After last week's mostly negative take on the Lancia Scorpion, here we find ourselves sharing one yet again. The reason for this is twofold. First, we had an unpleasant interaction with a painter earlier this week while stripping down a Milano Verde for some rust repair, and made us think a little bit. He was incredulous as to why anyone would spend the money to repair an 80s Alfa sedan. We don't wish to sound like that painter, so we won't rain on the Scorpion parade just because we don't 'get' the cars. Reason two? Well, we 'get' this one!
The example that we shared last week was actually in better shape, but we like the details on this one much better. First, the BWA basket wheels are all sorts of cool. And then there's the paint color; we love how the black trim works with the bright blue. Finally, this car has a quad headlight conversion from a Lancia Beta Spyder/Zagato. Mind you, these are all aspects of any Lancia Scorpion that could be altered, but seeing them all present on a car for sale is rather compelling.
Year: 1976
Model: Lancia
Engine: 1.8L 4-cylinder
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage: 80,786
Price: Auction
Location: Conway, SC
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1976 Lancia Scorpion
You're looking at my 1976 Lancia Scorpion targa-top coupe. This is a neat little car that is almost ready to be put back on the road. I purchased this last Summer when I bought a '65 Porsche 912 from an older gentleman and he asked if I'd also buy this as well to help him out. I had always thought they were cool, and had literally only seen one other in person many many years ago, so I bought it. It wasn't running when I got it, but it looked like a pretty well taken care of example overall.
I had the starter rebuilt, performed a general tune up, oil/filter change, and she fired right up. It runs really well. I was told the motor was rebuilt a few years back. It has an Alquati intake with Weber 42 DCNF's. Exhaust is a CSC system. Bosch alternator, Pertronix ignition. I had a shop install new clutch master and slave cylinders, and new brake master and slave cylinders. The shop had the car for well over 8 months and I was getting peeved. They kept saying "It'll be ready tomorrow" and tomorrow never came. I finally went and took the car back, but they hadn't connected some of the brake lines or bled them, as well as the clutch line. They also had let the hard top fall off the car and get scratched, as well as lost one of the black plastic trim pieces on the hood, and the shift knob is missing! Needless to say I won't be going back to that shop!!!
The car was originally a different shade of blue as you can see in some of the pics (inside trunks, door jambs). I like the color now as it's very period correct and looks great. The paint job is several years old but looks good. I'd call it a 5 footer. Not really any major paint flaws, it's just not "perfect".The hood has a few small dings in it that a paintless dent repair guy can massage out. The interior is in really good condition and was restored about 10 years ago, and looks very good still. This Carolina's car has been stored indoors, and is very solid underneath for a 43 year old example.
I believe the rims are vintage 15" BWA's. Front brakes are Wilwood 4 piston calipers with slotted rotors. Koni struts in front, KYB in the rear.
The car comes with two tops...the fiberglass "double bubble" hardtop as seen in the pics, and the folding cloth top that is stored in the front trunk. As I mentioned, the shop let the top fall off the car and it has some minor damage. A paint shop can fix easily.
I am selling the car as it sits because I have moved on to another project that is more up my alley...another classic air cooled Porsche 911 to bring back to life. You can probably have this car back on the road with a few hours of work connecting and bleeding the lines. Im pretty sure everything is still there, just needs properly hooked up and bled. I'm just not fooling with it any more. Someone might ask "Why don't you just fix it and get more $$$ in the end?". It's one of those things where I got so disgusted by the shops' BS that I have just moved on. If you're handy, you'll be on the road in no time.
The condition of this example is at a juncture where it could either descend into disrepair or emerge victorious, faults having been addressed. We see a fair amount of non-terminal scale on the underside, especially on the shield covering the coolant pipes underneath the car. The engine bay shows signs of neglect, with flaking paint and missing timing belt covers, and the seller states that some brake and clutch bleeding will be required to make the car streetable.
If there is one problem we have with this car, it's the current bidding. Seems pretty high for a repainted car without any sort of refreshing, other than the claimed engine build a few years back. With rust to address, hydraulics to bleed, and a so-so interior, we'd hope to see something under $5k. But, like us, perhaps the bidders are loving the 037 look to the quad headlights - we can blame them!
-Graham