Gracing the roads of north London today – Fulvia S2 Berlina KPD 569K
The proud new owner of this magnificent vehicle, Simon Duval Smith called by today to show it off with a new MOT certificate freshly printed out yesterday. The car looked lovely with its understated 1970s charm, which is a bit compromised now because most people would think it was a Lada, but no matter – the Lancia stylists got there first and Ladas are now a faded memory! Lancia Blue suits this car very well, but currently the almost matt-flat finish is a bit surprising – not so much ‘stealth’ (as in the bomber) because in places it’s almost ‘Anaglypta’ in depth of texture, but I am sure Simon will soon sort this out. Anyway, in the rain it still looks glossy.
The journey north from its previous retirement home in rural Sussex was not without incident. The Sussex cobwebs were well blasted away by the time we got to Kenley, and a few drivers of moderns looked surprised to be outgunned by this elderly blue-box. The look of fear and horror on the face of the back seat passenger in the BMW at Purley was entirely misplaced. He just didn’t understand that when the rear pads had been binding on and boiling off the brake fluid it was inevitable that the following Lancia would have been unable to stop without mounting the kerb and running alongside for a bit – silly man! And it was no use shouting to him that “We have got dual circuit brakes!!!” Anyway, after a hour in the rain at the Shell garage with lots of water and steam to cool it all down, a with a few basic tools to free-off the remains of the pads, Simon had sorted it out and all was plain sailing.
I think KPD is destined for an interesting new life.
Colin