Restoration
of a 2300 Station Wagon
By
John Melici
We rescued the 2300 from a garage where it had been stood
for twenty years. The person, whom we
had bought it off, had someone restoring it for him and was having problems
with them, in the end the car was left in a garage and never touched again that
is, till I found out about it.
As you can see from the
photo, the car had new front
wings fitted, which were hand made and left with no primer on !!!
There was a lot of work to do which included new
sills, chassis, rear valance and parts of the floor needed repairing. All the
parts were made by myself, as I am at Preston college working on a four year
course in car restoration.
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I was surprised to find, that hardly any work was
needed on the engine and it started with no problems after twenty years of being
left to stand!!!
It’s a wonder the car even managed to run as someone
had put the inlet manifold gaskets the wrong way round restricting the inlet
ports.
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The engine was steam cleaned and then the engine bay
was painted, all the metal parts in the engine bay were electroplated, which
gave an original look, all the brakes have been serviced with new caliper
seals and brake pipes.
The exhaust is a brand new Fiat system and the
radiator was reconditioned.
The interior is all original with black vinyl seats
and a red carpet. The car is an
automatic and a right hand drive. We
chose red and cream as we thought all cream was too bland and boring, we wanted
to give the car some class which I
think we have.
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I was very fortunate to find a man who was selling
2300 saloon parts. The road from
Heysham (Morecambe) to London is a long one but well worth it as I came away with my little Tipo bursting at
the seams with parts.
The Station Wagon was manufactured in 1965 and
registered in 1967 it has had two owners from new.
For more information about the 2300
Station Wagon or general advice
on restoration contact John Melici on 01524853513 or by e-mail at:
Autoclassics2000@yahoo.com.
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