Gamma in Greece aka CSkjott

[CSkjott]

I actually meant to contribute something to my fantastic story earlier (astounding writing and hype heheh all to be enjoyed w. a large tad of salt, exaggeration enhances the plot, I never drive that fast ), which was actually mighty important..

When rebuilding the rear end with the new wishbones and shocks, it was noted that the big screw bolts, which actually hold the whole base had a wild diminished groove (as in washed away) to actually hold the tightening bolt, so my little accident was a blessing in a sordid disguise; replaced w. high grade steel screws used in engine assembly was the remedy, because as 'we' laffed about, what wouldn't it be like losing yer rear end at cruising speed!

Some might want to investigate this further (no. 21 & 22 on app. drawing)

Just my pennies

[Geoff 'thecolonel']

ah well what you need is - see post  :   "Stage one....."

[johnny48]

Hello Grs....if u 'av time ... can u run thru basic diference in ur ownership xperience, daily drivability, reliability between ur belove Gam & not so belove Flav Cup ?

Hello Anyo1 else who'se driven Flavi..please way in.

I read, somewhere about Flav being a fickle Diva; a Flav owner (was it in USA?) reported his Flavia 2b  "worst car Ive ever owned".

Did they get better after becamMING 2000 & were i.e. & nOt carbs.

the ?'s:   why did Lanc go to carb on S1 Gam & "wat r real differences" between  i.e. Gam"  &  Gam1": performance, reliability, driveability, mileage, noise, emission ?  
Was Gam a "step-forward" vs 2000 ?  Better build, performance etc & anything elSe that may come to mind.

no, I'm not looking for  Flav / 2000, now or later

[CSkjott]

Well it's academic I spose but in my book the 2000 was a proper classic w. definitely 'old' technology in feel and control and build quality if you prefer it, leaf sprung rear end which made it potentially tail happy to near 'stepping out' if pressed on winding roads, specially w. uneven surface, would get quite hairy..

Really a 60's car (which could explain it's limbo status, not really so sought after like the Flavia it replaced although prices have rocketed but mainly due to it's rarity, few survived and I'd get something else w. the same money) like a little Ferrari aka 250 GTE I'd say (even has the same binnacle from the 330) w. the same spindly window frames, making a delightful crisp 'clunk' using the doors.. What was a fabulous feature were the 1/4 windows and opening rear windows, open at high speed there was no noise or turbulence in the cabin, just a nice breeze.. Why the auto industry stopped using that I'll never understand..

Raunchy, even crude on the move, but Lancia typical fabulous accuracy cruising in a str8 line and not too demanding turns, but a tad 'heavy' and it was quite thirsty too..  A bit of an odd because of it's size, no rear seating what so ever even if it's twice as long as a Fulvia (really?), still it may have very well been very refined for it's time and top drawer, but definitely a last of the last if you like, and I'd really opt for the Fulvia HF or Zagato 1.6 if I was going that period again or just buy an earlier Flavia.. Not really bad at all, but not really very good either and certainly no 'woohoo' which is academic, I'm not that well wandered in 70's cars, and the only real common is the boot design, however more pronounced on the Gamma.. Speaking of which was the nifty boot handle w. access ONLY from inside the car, they sadly overlooked on the Gamma.. It was so choice, and w. a lock too..   

The Gamma S1 was a big leap, a modern car, avantgarde, still with some crass features however, noisy fan, slow windows, sloppy wipers etc, which are only the result the technology then.. I also wondered why the S1 were made w. carb when the 2000HF had used injection, it seemed odd in retrospect and I would also like to know why Gamma first had carb?

The move on the S2 to fit it w. injection made it dull in my opinion and compromised the Gamma (was my very first sensation when I bought my S2 still w. my S1 which seemed more solid w. much better seats) however the S2 w. flush fittings and 'styling' on the interior was I suppose really an improvement, but then I am much partial to the S1, it was so radical, because it was my first and imo had a more unique feel.

The only haphazzard design is the clima layout on the dash, which never really worked visually for me and was just a redesign on the S1 which was just clumsy 'n' ugly.. I do enjoy the multi color 'gum' drop buttons the most.. love those

Imo much much improved and noticeable balance over the 2000 because of the Mcpherson setup which was the new milestone.. In fact still as good as it gets.. and the 2000 may well have been the best of what was, but I really doubt it..

