New Owner of 75 Beta Montecarlo

Happy to report my new Lancia made it from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz with no problems or leaks. Average speed was 75 and mpg was 27 mpg. I even got an unexpected sunburn from the 6 hours of an open top.

Curious if driving the car at 60 mph would bump up the mpg to over 30 mpg?

Also while going over the car today in more detail I found a 50 lira coin from 1986 under the driver seat!
 
Happy to report that CA DMV allowed my euro spec 75 beta montecarlo to be registered with only the RI registration documents (i.e. no title was needed). Wonder if i am the only euro spec lancia in CA?
 
Lots of euro spec Lancias (Deltas, at least one 037, several Stratos, pre-Betas,...) there. Only Montecarlo maybe but becuz Steve Jennes moved to Arizona.

Unsure where this one is now.

Montecarlo
 
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NigelProdrive said:
Lots of euro spec Lancias (Deltas, at least one 037, several Stratos, pre-Betas,...) there. Only Montecarlo maybe but becuz Steve Jennes moved to Arizona.

Unsure where this one is now.

Montecarlo
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My understanding is that original US 75 Lancias came with 1.8 liters. My euro import has the original 2 Liter 120 HP engine and fittings. Was Steve' a 75 euro import? In California anything 76 and older needs to be smogged and cant be modified, not so for my 75 car :)
 
Steve’s is a euro market Montecarlo. All Montecarlos came with 2 liter engines. People on BaT think too much and/or afraid to outskirt unjust regulation.
 
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ward00 said:
Happy to report my new Lancia made it from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz with no problems or leaks.
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Great to hear there's a Monte in Santa Cruz. I grew up in Aptos, lots of family and friends still there... nice corner of the world to own one of these cars.
 
Hey Ward,
Congratulations on your recent purchase of the Montecarlo. It looks to be in top notch condition and the previous owner mentioned in the BAT auction that he is fanatical about his cars. Possibly 5 Euro spec cars are in the US from what I've heard. The blue Monte that you posted a pic of is in the process of making its way to Riverside, CA to it's new owner as well. So there will be two in CA including yours. I also have a Montecarlo and a Scorpion here in AZ.
-Steve
 
Curious how the blue 78 lancia will be titled in CA. If it is as a CA car, I would be curious how they got around the CA smog equipment laws.
 
If its this one
lanciastv said:
I believe it's a 75 so no smog required.
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If its this one that is referenced in the reply from NigelProdrive it is a 78. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1978-lancia-montecarlo/
I know that there must be other out of CA state euro cars out there, but what made my 75 Lancia special to me (aside from the condition) and why I was willing to keep bidding on it on BAT is that its got 120HP, I don't have to deal with smog here in California, and I can modify it all I want.
Based on my poking around, I don't think that there are many Lancia's out there that qualify for the 1975 smog laws here in CA.
 
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NigelProdrive said:
Again, why wouldn't any year Montecarlo pass the visual inspection if it has all the equipment it had when it left the factory? They aren't going to force you to install Scorpion parts on any year Montecarlo.

For decades rally community has driven and raced completely illegal to register anywhere in US becuz either gray market, never made for US market (Ford Cosworth, Mitsubishi Evo I-VII, pre-2002 WRX or Sti, Delta Integrale, ...) , made from shell in white with no VIN#, shells given to us by manufacturer without VIN#, ...... at most every stage rally with a vehicle registration (required becuz transits on on public roads). For many reasons people don't ask or post online how.
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You must not live in Communist California. Any car from Europe after 75 will be considered a 49 state car that needs to be brought up to California equipment standards. It can be done of course, but at enormous certification cost. Also no mods are be allowed. And that assumes it will pass the biyearly smog test, which means adding a catalytic converter. I consider my car something rare for this reason.
 
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