1981 Lancia Beta Zagato - A Bad Day at the Office

 

This 1981 Lancia Beta Zagato popped up for sale on my Marketplace feed the other day not far from the Old Triple Wide here on the far west side of Cleveland, Ohio. Excuse me, a what? A Lancia, Beta...Zagato. Lean on each syllable of Za-ga-to to make yourself sound even more suave. I've heard Lancia pronounced LAHN-chah, Lahn-CHIA, or Lahn-see-yah depending on how sophisticated or cultured someone's trying to be. Ham-fisted as I can be, I drop the "d" from land and pronounce it, Lan-seeyah. 

You're not alone if you've never heard of these cars, few people have although many who have are ribald fans. Like blue cheese, coffee, dark beer, raw oysters and Vienna sausage, they're an acquired taste; their proportions are, choosing my words carefully, different.  A Fiat X 1/9 or Lancis Stratos they are not. They're kind of a mashup between a 1979-1993 Fox-body Ford Mustang and mid-'80's Nissan Sentra. And then given a haircut of questionable quality. 

Prior to becoming part of Fiat in 1969, Lancia built beautiful, hand-built cars that were expensive and, no surprise, they weren't profitable. After taking over the cash strapped company, Fiat attempted to mainstream the brand with the front-wheel-drive Lancia "Beta", in 1972. The Beta was available as a sedan, wagon, coupe and a 2+2, retractable roof two-door known as the "Spyder" in Europe. It was known as the "Zagato" over here to help differentiate it from the Alpha Romeo Spyder. As if the Alpha Romeo Spyder wasn't for sale in Europe at the time but, I digress. 

Fiat chose the name "Beta" to highlight a new beginning for Lancia, the founder of Lancia, Vincenzo Lancia, was fond of using letters from the Greek alphabet to name his cars. They avoided using "Alpha" to avoid confusion or legal issues with Alpha Romeo. Lancia, along with Fiat, has been part of Stellantis since 2021. 

The Beta Zagato's started out at the Lancia plant in Turin, Italy as Beta coupes. The unpainted bodies were shipped to the Zagato coachbuilding plant in Milan where their craftsman sliced, diced and hacked them into convertible form using blueprints drawn up by the legendary Italian design house Pininfarina; seems everyone has a bad day at the office every now and then. The semi-completed cars were then shipped back to Turin for final assembly. 

This isn't a full or "true" convertible. The roof over the driver and front seat passenger is a removable fiberglass panel while the rear window folds down leaving the center pillar intact like a basket handle. The window frames for the doors remain in place as well. 

Reminds me of a 1990-1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass with its top down. Unlike the Zagato, though, the basket handle on the Oldsmobile wasn't structural, the door handles for these cars are above the doors in the center post. Bonkers. 

Fiat\Lancia was concerned that in the all-important U.S. market, increasingly stringent rollover safety standards would eventually ban convertibles here, hence, the off-beat chopped top. Of roughly 9,600 built, less than 2,400 were shipped to North America. Seems all the effort was for relative naught. 

Aside from appearing somewhat unconventional, I'll stop short of saying "weird" like the Olds Cutlass was, and subjective as that is, these cars have their upsides. They feature a fully independent, MacPherson strut suspension, four-wheel-disc brakes, and all came with a 5-speed manual transmission in a day and age of four-speed gearboxes; there were no automatics. Fiat's excellent iron block, aluminum head, 2-liter, double-overhead-cam, inline four-cylinder engine is under hood, on this Marketplace find, it has fuel injection helping it make 108-horsepower, a thirty-percent bump in power compared to the 83-horsepower versions with a carburetor.

Weighing in at 2,760-lbs, contemporary road testers recorded Zagato's going from zero-to-sixty in around 13.5 seconds, knocking down the quarter mile in 19.2. Slow then, glacial now. Their handling was lauded although the driving position was cited for being awkward, tiring even. 

Legend has it that Russian steel was used for the bodies, steel that was thin, of poor quality and stored improperly. Therefore, Zagato's had a reputation for premature rusting that was so bad, Lancia bought back many cars from customers and gave them new ones. They probably weren't Zagato's as Lancia stopped making them after 1982. The Russian steel angle is somewhat unsubstantiated, one thing for certain, though, Zagato's tend to be rust buckets. 

