0621 Re-Emerges- Sofia Enjoys An Early Summer Vacation

[Oxnardo_Ring]

Long-Time Lurker, so First-Time Post. I promised I'd post once we finally got some (post-COVID) events going, so here we are.

We bought "Sofia" from ThinkJedi via BAT several months ago. After some minor tweaks (but basically like she came off the trailer) we embarked on a 1600 mile event up into the Sierras last week. And, she is a delight. A tempermental delight, perhaps, but still (mostly) sheer joy. She enjoys getting out in the sunshine and warmth. And, she craves attention like no car I've ever owned.


A quick few warm-up laps at Willow Springs. Here we are at the paddock in the line-up.

Sometimes Sofia gives chase...

And sometimes you get passed.
A run up the pass above Twain Harte. Admittedly? Yeah, you get overtaken a lot, but it's all good. We're only passed by the finest (>100HP) motor vehicles.

A quick stop atop the mountain

With some friends on a quick break

 

[lanciahf]

Wow! 1600 miles? Must be a Scorpion record! Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MikeHynes]

Nice! Congrats on the purchase, it looks like 0621 found a proper home. Drive 'em!
And I understand the comment about attention. Scorpions do soak it up.

 

[Oxnardo_Ring]

Wow! 1600 miles? Must be a Scorpion record! Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing.

Heh. Yeah. I felt we had "accomplished something" to roll back into the shop 5 days later with that number of miles piled up. Especially in what was, face it, just brutal heat. Averaged close to 25 MPG and topped out well above 8000 feet at several stages. I was worried about the carb tuning at the higher elevations (my C2 Corvette does NOT like to breathe above about 6500') but it idled and delivered pretty good amounts of what little power that Twin-Cam has to offer up there.

We had some minor thermal and fueling issues... but given the difficult conditions? Damn, it's just a plucky, lovable little car. I hope ThinkJedi checks in at some point so he knows that his baby isn't living the Trailer Queen life.

 

[Oxnardo_Ring]

Nice! Congrats on the purchase, it looks like 0621 found a proper home. Drive 'em!
And I understand the comment about attention. Scorpions do soak it up.

It is fascinating how much gawking and pointing results from a Scorpion sighting-- not the "picture phone selfie" stuff, but mostly people genuinely interested in that car that looks vaguely familiar, yet like nothing they've ever seen before. I'm thrilled to get one of them back onto the road.

 

[think jedi]

@Oxnardo_Ring, I can't say how happy I am to hear that Sofia is out and about, and on a 1600 mile trip no less! That is impressive, and hearing about this made my day. Monterey doesn't get hot like it does in SoCal, so I never had a chance to test her out in really hot weather. The BaT folks asked me point blank when I contacted them about putting her up for auction, "Would you drive it 500 miles tomorrow?" My answer was "yes", and I'm glad to see that she proved up to that task.

Please keep us updated as you tweak her. BTW, did you ever figure out that thing where the car wouldn't shut off when the heater was on thing?

tJ

 

[Oxnardo_Ring]

@Oxnardo_Ring, I can't say how happy I am to hear that Sofia is out and about, and on a 1600 mile trip no less! That is impressive, and hearing about this made my day. Monterey doesn't get hot like it does in SoCal, so I never had a chance to test her out in really hot weather. The BaT folks asked me point blank when I contacted them about putting her up for auction, "Would you drive it 500 miles tomorrow?" My answer was "yes", and I'm glad to see that she proved up to that task.

Please keep us updated as you tweak her. BTW, did you ever figure out that thing where the car wouldn't shut off when the heater was on thing?

tJ

Heh. yeah, she's a tempermental Italian-- always demanding you focus on her needs, her whims. "speedo"? Eh, yeah, that comes and goes. The lighting's a little flicker-y and the shut-off thing comes and goes too. We're still tracking down bad grounds-- seems to be the common theme.

And, we did have fueling issues-- seems likely to be rust in the tank. We should strip-and-coat that, might combine it with other maintenance. Long road story there. I won't bore you about it here.

Having said all that, she's a delight. And was a hit with our group. I'll give you more details in a PM, but 0621 is just a fun little car in the twisties. And it was hot and we redlined her. Ran her hot. Ran her fast. Braked late and hard. Turned in tight to the apexes. Ran her hot at altitude. Gave her every reason to blow a head gasket... She took it all. Lancia-grade quirky but the basic mechanicals are solid. And that wonderful little burble on the over-run... just love that purr-and-pop she makes coming off the gas. I'm still giggling about that trip.