Lancia's Open-Top Swan-Song In America

Lancia's Open-Top Swan-Song In America
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Buyer's Guide from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

November, 2009 - Jeff Koch

With the passing of the sporty mid-engined Scorpion from American shores, Lancia needed a new range-topper in the States. Finances would dictate that it should be Beta-based: Averaging 60,000 cars a year in the mid-'70s may have been Lancia's best sales volume ever, but they were still run by Fiat, who sold 15 times that number in a so-so year. An all-new machine wouldn't be possible.

Enter the Zagato--or, as it was known overseas, the Beta Spyder. Lancia opted for a structural targa bar and a two-fold roof with a targa panel over the driver and passenger, and a fold-down cloth roof to cover the rear passengers. It could be an open, closed or half-and-half machine, depending on the weather, the company, and the driver's desires.

Based heavily on the Beta coupe that had so caught the attention of American road testers since 1976, the Zagato was front-wheel-drive, with all-independent suspension, twin-cam two-liter verve, and all of the brio that you've come to expect from an Italian marque. Plus, the four-seat interior remained--all the better so that you don't get socked with crazy insurance bills like you would on a two-seat roadster.

The Zagato's body was styled by Pininfarina. The cheek of slapping one carrozzeria's name on another's work! In truth it was a twin effort, if perhaps not a joint one: Pininfarina executed the clean flanks and blank grille (save for the famed Lancia tri-corner shield), while Carrozzeria Zagato sorted out the modified Beta bodies in their plant when Pininfarina lacked the capacity to do so, hence the name. Hey, for $10,811 to start, in 1979 dollars, it should come with two pedigrees.

Inside, other than unlimited headroom, came in for the usual criticisms: a badly positioned steering wheel and the usual long-arm/short-leg driving position comments tops among them. The instrument panel was new for 1979, though, and was shared through the Beta lineup; its general ergonomic layout and full instrumentation were well-received. The 1979 models received a 120 MPH speedometer, with later cars making do with a federally mandated 85 MPH unit. The optional air conditioning was said to work very well, although little niggles, like sunvisors that wouldn't swing 90 degrees, kept it from perfection in testers' eyes.

Early Zagatos received the Weber-carbureted 1,995cc engine--itself enlarged from the 87hp, 1,756cc engine previous Beta models had fitted as standard. It leans over 20 degrees, allowing a lower hoodline, and features an aluminum head with hemispherical combustion chambers. Noise at sustained cruise was the biggest issue the press had with the twin-cam engine; everything else about it was highly regarded. But the 1981-'82 models received a big power boost when Lancia fitted Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection as standard--120 ponies were corralled under that hood, offering remarkable improvements in acceleration, driveability and economy without sacrificing the verve that Lancias were known for. All Zagatos were cleaned via catalytic converter and had electronic ignition standard.

Suspension was fully independent at all corners, with coil springs, anti-roll bars and MacPherson struts all around. Deliciously neutral front-drive handling has been a Beta given since it launched 30-odd years ago, but the softer springs provided a better over-the-road ride than the other Betas in the series. (Possibly, this was a consequence of its portly 2,700+-pound curb weight; possibly Lancia wanted to discourage hard cornering lest the roofless body twist and flex). Standard rubber, on 14x5.5-inch cast-aluminum wheels, was 185/65R14 Pirelli P6s. The brakes--power-assisted 9.9-inch discs at all corners, have long been a Beta highlight, and they impressed all of the testers who encountered them.

There was also the issue of build quality. Forever, Italian cars had been colored with notions of slap-dash assembly, hinky engineering issues, dodgy electrics, and bits of cheaply rendered trim falling off if you so much as look at them wrong. Car and Driver had high hopes when they drove their Zagato in May 1979: "Would the modular electrics leave us sinking in the middle of some non-modular backwater swamp? Would the shift linkage come adrift? Would the carburetion cease to carburete, or the ignition cease to ignite? These were fits of pique visited upon us by Lancias before." The magazine saw fit to declare their press tester as "rewarding" and possessing "strong character," with its bugaboos apparently worked out.