This one though, for sale in the heart of the rustbelt, appears to be remarkably clean. It's not without its problems, though. For $8,990, you get a car that runs only with an external fuel supply, you'd think for that number of Euro's, they'd have sorted that out for the potential buyer. Then again, finding a mechanic or tech who'd go near it around here are hard to find, My mechanic, who specializes in imports, wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pasta noodle. The seller is willing to work with a buyer for shipment anywhere in the world. 

Fun fact, 1981 Zagato's were the last Lancia's imported to the United States. 

 

A 1981 Lancia Beta Zagato. Red with a black leather interior. 86,000 original miles. A very nice and straight boy. The original paint is old and there are some blemishes as you can see in the pictures. Completely rust-free undercarriage. The original interior shows well, the targa top and the rear folding top are both in good shape. Mechanically the engine runs with external fuel supply, needs fuel system to be revised. It was off the road for some years. A rare, and excellent original car, needing work. Any questions welcome. (We can help to make arrangements for worldwide shipping.)

Built from 1973 to 1984, designed by Pinnanfarina, built by Zagato. ? total of 9390

Only the US received the 120BHP 2.0ltr fuel injected Aurelio Lampredi designed engine, with everyone else getting the carburettor version. Indeed the car was referred to as the Spyder Zagato in the US, to help differentiate it from the Alfa Romeo Spider.

All of which are noted rust prone areas on the Lancia Beta (and the Fiat x1/9 as

1964 Imperial Crown Coupe - Mid-Century Design at Its Finest

Popular between the end of World War II and approximately 1970, mid-century modernism emphasized functionality and minimal ornamentation. Coincidentally or not, given that I was born during that swath in time, I'm a huge fan of its zeitgeist. Not surprisingly, I'm a huge fan of this 1964 Imperial Crown Coupe that in my opinion, embodies the spirt of that mid-century ethos like few other cars do. 

The 1964 Imperials were the first Chrysler's designed by Elwood Engle after he left the Ford Motor Company following a 1961 design department power struggle. Engle, arguably most famous for designing the seminal 1961 Lincoln Continental, was immediately tasked by his Chrysler bosses to draw up an Imperial that would not only be the equal if not superior of anything from Cadillac and the Lincoln Continental he created but an American Rolls Royce. 

Taking more than a page or two from his Continental playbook, Engle came up with a car that was, dare I say, a better-looking Lincoln Continental than the Lincoln Continental was. Better looking than anything Cadillac was doing at the time too. 

Not to be outdone, though, Cadillac and all GM full-size cars were all new for 1965, GM designers cribbing a line or ten from an Elwood Engle Ford and Lincoln. Especially it seemed was particularly guilty of that. With nominal updating, Lincoln kept Engle's Continental around through 1969. 

From 1955 to 1975, "Imperial" was the Chrysler Corporation's top-of-the-line brand they marketed above their Chrysler line. From the company's founding in 1926 through 1954, "Imperial" was an on-again, off-again nameplate for Chrysler usually denoting their Chrysler division's most prestigious models. Starting in 1955, Imperial was its own make with models that were separate from anything else Chrysler made. 

As a division, Imperial sold about half as many cars each year as Lincoln did and a tenth of the sales of Cadillac. That due in equal parts to an underdeveloped brand image and competing in an all too narrow market niche dominated by Cadillac. 

Shame too since Imperials, for the most part, were spectacular. The '64-'66's my favorites, the hardtop Crown Coupe my favorite-favorite; there isn't a bad line on these cars inside or out. Therefore, these cars were damned for what they weren't, that not being a Cadillac or a Lincoln for that matter, their handsome design notwithstanding. Which, in my opinion, again, is highly underrated. 

This one is for sale Blackhorse Motors in Massillon, Oho, about an hour-and-a-half's drive south of us on the west side of Cleveland. Asking price is $11,000. Quite reasonable if you ask me. A 1964 Cadillac or Lincoln Continental in this condition would go for at least twice that. 

The hyperbolic copy for the ad for the car on the Blackhorse website claims the car is in excellent mechanical and cosmetic condition. The finish seems a bit worn, though, you'd think the dealership would have "buffed it out" to a showroom shine if it was that good. Maybe they tried. "Patina" can be a wonderful thing, dropping $11,000 on a sixty-two-year-old Imperial and then having to paint it makes it not the bargain it would have seemed at first. I put this through the filter of what my wife would think if I dropped eleven-large on this or any old car then told her it needed a $10,000 paint job. She wouldn't be happy. 