[CSkjott]

http://cskjott.com/lanciapics/Lancia_Flavia_2000_HF.html

[CSkjott]

So almost a spring like day today and I decided to use the new 50m garden hose that I acquired for our building (although I live in the penthouse I'm actually also the janitor) and wash and shine my Coup.. How fabulous isn't any job with proper tools, in my case the 'gun' I also bought for the tube, as you can be running back and forth w. 50m hose to switch water ON/OFF, is just fantastisch.. not a GARDENA, but really really excellent.. requires some dexterity because spray or jet all lies in the flickering finger action

But as I'm 'skinning' my car using my fine lambskin cloth, an elderly woman walks by and w. a smile asks if it's a new car? I respond: Oxi paliajura enai! (translation; nope, it's an old junker) and she replies... wait for it, word for word: it's beautiful, young man, it looks like it just came out of a box! God bless you! I said thank you very much but my mind was immediately rewound back to when I was a toddler and had before me a brand new Corgi toy car still in it's box! 

Sadly the flashback was brief and let me inform you, that although from a distance it does look great, I get to grind at all the emerging imperfections in the paintjob just two years ago, that I'm almost inclined to race the car down to the shop w. my 'dearest' two friends in charge of the job then and bash their heads in.. I didn't offer a fortune but I still paid a nice bundle and the job isn't very good at all; it's really a do over.. 

FCUK!

So just to quell any hopes any of you might hold of ever seeing my car in person, unless you present yourself here in Grease, let me just announce it won't be happening, because just the drive to Stuttgart for example, would result in my appearing in a 'naked' car as the paint would simply peel off during the ride there

PS Just last week I went to a wheeler dealer and asked to have my rims redone, electroncannonized, and he was asking me fickin 250 euros for it! I thought ok, cool, I'll think it over, now I have and considering the geeks work ethics here why bother?! I'm thinking I'll just spray paint them myself, because a can costs 11 euro and I'd get to be slop happy w. laquer after, totalling 30 euro.. and so I can do that some 10 times for the same money, if I could be bothered

Greece: what a *beep *beep *beep! Just yesterday a friend called me (I was flattered) and asked if I wanted to join in an 'effort' concocted here, submitting an illustration to an upcoming newspaper article in reply to the german FOCUS mag, this weeks cover story on Greece in their hopelessness featuring an illustration which has passionately inflamed the Greek (it's quite good, very telling ).. I mulled it over and finally reasoned I couldn't join in the fun, I came up blank! In secret one has to admire them krauts, because out of certain and utter ruin, bombed back to the stone age and mightily stumped just 60 yrs. ago, despite all odds and/or beyond reason, they worked their arses blue, reunited with their lost half, and still found the recipe to actually rule Europe, an ambition dating back to Bismarck, without firing a single shot! Kudos!
 

[gam2]

Nice to see some photos of my old silver 2000 HF witch I sold late 2008. I have had 3 of these 2000 coupe`s over the last 15 year or so. If a mint example one day turns up I can be tempted again. The photos are taken when I owned the car but I can’t remember seeing these before. I liked and enjoyed these 2000 coupe`s a lot. Mine was reliable, fast enough and in my view had a good building quality. I had some el problems but never hard to fix.  In all, a very nice Lancia.
This photo shows the car after the new owner put on a new set of alu wheels and had the interior redone in brown leather from the original red sky/plastic.

[CSkjott]

I saw your ad for the 2000 in 2006 when hunting for one, maybe I wrote you for it? Think the price wasn't right

Woa, a pimpy 2000HF.. Silver, gorgeous colour but I think red or black leather would have complimented it better.. rims are interesting, yet it's always weird to see the a 'different' touch, perhaps misunderstood.. (myself was contemplating the fanalone rims) but it looks sharp... sort of... hmmmm

 

[CSkjott]

Was a nice sunday, but just driving to the beach for a stroll is mighty challenging - all wacko geek drivers - not one relenting and thus all causing congestion every where and in every way, because it's 'mememeeememeeeeeee' first - fcukers!

