1967 Spider 1600 'Duetto' restoration

[RobDee]

Hi everyone,

As a newcomer to the forums I thought I should start a thread on my restoration project - a 1967 Spider 1600 'Duetto'.  So far I've stripped it back to the monocoque and mounted it on a raised movable frame for bodywork to be completed.  The plan is to have it blasted back to bare metal all over, removing any filler and rust.  I want to replace the nose section to get the correct nose hump shape, and paint it in Rosso Farina AR514.  Prior to blasting, I'm aware of some rust repairs having been done in the footwells and some ugly welding in the front end; these areas will be redone.  Otherwise the body looks pretty good on the surface, I'm just hoping that the blasting process doesn't uncover too many surprises.  Anyway, here's a photo of the current state of the body.  I plan to continue posting photos throughout the rebuilding process.

Cheers,
Rob

[Craig_m67]

Welcome !!

I started on the same journey nearly two years ago (i'm time poor, lazy), where are you located ?

Craig
Brisbane

[Sheldon McIntosh]

I plan to continue posting photos throughout the rebuilding process.

Please do, I'd be very interested.  I love these cars, they were the second best part of The Graduate, after Mrs Robinson.

[pancho]

Good luck Rob!

I hope it's smooth sailing for you with at least 'some' excitement along the way.

This forum now has 3 Duetto builds. Show yourself Duetto restorers! Update your threads!

[Beatle]

Good on ya Rob.  I'll be checking regularly for updates.................

What chassis numbers are in work?   Mine was 105.05.71.0348 and I often wonder what happened to it.  Elvira advised that it was built 4 SEP 67 and sold to Stirling Investments in Perth on 5 Oct 67.  I bought it from QLD, took it to NT and sold it to Melbourne

It had a lot 'wrong' so hopefully it's been reverted to original, or at the very least is still on the road.

[RobDee]

Here are some pics of the soda blasting.  I can highly recommend SDP Soda Blasting in the Geelong area.  I could not have asked for better service and I'd definitely use them again.

I had it confirmed that the car was originally painted white (as advised by Alfa Centro Documentazione), then blue, then obviously red.  (Paul, this is AR710340.)

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of horrors under the paintwork.  It was fairly free of rust and filler, although there was quite a bit of filler used to reshape the beaten up nose and to cover some interesting rust repairs behind the front wheels.  (It looks like some galvanised sheet metal was bonded and pop-riveted over a cut-out and then filler was spread over the whole area to hide it.)  Another interesting find was an old license plate that was used to patch a hole in the passenger (LHS) footwell.

I'm going to replace the panel sections behind each front wheel, and all of the nose panels.

Rob

[RobDee]

I'm really aching to see some red on this thing!

[massiveluvbuddy67]

White?

[RobDee]

Update on progress...

[pancho]

Simply Stunning.


Craig / any danger?

[shaggy]

Thats quite an update! Stunning!

[Beatle]

Stunning might be a bit strong....I can see a bubble in the Dynamat   

Seriously though, she is looking wonderful.  It takes some commitment to strip down a car which, at least in the initial photo, looked to be in quite good condition.

[Craig_m67]

Simply Stunning.


Craig / any danger?

No threat. I'm all over place. Quit my job to get 'stuff done' only to be contracted before I sobered up. Happy to outsource this work now so if anybody has QLD contacts please speak up

[RobDee]

I think I've reached that point in the project where the last 20% of the work will take 80% of the time.

[massiveluvbuddy67]

Truly sensational!

Well done!

I know the previous owner will be applauding too!

(Have you got part 2 ready for the July Mag?)