1964 Fiat Ghia 1500 gt restoration

[Rain1950]

If you go with the Ford 200; there is a manifold for (3) 1-bbl carbs available. A few years back down in SoCal there was a modified Maverick dome this way (cam and headers) that was whipping Porsches

[Parra]

Hi,

It's my car, GHIA 1500 GT . http://youtu.be/iECUOZen3QQ

FIAT 132 , 2 liters engine , 2 ACT and two Weber 44. 7500 trm
210 kmh max speed.

[grittracing]

Well after a long pause While I searched for parts and did a bit of research about the ghia. I have officially begun. I have bought a couple items and these 2 are the 1st to show up.

( medical note; if you are weak of heart or have a tight wallet turn away now !!! ) all these parts are rare and hard find



these 2 little ounces of almost gold weigh in at $115.00 EACH new.

[WYSpider]

Ouch...

[grittracing]

Just got a early CHristmas Present yeasterday. The Guy i bought the Ghia from sent me a care package, full of all the old documnets. photo copies of cool stuff. the funny thing is the Car was built in Italy shipped to here ( Detroit ) than sold to NY stayed for about 30 + years than sold again and shipped Back to me here in Detroit. and if that isnt enough, the past few owners in Ny ,requested info about about the Ghia. and where did they write to for it . the Detroit Liberary and Ford Motor company head quaters right here in Dearborn . and also Italy. but its almost like the Ghia was meant to return to Detroit . if i can figure how to scan and post them full size I will.

[thechadzone]

I love your car. I've read that only 800-something of them were built. I know of a guy in Astoria, Oregon who put a 3.0 Alfa 6 in one, and ran it on 3 Weber IDA carbs. Awesome! I saw it in a Craig's List ad a couple years back. It's likely a bit overkill, but impressive all the same.

Of course it's your car and your call, but I'd love to see a 2.0 TC in it. A Maserati/OSCA TC would be super bitchin', but I think the 124 TC would make the most sense, and have the most support worldwide.

Best wishes with the build, please post as often as you can.

[grittracing]

Im really leaning towards the 1960s fiat straight six 2300 . Nice custom build . But..... I'm open to ideas do you have pictures of the masserati?

[thechadzone]

Wow, the 2300 series 6 would make the Ghia a hell of a highway cruiser. If you could source the Abarth cam & dual Weber DCO manifolds made for the 2300s, it'd be an interesting 1/4 mile car! I don't know the weight of the 2300s motor, but your Ghia's overall weight is well over 600 pounds lighter than the 2300s' total weight, and you'd be ganining 70hp between the Ghia's original 66bhp and the final version of the 2300s's 136bhp. Yee-Haw! The 2300 is also a Lampredi designed motor.

Considerations for the build include the physical size of the 2300s motor, the weight of the motor compared to that of the rest of the car, and the trans/dif combo used to get the power to the ground. There's also that crazy style steering configuration of the 12-1500 series of cars.

I thought of OSCA/Maserati power because of the similarities between the size & proportion of the two cars, and the similar vintage of the OSCA motor to the 1500 Ghia. The 1500 Ghia is 2160 pounds, which is 260 more than the OSCA Zagato 16oo GT, but the wheelbase of the two cars is within a quarter inch. Yours is a foot longer than that of the Zagato 1600 GT. The OSCA 1600 is a damn fine looking twin cam manufactured by a small division of Maserati called OSCA. They provided their twin cams for a line of Fiats and a line of Zagato bodied cars in the late '50's-early '60's. The OSCA 1600 a lively twin cam with 105bhp dual Weber DCO carbs, a pretty sweet header, and a damned impressive 1.1bhp/cu in. I believe the Fiat version of the 1600 had dual DCD carbs...

Here's a look at one of the "Moderne" OSCA 1600 powered Fiat Coupes, you'll see its similar character to your car:

http://www.autobelle.it/annunci/dettid.php?gb_id=40358

Here's another 1600s Fiat in another body style (Fissore):

http://www.coachbuild.com/gallery/main. ... emId=10636

Bring a Trailer featured an OSCA powered TVR recently, and I thought it was cool as hell:

http://bringatrailer.com/2011/12/08/osc ... -grantura/

Ghia did have quite a bit to do with the origins of the 2300 series Fiat (most of the body of the 2300s was made by Ghia), making it an interesting choice for the 1500 Ghia, but to me the essence of these cars is derived from the buzzy sounding induction heavy 4 pot motors, of which the venerable 124 TC is a descent. Still, I'd be totally glued to the posting of a Ghia bodied Fiat with a 2300 transplant in progress. Of course each of these engines would be pretty hard to source, but to me landing such a prize is part of how fun vintage sports cars are.


