drilled out to free the skin in this area.
The skin is also folded around a steel wire inside the edges of the wheel arches and lower aprons. The ends of the wire is then welded to the underside of the body. The wire needs to be cut at the weld to free up the skin also. The skin is also fixed by screws around the grill aperture and underneath the sills. Once the skin is freed up completely, you should make an horizontal cut near the base of the front and rear pillars. This will allow you to lift the roof off the vehicle. You also need to make a vertical cut at the front and rear of the sills. Once you have done this, acting with care, you will be able to remove the sills and the front and rear section of the skin in one piece respectively. Refitting the skin, once all the necessary repairs have been done, is a job for a very skilled craftsman. You will find that where the skin folds have been straightened, even if you annealed the metal, at the fold point small cracks will develop and the metal will probably crack more when attempting to fold back on. To remedy this a new strip of metal should be welded on to allow the fold on fresh metal.
I am sure I have missed something, but this summary should give you an idea of the scope of this type of work.

All the best and keep us informed on your progress
Regards,

Paul