A few years on, however, and the story changed: a CAR (U.K.) magazine writer bought a U.K.-spec 1982 Beta coupe at auction in 1988 with 35,000 miles on it. "All the other things that happened in the first 2,000 miles--the door key breaking, the window-winding mechanism slipping, the driver's door catch failing, the stereo going silent followed closely by the horn, paint and a bit of bodywork dropping off--were only maddening, not expensive. Detail work." But there was more: Beyond the new timing belt needed at that mileage, it also needed a valve job (they replaced the head, it looked so bad) and a head gasket to boot. Within a year, the 2,950-pound Sterling machine cost another 1,500 quid to keep alive and kicking. "If Betas are basically sound, then, basically, that sound is that of money clattering down a drain." Well, that makes clean, stock examples all the more desirable (and rare), then.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company, a limited number of black and gold-painted Zagatos were released for $1,000 more than the standard car. But Lancia, following in the footsteps of Pontiac (no, really), added the popular scheme to the regular paint list the next season. (The wheel centers were originally black on our 1982-model photo car, but a previous owner changed the wheels to gold to brighten things up a little.)

Lancia took a breather from the U.S. market in 1980, but relaunched in 1981 with a slimmed-down lineup: the Beta coupe and the Zagato. Included in the mix was an important change: The two-liter engine dispensed with the two-barrel Weber carb and added Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection. With a 108hp power rating, not only was it degrees quicker than the previous engine (with 0-60 times under 10 seconds, lots quicker than the 1979 model), it was both tamed for emissions and better to drive. "The fuel injection...tames any cantankerousness...without taking away the sparkle," reported CAR. Smoother forward motion at higher revs was available without the kickdown surge present in the carb models, and high-gear acceleration kinks were ironed out.

By 1982, the Zagato was the only Lancia for sale in the U.S.; its price had ballooned up to $13,852. Lancia pulled out of the States when Fiat did, at the end of the 1982 model year, and has not yet seen fit to return. Just 9,390 were built for worldwide consumption from 1979 to the model's run-out in 1982.

This car was purchased out of a museum by noted Lancia Beta owner-enthusiast-fanatic Mark Rawlings of Placerville, California; he's owned more than half a dozen over the space of a quarter-century, restoring most of them, and even made some reproduction parts for Scorpions at one point, so we tapped him to be our expert advisor. "Of all my cars, this one was by far the most well-rounded of all of them. It had just 29,000 miles when I bought it--it was literally a museum piece, at a car museum in Sacramento. It was amazing: It had every receipt, the original owner had replaced the U.S. 85 MPH speedo with a 140 MPH speedo but kept the original in a box...."

We photographed the car while it was in the hands of new owner Doug Adler of Newbury Park, California. He calls this Zagato "fortified"--meaning it keeps its character intact while being altered for reliability (i.e., relays installed in the electrical switches, new pieces installed where original bits might prove problematic).


Type: DOHC inline-four, iron block and aluminum head
Displacement: 1,995cc / 121.7-cu.in.
Bore x stroke: 84x90mm / 3.31x3.54 inches
Compression ratio: 8.1:1
Horsepower @ RPM: 87 @ 5,400 / 108 @ 5,500
Torque @ RPM: 105@ 2,900 / 114 @ 2,500
Main bearings: Five
Fuel system: Two-barrel Weber carburetor / electronic fuel injection

Type: Five-speed transaxle, all synchro

Type: Power-assisted rack-and-pinion

Type: Vacuum-actuated four-wheel disc
Front: 9.9-inch solid disc
Rear: 9.9-inch solid disc

Wheelbase: 92.5 inches
Overall length: 164.4 inches
Overall width: 64.6 inches
Overall height: 49.7 inches
Curb weight: 2,730 pounds

0-60: 11.9
1/4-mile: 18.7 at 73 MPH
Top speed: 103 MPH

Source: Car and Driver, May 1979

A total of 9,390 Lancia Zagatos were built for worldwide consumption from 1979 to 1981.

No Lancias were imported to America in 1980.

The biggest issue with any Beta-generation Lancia will be the front subframe. "The entire driveline attaches to the cradle, and it attaches to the unibody at four points," Mark Rawlings says. "That's critical."

