Living with a Trevi

[Betaboy2.0]

Suspension, floor pan etc was identical between Beta 3 saloon and Trevi. In fact, if you remove the boot carpet in the Trevi, the saloon boot floor is clearly visible, complete with the mounting point for the boot catch. (whereas the Trevi boot catch is mounted on the rear panel higher up). Trevi was slightly longer than the Beta saloon (the different rear panel accounting for the difference) but had a slightly smaller useable boot.

The name Trevi is not taken from the famous fountains, but an amalgamation of the Italian words Tre (three) and Volumi (volumes) - ie a Beta 3 box saloon! Apparently it existed because of the European preference for 3 box saloons over fastback saloons .... Lancia also made a Gamma Trevi (and I don't mean the Scala) ...thankfully, it didn't see production - although argueably it was a more successful styling exercise than the Beta Trevi!!

Andy

[Betaboy2.0]

.....and whilst I am in Beta 3  / Trevi mode, should we think not of the Trevi as a Beta 3 with a boot, but more of it as a Beta 3 without a fastback?

A

[stuwilson128]

The name Trevi is not taken from the famous fountains, but an amalgamation of the Italian words Tre (three) and Volumi (volumes) - ie a Beta 3 box saloon!

You are fountain of knowledge Andy.  I am sure that if there is anything that you don't know about the Beta and its variants then it is not worth knowing  

[Thotos]

Lancia also made a Gamma Trevi ...thankfully, it didn't see production -

I very much like the Gamma "Trevi" (Elaborazione 3V to give it its proper name)    In fact I'd like to have it if it ever comes up for sale 

Here's some photos:

[A1.6HPE]

Hello Theo,
Is the Trevi your daily driver?
I have owned 3 and love 'em to bits. You will not bore me with a running commentary. A Trevi has real road "presence". Until a year and bit ago, my daily transport was a car just like yours. With much regret I stopped using it but cannot bear to part with it. My first was a gold car in 1986 which I believe was the last one imported to the UK. It had the rear pillar trim with vertical slots. The only thing I don't like is the rather large diameter steering wheel, a Beta VX leather one fits nicely. Of course the quirky bits appeal greatly, like the parking disc built into the sun visor and the pneumatically operated heater. The maroon one that is currently doing the rounds looks fabulous !

Take care of that Trevi !

Leo

[Thotos]

Is the Trevi your daily driver?

Hello Leo, long time no hear! While not quite 'every day' driver the Trevi is certainly my 'most days' driver lately. Lovely car and hopefully it'll get even better with time 

[Thotos]

Sunday (23rd August) was the Trevi's first "official" outing at the 11th Cotswold Economy Drive. It was a great day and the car run faultlessly covering about 600 miles over the weekend - probably more miles than it covered in the last three years before my ownership  The only problem was the passenger side window which managed to go down about 1 inch at the first Control Point and then gave up    Luckily I managed to convince the window to close again before the end of the day and before the long drive back home. Team-Trevi did very badly at the Economy Drive coming in at number 35 out of 47 entries but I very much enjoyed driving the car for the whole weekend. It would appear that nobody has loved this Trevi having had 11 previous owners to me but I will certainly be giving it the TLC this car so much deserves.   

[Thotos]

Not a lot of new work to report on the Trevi although it has been getting a lot of use as a daily driver; it copes so well with London traffic jams  

My first 'hate' of the car was the darkened rear lenses which I quickly replaced with originals but equally hateful to me were the (badly) colour coordinated mirrors. They should be black on the Trevi. Here's a 'before' photo.



I managed to get a replacement nearside mirror from Germany via ebay but by the time it got to me most of the innards were broken; was very good as a baby's rattle but not of much use as a Trevi mirror    I also managed to get another used nearside mirror so with the one off the car and the two used ones and plenty of araldite for the broken innards I set about making a good mirror.

The nearside mirror on the car seemed to be red originally and then sprayed silver but the final result was not good.



