Another Fulvia in the US!
Posted: 30 Sep 2007, 18:48
Hello all...
I've just purchased a '75 Fulvia 3 that was recently imported Italy! Currently it's in Florida, and I'm very excited to get it here in TX this week to see if it's going to be money well spent or not. Despite all the good advice about seeing the car first, inspecting the sills, etc, I finally bit the bullet and bought a car at what I thought was a reasonable price on as much information as possible without travelling to see it! I've been looking for a Fulvia for so long (over a year) that I felt this was the closest I'll get to one. It's not so much that I wouldn't be willing to travel, but I'm afraid the car would be gone before I got there! It's that hard to find one in the US! So lots of photos have gone back and forth, and my total out of pocket to get it here to TX has been about $6500 US. We'll see soon what that's bought me.
I've been corresponding with Huib and others, and was going to post some questions, but after reading back through the forums, I found answers to a lot of my questions. Thanks to all of you!
I've found a very good Ferrari/Fiat/Alfa/Lancia mechanic here that is very familiar with this car and is VERY excited to have one to work on from time to time. So I have a good headstart. Other than an immediate change of all fluids, filters, and plugs with a tune-up, is there anything else I should specifically ask him to look at during my post-purchase inspection? All suggestions welcome!
One of the first "cosmetic" projects I've been considering are mounting a 36.5cm Nardi steering wheel that I already have. I really enjoyed the series of posts about removing the stock wheel! Looking forward to the same fun here when the time comes! Does anyone have info on the proper Nardi steering wheel boss though? I need to find am having a hard time finding knowledgable resources or suppliers here in the US (no surprise there!).
Other good info on the forum was about wheels and tires in general. I too have narrowed it down to the Vredensteins 165R14s for my 4.5" stock steel wheels. I had hoped to find some variation of the Campagnolo or Cromodora listed on the Piero Vanzetti link from Viva-Lancia, or maybe Stilauto, FPS, or some other ally wheel that might work. Gonna wait though until I drive the car as is and see how it feels and looks to me.
In the meantime, doing "research". Any thoughts about going to a 15" and lower profile to keep the same total diameter/circumference? A 185/60R15 is still fairly easy to find in the US and fits on either 5" of 5.5" wheel. But I see from some of Huib's posts, and he email advice, that a 185 will cause clearance problems for my on my Series 2 coupe. And of course, finding a 15x5 or 5.5 with a 4x130 bolt pattern AND the right offset is likely to be near impossible. Anybody been down this road before?
Enough for now. Looking forward to using this resource and sharing my new baby with you. I'll post pics as soon as I take some good ones myself, but sent one to Huib yesterday.
Chas
I've just purchased a '75 Fulvia 3 that was recently imported Italy! Currently it's in Florida, and I'm very excited to get it here in TX this week to see if it's going to be money well spent or not. Despite all the good advice about seeing the car first, inspecting the sills, etc, I finally bit the bullet and bought a car at what I thought was a reasonable price on as much information as possible without travelling to see it! I've been looking for a Fulvia for so long (over a year) that I felt this was the closest I'll get to one. It's not so much that I wouldn't be willing to travel, but I'm afraid the car would be gone before I got there! It's that hard to find one in the US! So lots of photos have gone back and forth, and my total out of pocket to get it here to TX has been about $6500 US. We'll see soon what that's bought me.
I've been corresponding with Huib and others, and was going to post some questions, but after reading back through the forums, I found answers to a lot of my questions. Thanks to all of you!
I've found a very good Ferrari/Fiat/Alfa/Lancia mechanic here that is very familiar with this car and is VERY excited to have one to work on from time to time. So I have a good headstart. Other than an immediate change of all fluids, filters, and plugs with a tune-up, is there anything else I should specifically ask him to look at during my post-purchase inspection? All suggestions welcome!
One of the first "cosmetic" projects I've been considering are mounting a 36.5cm Nardi steering wheel that I already have. I really enjoyed the series of posts about removing the stock wheel! Looking forward to the same fun here when the time comes! Does anyone have info on the proper Nardi steering wheel boss though? I need to find am having a hard time finding knowledgable resources or suppliers here in the US (no surprise there!).
Other good info on the forum was about wheels and tires in general. I too have narrowed it down to the Vredensteins 165R14s for my 4.5" stock steel wheels. I had hoped to find some variation of the Campagnolo or Cromodora listed on the Piero Vanzetti link from Viva-Lancia, or maybe Stilauto, FPS, or some other ally wheel that might work. Gonna wait though until I drive the car as is and see how it feels and looks to me.
In the meantime, doing "research". Any thoughts about going to a 15" and lower profile to keep the same total diameter/circumference? A 185/60R15 is still fairly easy to find in the US and fits on either 5" of 5.5" wheel. But I see from some of Huib's posts, and he email advice, that a 185 will cause clearance problems for my on my Series 2 coupe. And of course, finding a 15x5 or 5.5 with a 4x130 bolt pattern AND the right offset is likely to be near impossible. Anybody been down this road before?
Enough for now. Looking forward to using this resource and sharing my new baby with you. I'll post pics as soon as I take some good ones myself, but sent one to Huib yesterday.
Chas