1979' Lancia Beta Berlina 2000 Automatic

Completely original top-of-the-range Beta Berlina, in excellent condition inside and out, with less than 30,000 miles on the clock, supported by a full file of MOT certificates and invoices, together with the original manuals.
This particular car was delivered new to Guernsey, but its owners moved to the Isle of Man, where it spent the next 20 years. They returned to the mainland in 2000, which is when it was registered with DVLA. Its subsequent owners clearly continued to use the car sparingly, and keep it in excellent condition.

Mechanically, it starts immediately and runs smoothly. The automatic gearbox has recently been completely stripped down and reconditioned (at a considerable expense!), and this repair comes with a 12-month guarantee to July 2018.

This was a top-of-the-range model in 1979, and its performance is surprisingly good even by modern standards. Some of the nice 'period' features include no electric windows (you wind them up and down), no central locking and no power steering, but it does have a Pioneer music cassette player/radio with the pop-off front panel security feature (remember those?). Cosmetically, it has not been restored in any way, so has a couple of car park-type dings (one is visible on the rear door in the side-on picture), but is otherwise immaculate. Although there is no supporting documentation, it appears that the underside was "Ziebarted" or "Waxoyled" early on, which may account for the amazingly few spots of rust (after all, this is a 1970s Lancia!).

Last serviced when its MOT was renewed in March 2017 - MOT expires March 2018. The MOT advisory notes say that there is a small hole in the exhaust silencer, but for me, this just adds to that lovely Lancia "rasp"!

We (that's me, the wife, the dog and the Beta!) are planning on attending the Camerton Gathering in Somerset on Sunday 13th August, so please feel free to have a close look without any commitment!