To be able to spray the mirrors properly and also to repair the broken nearside replacement, the mirrors had to be taken apart completely.



But I am very pleased with the final result and I think the car now looks much better with black mirrors.

[Thotos]

There are a lot of other things I should be doing to the Trevi like fitting the replacement rear strut inserts and eliminating the strange noises emanating from the rear suspension but it was more important to me to fit a new stereo    'Loose' rear suspension is not such a bother when stuck in a traffic jam in London so having good 'sounds' was higher on my priority list.  So I fitted a modern CD MP3 SD-card USB 'play anything' stereo. It even has built in bluetooth and A2DP streaming so it can stream music straight off my phone with no wires attached. But most important of all it's black with blue lighting to match the black interior of the Trevi and the blue seats    I had to make a new mounting panel/bezel to fit round the stereo and even though not perfect the result is not too bad I think.



The original speakers in the Trevi are fitted to the front footwell pockets but even though I replaced them for modern two way speakers the sound wasn't very good. The car needed rear speakers but I didn't want ugly looking speaker grills on the rear shelf and I didn't want to cut holes in the door cards for speakers either. I like the 'minimalist' look of the Trevi's door cards and want to keep them that way. So I fitted speakers in the pre-cut speaker holes on the rear shelf but then I covered the whole rear shelf in blue acoustic speaker cloth. I am really pleased with the result; sounds great and you can't see the speakers.  

[fay66]

Looks great Theo, There just isn't another dash that looks as good as the Trevi's.
Rear parcel shelf looks good too, I hate to see speakers, and your material makes a really nice job.

I see you had to repair your mirrors with Araldite and although I have nothing against Araldite and have used it myself over the years,I think this is better by far; I was in my local motor factors a few weeks ago looking for a good superglue, instead he recommended Q-Bond which is supposedly new and a product I hadn't seen before, it comes with a superglue but it also comes with a black and a grey powder that you apply first, say to a crack with chips missing, then just drip the Q Bond onto the powder and in 10 seconds the repair is rock hard; I haven't used it yet but I was mightly impressed with a repair the factors did as a demonstration for me.
I've no connection whatsoever with the product, but over the years I can think of many applications I could have used it for, rather than throw components away and have to replace.
It's available on ebay as well as elsewhere but if your interested watch the variation in price, the kit I bought cost £12.99 but the same kit is available from this link http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Q-Bond-Super-Glue-and-Filling-Compond_W0QQitemZ330365627721QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking_Glue_Tape_EH?hash=item4ceb536d49
At about £1.50 cheaper.

Brian
8227

[neil-yaj396]

Does the Q Bond fix metal as well as plastic? I have a nice. but broken, early Beta door mirror to fix.

Neil

[fay66]

Hi Neil,
I haven't got around to using it myself yet but according to the box and the leaflet inside, yes, including cracks in carburettors, aluminum castings etc, heat resistant up to 180c and petrol and oil resistant, if it's half as good as the blurb says, it's well worth having, which is why bought it


Brian
8227

[Thotos]

I am after a radiator expansion tank for the Trevi. Looks like the one in the photo below. I presume it's the same as all Series 3 Betas and possibly earlier Betas too and I think it's the same for the Stratos! But can anybody tell me if these were fitted to other Lancias? And more importantly, can anyone tell me if it's possible to get new ones and where from?

[St Volumex]

Does the Q Bond fix metal as well as plastic? I have a nice. but broken, early Beta door mirror to fix.

Neil

Hi Neil,

Q bond fixes metal and plastic, in fact, almost anything!

It's one of the best discoveries I've made during my many years of owning and maintaining Lancias.

But I'm not sure if it would be strong enough to fix a Beta door mirror.  I had one of these break too, and managed to find somebody to weld it, even though it's made of a horrible, pewter-type alloy. 

[neil-yaj396]

Yes the metal is very poor, albeit I recon that the insertion of a small bolt shaft plus a strong epoxy glue might do the trick.

Neil