But earlier in the day I found some fun pics instead of making new ones today, we landed in some pig sty marina and I forgot about it  

the man hisself - from beyond thunderdome (Get outta my waaayyy ya bastads) Note; my wonderful ceiling, no sagging

the man hisself - the poser

the man hisself - too disinterested to get outta the car to and look at weed before something else

And a personal favorite; San Remo, Italy, 1964, my mother w. her brand new Flavia, lancia blue w. special ordered yellow(ish) pigskin int. (.. she still talks about that car; she has no recollection or paper (ch. no. etc etc) so we (meaning I) could 'hunt' for it and maybe find out who has it today)

[CSkjott]

In fact these two pics belong together; same trip and just goes to show how safe and comfortable the wife feels (otherwise very sensitive to speed (in other crappy cars) and usually chews my ear when she should be quiet) in the Gamma, that she even found the time to take pictures of the 'pilot' in full flight (near the inner barrier you might notice and speed then is always 160+)

A sidenote to why I first posted it in B/W is that (part the obvious cool - was to ease that nasty rust color round the edge of the windscreen - oh well, one day some day, hey)

And yes, the dials have long since been 'disinfected'

I include wife at her ease in the twilight (this during her 'red' hair period - thank goodness she got over that - she rather minds the internet publicity - rightfully so)  

[CSkjott]

I can elaborate on the first spurt about driving in Athens; everyone is in a hurry to be late somewhere; they use public transport very little because usually a bus is not goin' where you need to be (yayhoo what a surprise that is - in my opinion tho it works quite well considered) and is only delayed when some jerk has double or triple parked his/her car in its way.. Most annoying is their persistant misconception about round abouts, that coming into a round about has right of way, and while in it, you best yield to get out, because they coma runnin'.. so you may imagine the cock up when traffic peaks and 6 streets meet in a round about   not to mention that tax money is not invested in maintenance, so pot holes are galore and some so bad that cars often get destroyed and it's a weekly observation on the news (if you can imagine in these times that the news finds the time to send a reporter out w. a crew to film a pothole! WTF!? I suppose it's why people mind paying taxes in general; because the money 'evaporates' and why Greece is in it's current position on the global stage - geeee) In fact if it wasn't so pathetic (as I see it now) I was rather amused some yrs. back and made some observational doodles about traffic and whack behavior in Grease; here are some.. poignantly up to date

The blind character was an observation of the inserts in the new paving before the Olympics in 2004, where blind people had been considered.. weird patterns, bloody labyrinths even, never in a str8 line and often times, cut off in front of an obstacle to be continued meters away).. Athens a metropolis full of cluster fckers!

[CSkjott]

As a matter of fact; I making a new blog, w. Greece out in the wind, maybe these doodles might help some realize what is really the matter w. them lots here in Athens.. because here is where the land is laid for the rest, as they all run away from here (weekends and vacations) and soil and spoil every where else (except the locals to dumb to realize how dumb they are when they dump a load of toxic heavy duty garbage in a forest or on a beach, but that's because they have no dump site, because many local gov. are also stuffin' its pockets) This is a fact because up north and some other regions, it's a whole different story, litter loitering certainly is much much less and things are taken care of, good roads, sensible this and that to an extent that you might even think yer in another country 

[CSkjott]

I will admit it here, that I become possessed by the idea or premonition that one day, allowing that I successfully auction off my wife on eBay but certainly before I'm cast into a hole and may watch the weed grow from beneath, I might actually own a Flaminia SZ or SSZ (whichever I can grab) as I foresee the inevitable, one day I will be going slower and the Flaminia Zagato aka 'La Bella Ragazza' is in every way, the more I studied it and the more I've looked at it, something that really satisfies my childlike mind (it used to be a fine sailboat, in which to set off, turn my 'tail' towards shore in a rude gesture and hoist sail and be rid of land matters and wordly spatters and finally be an international man - well, that wish aka priority has only moved down to say maybe a 3rd place)

In the meantime I bide/waste my time by scouring the interweb for any new tips and hints and for those of you enjoy an entertaining bit, here's one about a guy and his Flaminia SZ.

http://www.velocetoday.com/lifestyle/lifestyle_74.php



 

[johnny48]

CS has written a lot of text in the blogs above; I will read them when I have a few hours time:  I did take time to appreciate the 'doodles'  & think they are very very amusing
Thank Yew CJ

[CSkjott]

Thx J48, ja, I self-indulging