Best wishes for the build, I'll be checking for updates...

[grittracing]

I have a line on both motors. Still working on the transport from the other side of the country Detroit,Thanks for the pics. I will be keeping everyone posted. Just got the 3rd ghia badge today. This one only cost $10.00 used.

[grittracing]

I really like the middle link. Before I bought the ghia I knew I would have to get into the heads of the Ghia builders to be able to build my car the way I would want it.the link you gave really opens my eyes to a few new ideas Thank you

[grittracing]

I was looking at a few photos today and ran across these and thought i would share. you might see a pattern

Fiat Ghia (finished)


SC06_Ferrari_195_Inter_250_GT_California _Spyder_and_250_GT_Boano


Ghia_Aigle_Ferrari_212_Export


these last few is the colors I am going to use on my ghia silver and red

Ghia_Fiat_8V_Coupe_1954_29




my Ghia

[thechadzone]

Definitely see where you're going with that. Your car's body matches the provenance of those pictured. A Ghia bodied anything from the early '60's deserves to be dressed similarly to its contemporaries. Still, I'm glad to see that it'll be wearing its correct Ghia badges, rather than the Prancing Horses that so many Italian sports cars get pinned to them by misguided owners.

I appreciated your renderings on your car. Either a vintage race tribute livery or a single stage all silver paint would look great. I had an Alfa Spider with a very nice cherry red interior that I absolutely loved. You can't go wrong with the silver & red combo.

You're brave to tackle the rust repair required on your car. I can weld and I'm at least OK with body work, but I don't think I could do what's required there. You gonna do all that yourself? Kudos for doing it or for having it done. It'll be a keeper when its finished; post often and keep it up!

[grittracing]

I will be doing some of the body work but I dont trust myself enough to do the paint and the bigger rust repair. i have a bid in for the body work waiting on another. and the painter that did my spider will be doing the paint on Ghia. I think he has been really booked lately and I may have to either wait longer if i dont make my window.( having all body work done) or find another person to do all body work and paint. I would like to have done everything myself but i dont think this is the car to be learning on. maybe my pick up or my explorer but not a 1964 fiat ghia ! it needs to be done right. i will be doing most everything else myself. things should start rolling here by april hoping to have it somewhere to have the work started by than. and there will be a few grittracing custom add on's for you purest they will be remaovable to put the ghia back stock if needed. I have tossed and turned many nights which way to go stock or grittracing custom. and it came down what the man paying for the build wants and I want a few up grades on a Great body style and car with 3 name plates.
you may not know this but I have documentation to show that Fiat built the drive train, Ghia did the coach work and Ford may or may not have owned Ghia .but was running Ghia in the 60s. from around 1963. dont think ford put it own paper till 1968 or 69. but they where running the show from early on. Ghia was having money issues and ford step in to help. from what i read and what from some of the documents i have from Ford,Fiat & Ghia. I am planning to try to post all of these documents as soon as i figure out how to do it where they will be readable. attempts due date they show up very small
with all of that said there is another rumor. that i cant not find anything to back it up just word of mouth. here it is

in the early 60s Shelby Cobra was having issues with the Cobra not winning in racing due to being a open car. the Ghia came out in 63 with his connection at ford he bought or got one and dropped a 289 ford motor in it test drove it on the test track took it back to his designers and told them to take the design from it and the cobra and design him a car. and from that the Daytona was born around 1964 65 and ran till the GT40 came out around 1966 or 67. now before i get alot of hate mail. this was just a rumor i heard. and have been told by many its nothing more than that. but it is still fun to think it might be

[wachuko]

Wow... subscribed!!!

[engineerted]

Tony,

You can get these badges today as Ford still has the right to the name Ghia. The same style badge on the Ford Focus in Argentina and in the UK. Just do a search for Ford Ghia badges.

Ted