This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

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Jim Nelson
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This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#1 Post by Jim Nelson »

https://www.facebook.com/bentonperforma ... 075037395/


The temptation to build a car for this is big....

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David Jones
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#2 Post by David Jones »

Jim, talk to our old friend Ray Stephens. He has built a 356 and a 911 for the La Carrera.
http://www.thedrive.com/vintage/5598/i- ... namericana
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
Cymru am byth
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Jim Nelson
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#3 Post by Jim Nelson »

Yeah, been there, it's never fun to be on your head.

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Jim Liberty
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#4 Post by Jim Liberty »

I'm building a 70-HP FIAT 500 ABARTH "Tribute". Hope to enter it in events in Italy. I've applied to one in Modina, IT., working on convincing them we can keep up with the Ferraries, Alfas, etc.
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David Jones
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#5 Post by David Jones »

Jim, a long long time ago I put a Ford Taunus V4 engine in a Fiat 500. It was quite quick. Handling sucked.
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
Cymru am byth
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Jim Liberty
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#6 Post by Jim Liberty »

DSC_0105.JPG
David, we are probably the 2 "Bad Boys" of Talk. Maybe CJ as well. I'm lucky the have Theo Sahli "Theo's Exotic Auto" as a neighbor, and he is the foremost vintage Ferrari and Fiat guy I know. He's building the car for me, as I know nothing about these cars. I want as pure an Abarth as possible, and he has the resources to find these rare parts.

Just to keep things pure, and to keep from being banned from Talk, I'm just completing a Pre - A Continental. I just love these early cars, and finding a numbers matching example is getting near impossible. It took me a year to find this one.
Jim Liberty

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Wes Bender
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#7 Post by Wes Bender »

Jim, if they try to ban you from Talk, it'll have to be done over more than a few of our dead bodies.....
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#8 Post by Jim Liberty »

Thanks Wes.
Jim Liberty

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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#9 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Is that the correct horn ring?

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David Jones
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#10 Post by David Jones »

Way back when in 1994 I was working in Texas in Houston area and found a 59 coupe for $3000 and quickly bought it as it was complete and matching #'s. Not a week later there was a continental for sale for the same price but I passed on it as I had just a few months before bought another 59 coupe with my golden handshake after getting laid off from my previous job. I just knew a divorce was in my future if I had bought it. Such a pity the 59 came first. The continental was actually in better shape. I do still have the first 59 coupe though.
If that is not the correct horn ring then that car is seriously compromised and I will do you a swap of my matching #'s 59 cabrio for it.
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
Cymru am byth
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Jim Liberty
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#11 Post by Jim Liberty »

Guys, I'm not sure about the horn ring, it was in the car when I bought it. This is a very late build, and there are other strange items. Note the location of the gas gauge. I've seen this before, but maybe one time. Also additional switches. The car was a lien purchase by a shop in LA. They had it for ten years. No other history, but definitely a South Western car. Original floors longs, and closing panels with no rust to speak of.The dash appears to have never been removed, and the side plates were correctly numbered. It was delivered to Max Hoffman, that is the last info I have.

The reason I grabbed the car is because it had the original engine, and panel numbers. It has been invited to Amelia Island next March, one of my life long bucket list events.
Jim Liberty

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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#12 Post by James Davies »

Jim, that's a modified mid-'53 or earlier dash. It has 3 knobs below the ashtray, and an added gauge where the ignition lock should go. The late '55 dash has the grab handle, a single knob (cigar lighter) below the ashtray, and of course the electric VDO fuel gauge. The pre-A dashes have the last 2 digits of the chassis number stamped below the radio on the inside. Easy to verify if original to the car.

Vic, generally, the full horn ring was a 356A item. This one is obviously a different color from the knobs (grey vs beige), so one or the other is not original. That said, I have seen half horn rings on 1953 cars (original, option), so I wouldn't rule out this full ring on the late 1955 car. Porsche were often introducing new features as options first.

Btw, there's a really cool 1953 Porsche coupe running in this year's Carrera Panamericana painted up to look like the 1952 coupe raced by Jacqueline Evans back in 1953, the "Eva Peron" car.

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Jim Nelson
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#13 Post by Jim Nelson »

These were posted by the Studebaker guys (the race cars there are cornering the market on ‘53-54’s). Apparently this is Day Three action:
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Jim Nelson
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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#14 Post by Jim Nelson »

End of day three (wonder what the hole in front feeds ?):
0E843BE9-4FAD-4F67-B6F0-C6FEF3F0135E.jpeg
D378C980-0956-47B1-B7CB-76A85C07040F.jpeg

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Re: This year’s La Carrera Panamericana

#15 Post by Jim Liberty »

James, you taught me things with your post. The number below the radio is a 66, my car is a 22. So much for my numbers matching car. I did not know that number was there. Thank you. The dash knobs are Grey, and I had Koches paint the wheel to match. The gas gauge is elect VDO.

As you probably remember the Pre-A cars were considered junk twenty years ago. I remember in the 80s, you couldn't give them away. I had a '55 Speedster, and everyone advised me to modify it to look like an A car.

Thanks again for the input.
Jim Liberty

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