Things get a tad funky under the hood. The 413-cubic inch, Chrysler "RB" engine this was born with has been replaced with a god's-green-earth, Chrysler "440", the engine that replaced the 413 in Chrysler's engine portfolio in 1967. There's no information in the ad about what year this engine is or what if anything has been done to it. The Edelbrock air cleaner and after-market valve covers may be all for show. 

1964 was the last year for the push-button transmission gear selector for the Chrysler "Torque Flite" on these cars. Unnecessarily complicated, fussy and problematic, the buttons were gone for 1965 replaced with a dutiful column shifter. To me, the push-button transmission enhances the mid-century-ness but then again, I love a quirky old car with goofy, non-sensical gimmicks. Problem is when they break or stop working, like you know they will, good luck getting them fixed. Parts are hard to find too. 

Unlike Dodge, Imperial, like Plymouth, never had its own stand-alone dealership network, Imperial's lumped together with Chrysler and Plymouth models in the same showrooms. Can't say for certain that hurt sales, but I have to imagine a buyer or ten thousand went into an Imperial-Chrysler-Plymouth store to look at an Imperial, and drive home in a equally equipped and less expensive Chrysler New Yorker. Or a Plymouth Fury III or VIP for that matter. 

1980 Lincoln Continental Mark VI - Hot Rod Lincoln

The Ford Motor Company had literal and figurative big brake shoes to fill when they introduced their downsized Continental Mark VI for 1980. The "VI", like the 1980 above I found on Facebook Marketplace, replaced, the 1977 to 1979 Mark V, the largest and best-selling Mark of all time. 

Contemporary road test reviewers weren't enthralled with the new "little-big-car", which, at 216-inches long, 78-inches wide and weighing more than 4,200-pounds, wasn't "small". They did note improvements in handling, braking and packaging, though. They also noted that the VI had as much cabin and trunk space as the V despite being more than a foot shorter, two-inches narrower and being 800-pounds less heavy. Despite the damning with faint praise accolades, and designers following marching orders making sure the VI had every ersatz and baroque bauble and bit the V had, sales of VI in 1980 were approximately half of that of the 1979 Mark V.

So, why did the Continental VI sales implode? It wasn't because the car wasn't as big as the V; we need only to look at the 1976 Cadillac Seville and 1979 Cadillac Eldorado for proof that size only matters so much to luxury car buyers; if the design has the je ne sais quos well-heeled buyers crave, regardless of the size of the vehicle, build it and they will buy it. The problem with the VI is that it looked like a "wannabee" or facsimile of a Mark V as opposed to being its own unique design. 

Say what you will GM hatahs, but the 1979-1985 Cadillac Eldorado looked nothing like the brutes it replaced, and it was the best-selling Eldorado of all time. The relatively diminutive 1976 to 1979 Seville was a watershed of sedan design as well while having little in common with any Cadillac before it. Although you can't argue with their logic, The Ford Motor Company tried to take the "easy way out" and got their trunk hump caught in the trunk lid. 

In a vacuum, though, and this is an easier pill to swallow all these years later, the Mark VI isn't a bad looking car; this one for sale outside Detroit with an asking price of $6,000. Seems a grand or two north of what I'd hit up my ATM for, but you do get a pretty clean VI that's got some interesting easter eggs hidden in it.  

The aftermarket, speed-o-meter blocking, steering column mounted tachometer and full, Autozone-equse gauges tell us something may be stirring under this car's gigantic hood. Seems I didn't snag the only engine picture in the posting (the car has been sold), but it showed the engine this car came from the factory with, either a Ford throttle-body, fuel-injected 302-cubic inch V-8 or 351-cubic inch engine with a "variable-venturi". 2-barrel carburetor. was tossed for the "low-output" version of Ford's 1986 circa, port-fuel injection "5.0" V-8. Big deal, right? 

Poster of the ad claims the engine has Brodix 171cc heads, those are not cheap, Ford Racing lifters, Manley pushrods, JP Performance timing chain and, oh yeah, a 125-horsepower, "cold fusion" wet nitrous kit. Talk about a literal hot-rod Lincoln. 

Not sure why someone would do all that, I wouldn't but I bet this car goes like stink in a straight line. I'd have gone the late 1980's, junkyard Ford Mustang GT "5-Point-Oh" route to make this a "Hot Rod Lincoln" but that's just me.  

Fun facts, all Marks through 1985 cars were technically not "Lincolns" but rather "Continental's". From 1986 through 1999, the "Continental" nameplate was dropped, the then current Continental Mark VII became the "Lincoln Mark VII". Subsequently, the 1993-1999 Mark VIII was the Lincoln Mark VIII. Yes, there was a Continental Mark VI four-door sedan that rode on a three-inch longer wheelbase and was 219-inches long. 

