Restored 1977 Lancia Beta Montecarlo 2.0 5 Speed Manual.

Vehicle Overview

The SI Beta Montecarlo has always been a pretty rare car, right from the get-go, especially in the UK. Records show that of the 5,635 SI cars built, only 455 were right hand drive Coupes. This fine-looking example is one of those being a UK specification and supplied car first registered in April 1977. DVLA records show that the car started life in a silver livery.

Seven previous keepers followed with the last owner acquiring the car in 2008. That owner was reportedly an engineer and seemingly made it his mission to restore and recommission the Montecarlo regardless of cost. During his tenure every aspect of the car, both mechanical and aesthetic, seems to have been addressed. This work included a very thorough body restoration and respray in around 2017 to its current Rosso Monza Red.

Recent £4,500 expenditure includes, brake servo bypass, new timing belt and water pump, the fitment of a new X-01 road and track exhaust system, a full service and the fitment of a new battery.

Exterior

The paintwork, believed to date from around 2017. It is appropriately thickly and smoothly applied, and every panel exhibits a deep and lustrous sheen. Despite a thorough restoration the originality is showroom faithful down to the black nose section and roof trailing edge and the matt black sill level decals. The Pininfarina badges are present and correct together with Sergio’s insisted upon script badges. A visual highlight are the glazed flying buttresses which are, surely, preferable and more desired than the solid “sail” type that some SI cars featured. This example the engine lid iteration with the most cooling vents in it, too.

The diminutive looking “bowtie” 13-inch alloy wheels are, thankfully, still present and look amazing courtesy of a 2018 refurbishment. A set of tyres in the correct 185/70 factory specification are fitted.

Mechanical

The Montecarlo is powered by the, now legendary, Fiat Twin-cam “Lampredi” engine. At one time or another derivatives of the Aurelio Lampredi deigned unit found their way into cars as diverse as the FSO Polonez and the Morgan Plus-4. In the Montecarlo the 1,995 cc, four-cylinder unit produced around 120bhp with power fed to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission. As we have seen, it is a light car, so this set up was good for nearly 120mph and 0-60mph in around 9 seconds.

It soon becomes clear that this example has wanted for nothing, mechanically, in the last 15 years or so with both the previous owners sparing no expense in keeping the car in prime order. The engine bay is surprisingly spacious once the spare wheel is removed, and access is almost unparalleled for a mid-engined car. The condition is excellent with all inner panels straight and clean and the original data plates present and correct.

The underside is certainly its equal with no sign of leaks, corrosion, deformations or any other areas of concern. Plenty of preservative underseal is present and that high-specification new exhaust system is best viewed from under here.

History Highlights

This little Lacia comes with a generous paperwork archive. The bulk of the remainder of the paperwork consists of numerous invoices detailing the work undertaken and parts sourced both in the previous ownership and before. Additional highlights include an original workshop manual, parts manual (very rare and incredibly useful) and an owner’s manual. Two original keys are also included.

There are a number of spares included, amongst these is a pair of twin trumpet carburettors and accompanying manifold in order to upgrade the Montecarlo from a single to a twin carburettor set up.

At launch the Montecarlo become the first car to be designed, engineered and manufactured from scratch by Pininfarina at their works in Turin. Dr Renato Sconfienza was chief engineer at Pininfarina at the time and claimed that Sergio Pininfarinawas so proud of the Montecarlo that he insisted that his name appeared in script on both sides of the car. The Series I cars are easily identified by the 13-inch “bowtie” wheels, a quite Beta-esque front grill and, of course, the “Beta” suffix on the rear marque identifier. In true, and charming, Lancia fashion, however, there were three distinctly different engine lids used on the S1 alone!

A 70’s icon recently showcased on the final Grand Tour with Jeremy Clarkson.

Please contact Adrian or Sam to book an appointment to view at our North Yorkshire showroom.

– Part exchanges considered.