Also, make sure that the steel is straight and intact--replacement steel isn't reproduced, and Mark asserts, "The doors are different from the Beta coupe's, and the front fenders are shaped slightly different near the rockers, so Beta parts aren't a bolt-on." The hood is shared, however.

The targa top isn't known to leak, although the top behind the targa bar, and its plastic back window that's heat-sealed to the top fabric, has a tendency to yellow, crack, split, and pull away from the cloth.

There are fragile points all around the interior. "The door latch release lever is made of typical Italian-quality plastic," says Mark, "and they've been known to snap off. The glovebox latch rotates, and is also made of plastic, so if someone slams the glovebox door, they can break the mechanism. And while the turn signal stalk is metal, the mechanism in the steering column is plastic, and if you bump it with your knee getting out of the car (which is easy to do), it'll break. With age, the plastic becomes even more brittle."

Watch out also for the leather seating areas: "The leather itself is heavy and thick, but if it's not well cared for, it will dry and shrink, pulling the seams out. I've seen cars with shrunken leather and three inches of seat foam exposed."

A couple of issues befall Fiat's twin-cam two-liter. "Any issues generally stem from lack of maintenance," Mark says. "If the timing belt isn't changed at 30,000 miles, it'll break--and these are interference engines."

There's also an issue with the exhaust manifold studs. "They're known to pull out...there's a long cast-iron manifold hanging off the side of the block, and if it vibrates and loosens up, it'll hang off the head and the threads will strip out. A couple of those studs go into where the cams lie, so then you have a massive oil leak on the firewall side of the engine."

Where to start? "The fuse panels are in the engine compartment--one on the firewall, and another on driver's side front fender. Each has a brittle plastic cover, and they commonly break. When the cover falls off, you expose the fuses to the elements, things corrode, and then things don't work."

"The electrical contacts will go bad; these cars didn't use relays, so they're getting full power at all times, and the switches build up resistance. Ignitions will get overloaded and go bad--often, when the car is hot, it won't start because of heat soak and high resistance. Common fix is adding relays to all the circuits, so you bypass switch with full current." Otherwise...

Brakes and Suspension
The Zagato Spyder was more of a tourer than a pure sports car, and so it was more softly suspended than some other Lancia models of the day. "The only issues in the suspension that I've found have been leaky struts; new replacement pieces are hard to come by, though," reports Mark.

The brakes came in for high praise from journalists when these cars were new, but even they can be fiddly. "The brakes were unique to the Beta family; the single-piston front calipers have two flexible brake lines going in. Make sure that the hoses are good: a lot of brake problems on these cars are caused by collapsed brake lines. They may look good on the outside, but if it's collapsed inside, and it won't let the pressure off, it'll pull."

Price Guide
Low: $3,600
Average: $6,000
High: $12,500

Source: NADAguides.com

Parts Prices
Accelerator cable: $12
Ball joint, lower: $18
Brake caliper, rebuilt: $90
Brake pads: $90
Brake rotor: $40
Cap and rotor set: $18.50
Clutch: $110
Fuel filter (Bosch): $15
Ignition switch: $65
Master cylinder: $90
Tie rod ends: (manual trans) $15
Timing belt: $17
Water pump: $50
Wheel bearings: $50

Recent ads
1982 Zagato Spyder: White/black, original owner, 32,000 miles, stored in heated/air-conditioned garage, rarely driven last 15 years, needs steering rack, otherwise perfect. $5,500.

1981 Zagato Spyder: No rust, new exhaust, ps/pb/ac, stored six years, runs and sounds great. $3,000.

1982 Zagato Spyder: Good body, paint and leather, fresh valve job, 2-liter, five-speed, ready for summer. $4,900 negotiable.

Source: Hemmings Motor News

My parents test-drove one over a weekend in 1982, when I was 12. They didn't buy it. I bought this car from Mark Rawlings, a marque expert who had prepared this car flawlessly; it is perhaps the finest example in the U.S. I love the flexibility of a targa coupe with four seats, a trunk and air conditioning! The performance is confidence-inspiring, and you can have fun just by downshifting. For anyone who wants one, I'd just suggest you buy the best one you can to make a restoration economically feasible.

--Doug Adler


Midwest Bayless Italian Auto
1333 Kingry Street
Columbus, Ohio 43211

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