Sales never improved through the VI's truncated production run through 1983. The 1983-1992 Mark VII didn't either for that matter. Same for the 1994-1999 Mark VIII. 

1968 Chevrolet Impala - Resale Red

 

Classic cars are a dicey investment since unlike Wall Street, which, on average, has historically gone up in value, what cars will appreciate has always been a slippery slope. In the end, there's going to be a limit to the lift as well as the cadre of buyers interested in them sadly dwindles. Therefore, if you're buying a "classic" for any reason other than loving the car, it's best to proceed with extreme caution and don't get suckered into buying tempting "resale red" cars like this 1968 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe. This popped up on Facebook Marketplace a couple of weeks ago with a relatively low asking price of $23,500. Recently, that asking price was reduced to $19,500. So, something's up. Let's kick its historically incorrect, although very cool BF Goodrich Comp T/A's and see what we can come up with.

First some background. While the Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe had been around since 1958, the Impala Custom Coupe with the same rear roof line the Caprice coupe had, debuted for 1968. It was little more than a de-contented Caprice coupe Chevrolet charged more for than the Impala Sport Coupe. To-may-toe, toe-mah-toe? Not exactly. 

The Chevrolet Caprice coupe, which debuted in 1966 when the Caprice became its own line, "Caprice" was a trim-level on four-door Impala's in 1965, never got the dramatic swooping fastback the Impala Sport Coupe had. The slope of the Sport Coupe's rear roof for 1967 and 1968, above is a 1968, is so big it looks like it could be a hatchback. For 1969 and 1970, Chevrolet reduced the angle or pitch on it blurring the figurative and literal lines of the rooflines between the Impala Custom and Sport Coupes. The redesigned Impala's for 1971 and beyond are a whole other story I've covered extensively. 

In my opinion, the formal roofline does wonders for the proportions of the design of this vintage of the Impala hard top coupe and gives it better overall balance. It also highlights the distinctive shoulder arches on the top of the rear fenders; you just don't see that type of whimsy on vehicle design these days. Well, I should say, if you do, it's a throwback or homage of sorts to something from the past. 

So, what could be so wrong with this car that the poster of the ad sliced more than 15-percent off what they were originally asking? Well, it's not so much what's "wrong" as what could be righter. Especially at this price point. Sorry, twenty-grand is still twenty grand.  Those buyers with an aversion to risk may surmise that if things could be righter, what else is wronger? 

For starters, this car came from the factory with a vinyl top and whoever painted it or had it painted, did not alter the car so that it looks like it was built originally without one. Note that chrome strip on the bottom of the rear roof line where it meets the body of the car - that would separate where the vinyl roof meets the rest of the car. Looks like this car has a removable hard top. Not a bad look, but when you're asking twenty-grand for a near sixty-year-old car, details matter. 

Also, look at the size of the gap between the chrome trim around the windows - that's to go around the (missing) vinyl top. 

Although rare, these cars were available without a vinyl top and on those cars, like on this '68, there's no chrome trim between the roof and the body. Sorry, I know it's confusing seeing this car is red like our subject car. 

Also, note how much tighter to the body the chrome trim is around the driver's side window glass. It's these little details that separate good paint jobs from great. 

Moving to the interior, and the what-the-hell-is-that continues. Gosh, I haven't seen an after-market floor shifter installed on a factory column shift car in years. I guess it could be worse, they could have left the actual column shifter lever on instead of removing it and leaving the notch for it. Even if this car has a "shifter kit", which is fine if it did, you don't need that after-market floor shifter. Shift kits modify the internal hydraulics of a transmission regardless of where the actual shifting is done. This is silly boy racer stuff. 

1968 Impala Custom Coupes were available with the SS trim package that included bucket seats and a, be still my beating heart, "horseshoe" shifter console (example above). All this stuff, the console, the shifter and the buckets are all available online. The steering column with the shifter-less column a console shifter car would have come with too. Ton of work and added expense to make it all right, but it makes a big difference at resale time. As time marches on, it's becoming more and more important for these cars to be at least as historically correct as possible. Especially if you're asking top dollar for them. 

There are no details in the ad about what may have been done to the "numbers matching", 396 cubic-inch V-8 this car has. Aftermarket valve cover gaskets, headers and massive intake manifold denote "power", but who knows. Seeing the job done on the roof and interior, I wouldn't be surprised if this car is all show and little to no go. 

