DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

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Thought I'd start a new thread on my Fulvia 1.3HF in this section- so have copied some of my earlier posts here from here:
https://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewt ... =1&t=66526

- when I was looking & bought it ...

To provide some context, my criteria for an alternative 'fun' car limited the search to '60's/'70's makes/models which had:

- a max weight of 1000 Kg

- an engine of under 2 litres (& preferably no more than 1.5 litres)

- an advanced spec for the era

- a recognised Factory competition history

- & be in standard Factory spec or featuring only 'period'/reversible mods


It would also need to be LHD, ideally built in (relatively) small numbers, be in excellent condition requiring no obvious foreseeable expenditure – &, possibly most important of all, had to be a make/model the values of which weren't already prohibitively expensive …

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I eventually settled on a Lancia Fulvia 1.3HF & found/bought one via a dealer in the Netherlands (a car that I had been tracking for several months).

Unfortunately that was just before the Europe-wide 'lockdown' so I was unable to collect in in person ...

A few details on the car:

It's a 1968 model that has had 4 owners – 2 in France (the second person owning it from 1971 until 2008) & 2 in the Netherlands.

During the the past 52 years the car has only been driven ~ 24,000 km (approx 15,000 miles) from new (!!) & yet has had significant expenditure lavished on it.

Whilst I was in the Netherlands I drove over to the Hague to visit Ben Franke who runs the family business restoring & modifying classic Lancias – something they've been doing from the same premises since 1962.

The third owner of the car (who imported it into the Netherlands from France) was a very wealthy Lancia 'collector' who aspired to own the very best example of each model in his collection.

So, with this in mind - & having had several of his other classic Lancias worked on by them - he handed the car straight over to Franke with a directive to restore the car to 'concours' condition – money no object !!

Ben told me that there was nothing really wrong with the car other than that it had been unused for a number of years, requiring a degree of re-commissioning.

However, on the insistence of the owner, the car was stripped back to bare metal (whereupon the bodywork was found to require no remedial work) & treated to a windows-out respray in the original colour. In addition all mechanical components were checked over & anything even the slightest bit 'suspect' was to be replaced.

The degree of expenditure was staggering – amounting to several times the value of the car itself back then, but the end result met the owner's brief & the car won its class in the prestigious Paleis Het Loo Concours in 2010.

The car then got driven less than 7k km over the next 6 years – including taking part in the celebratory event at Zandvoort in 2012 to commemorate 50 years of the Fulvia plus as an entrant in the ZZF Rally the same year – before the owner sadly died in 2016.

The car was then bought by the fourth owner – another Dutch Lancia collector who kept it as part of his static collection, adding less than 1k km to the car's total.

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I didn't take any pictures when I went over to look at/drive the car but here are some of the Dealer's photos:








- sitting a little bit high at the moment - will see if/how it settles down with a bit of use






The only thing I didn't like about the car were the wheels – they were the standard/original 'as supplied' 1.3HF steel wheels.

Lancia homologated a few alternative wheels for the 1.3HF models – a slightly wider steel wheel & a 5.5 x 13 (magnesium) Campagnolo wheel.

Since I was fairly sure that, at some point, I would get an S1 Fulvia of some sort, I started looking about 6 months ago for a set of original 5.5in Campagnolos in Italy.

They were relatively rare in this size when new – the 6in version was far more 'common' – so are like the proverbial 'hen's teeth' nowadays.

Anything wider than 5.5in necessitates adding wheelarch extensions – something I didn't want to do – so the 6in wheels (original or repro) available weren't an option for me.

Rarity combined with the fact that they would now be at least 40+ years old & were manufactured from “Elektron' (essentially magnesium), ensured that it wouldn't be an easy task finding a set …

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After several weeks of searching, during which I came across a number of unscrupulous 'sellers', I made contact with a very useful guy based just outside Bologna who specialises in buying/selling/restoring 'period' alloy wheels - mainly from the '60's & '70's.

He had a customer for whom he'd sourced & restored a set of Campagnolos a few years ago but who had subsequently sold his Fulvia & thus might be persuaded to sell the wheels.

The good news came that he was persuaded to sell them & a few weeks later they arrived in the UK (superbly packaged) – boy are they light !!

Each wheel weighs 4.2kg.








So, there was only one tyre that I was going to fit to these wheels – the same tyre that was fitted 'back in the day' - & it just happened to be one of the best & most recognisable 'period' tyres ever made …

The fabulous Michelin XAS !!

Now, anyone who knows me can vouch for the fact that I hate paying the full price for anything so, although I was determined to buy/fit Michelin XAS tyres, I wanted to get the best possible deal …

After a bit of time spent on the internet, I found that I could buy a set of four 165x13 tyres + four 13” Michelin tubes + carriage from a tyre dealer in Barcelona significantly cheaper than I could buy them here in the UK – result !

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In the meantime I managed to get the car collected from the Netherlands & delivered to me for a very reasonable figure by an excellent transport company (via Shiply):

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Once the car was here I set about fitting the Campagnolos/Michelins.

I knew from my research that clearance between the inside of the wheels & the brake calipers was likely to be very tight – especially on the rear - & that indeed turned out to be the case.

This necessitated grinding small amounts of metal from the ends of the handbrake-actuating mechanisms – only a few millimeters - & repeatedly checking clearance until the wheels cleared any obstruction.

I think that the wheel/tyre swap totally transforms the look of the car:

- before:



- & after:

Looks great with the new wheels - love it

That’s a beauty, love it.

Looks amazing and super attention to detail as always

Sent from my Redmi 7 using Tapatalk

Looks fab, Andy!

I'm guessing a slightly smaller steering wheel next Andy? Could be wrong, of course ...

Looks great Andy

Very Nice. I've worked on a couple over the years but never owned one.

You have such wonderful taste in cars Andy and this one looks glorious

Wonderful car...

Best steering wheel is:

https://www.catawiki.com/l/24164455-fer ... ring-wheel

Thanks for posting Andy. Always a pleasure to see one of your cars!