Personally, while I wouldn't buy this car because of what I've pointed out, and this is what seems obvious to me. Someone may see the value upside in spending $19,000 and then pouring possibly another $3,000 to $4,000 into it. This bought closer to $15,000 makes sense, to the degree it could make sense. You'll still need to do some 'splainin to the boss why you need the checkbook again. Good luck with that. 

1965 Rambler Marlin - BOGO

 

If you're into the offbeat two-fers, well, friend-oh, today, you're in luck. For sale a stone's throw from the old triple-wide out here west of Cleveland, Ohio, we've got a BOGO of sorts here with not one, but two 1965 Rambler Marlins you can take off the seller's hands for $2,000. He will not separate. 

Neither are running but the black one is the "tighter" of the two, the blue one was bought as a "parts car" to help fix up the black car. The owner came to realize he was in over his head and is trying to cut his losses. Be forewarned, though, cars whose manufacturers no longer exist and don't have an underground network of sorts for parts and resources are what we call "orphans", and their owners are, for the most part, on their own. These aren't O.G. Ford Mustangs or another automobile named after a fish, the Plymouth Barracuda. 

So, what were these things that are an odd combination of semi-Ford Mustang cool and '50's sci-fi movie weird? Simply put, the Marlin was American Motors attempt to tap into the burgeoning youth market in the mid-'60's. 

By the early to mid 1960's, American Motors, or AMC, formed in May of 1954 with the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson Corporations, had an image problem - their cars were seen as out of touch with the times, dated, dull, and frumpy; Ramblers were for the terminally and unapologetically unhip. My old man had a 1961 Rambler Classic when I was a kid, and I was mortified by it. Especially living in a neighborhood awash in a sea of flashy Chevrolet's, Buick's and Ford's. I can still hear the flaccid blaaat of its soulless six-cylinder engine droning on endlessly, my father's knee on the bottom of the big steering wheel while he used both hands to light a cigar. Yes, while moving with me unbuckled in the front passenger seat. 

Taking a page from Ford and Plymouth's playbook where their "sporty" compacts were built on the chassis of the yeoman like Falcon and Valiant, respectively, AMC built the Marlin using much of their new-for-1964 Rambler American. 

The American was a significant step forward for AMC, stylists eschewing much of the quirk-for-the-sake-of-quirk, oddball-ness that been the hallmark of Ramblers before and after the merger. The new American was dutiful and conventional looking. They were perfectly inoffensive. Perhaps too much so. I'd stop way short of calling them handsome. 

The Marlin had two problems. The first was its styling. Attempting to do a fastback, which was construed as youthful, AMC executives insisted it not only seat six, but the rear seat passengers should also have ample head room; a "3+3" if you will rather than a "2+2". 

To pull that off and be aesthetically pleasing would be a challenge given the diminutive dimensions of the Rambler American. The end result was a rear roofline that's an attempt to be all things to all people, you know what happens when you try to make everyone happy. AMC did little to differentiate the Marlin from the American forward of the doors. 

 

Sorry, a Ford Mustang 2+2, on the left, it ain't. It's not even a Plymouth Barracuda (right) that despite Plymouth not changing much of anything on its Valiant aside from a massive rear windshield, is far more pleasing to look at. 

Although Marlin's had optional 289- or 327-cubic inch AMC V-8 engines, unlike the Americans that were saddled with six-cylinder engines only, Marlin's had the same underpinnings American's had. That meant mushy springs and shocks, slow steering, woeful brakes. Doesn't matter how much the V-8's were, power is nothing without control. 

On our Marlins here, the parts car has AMC's 289 V-8 that at least turns, the black one has a seized up 232-cubic inch six. 

Marlin sales were abysmal. AMC moving just 10,000 or so for 1965, less 5,000 for 1966. 

AMC rebooted it for 1967 basing it on their intermediate sized Ambassador. Despite the larger canvas making the "3+3" concept perhaps the best it could be, it's still "off" in the way 1966 and 1967 Dodge Chargers are, AMC sold a scant 2,500 Marlins for 1967. they, warning, deliberate pun incoming, threw the Marlin back in the water for 1968 and beyond. 

Although I'm not a fan of these cars and most anything American Motors came out with, it would be a shame to see these two Marlins hauled off to the scrapper. Best we can hope for is someone who's got a Marlin they're restoring, and they can use parts off these cars to complete their project. Or get the black one running by any means possible, perhaps even rat-rot it, and call it a day.