KEEPING
DELTAS
DRIVING
Lancia Delta Integrale specialists and enthusiasts
A rare visitor
It's very rare to see a Lancia Delta in the California hills, this one was visiting The Smoking Tire team in Malibu.
The Smoking Tire is a group of car guys making car videos for a living, they test and review all kinds of vehicles and have
their own Youtube channel. The Smoking Tire grew from another internet series, Garage 419, in 2009.
The Smoking Tire is based in California USA, which is also home to your Foreign Correspondent. Your man was very surprised to see an Integrale on the road not far from his home. The car was a black Evo1 that had been driven down from Calgary, Canada, to be road tested by the Smoking Tire crew, here's the road test video.
The vid will start after the Christmas sweater promotion, be patient!
or f forward to 53 secs
Click logo to visit S-T site.
This Evo1 is a black car to Japan spec, with lowered side repeaters, but it has Euro spec headlights. The car has a comfortable cloth interior in good condition, a standard steering wheel, and it looks like a quick shift gear change.
The car has a sunroof and air conditioning, the air con is non-functioning, so Dave must have been grateful for the sunroof as he headed further south. 17in Speedline wheels are fitted, with FE springs, a straight through exhaust system has been installed too, so those 2500kms must have been noisy and a bit bumpy!
This good looking Evo1 is a 1992 car that's owned by Dave Hobb, who lives in Calgary Canada. Dave founded the 51 North Car Club in Calgary, Dave provides his club members with a classic sports car driving experience, without having to own the car.
Dave decided to drive his Evo down to California, where the car was videod near Malibu. The distance from Dave's home to Malibu is a little over 2500kms. That's a long way! In a Lancia Delta it's a very long way. This shows Dave's high levels of bravery and comittment.
Dave has published a series of Youtube films about the trip, which describe the adventure.
Click on the 51 logo to visit 51 NCC car club, and click here to watch the first in Dave's series of films about his Integrale adventures.
Dave found this Evo in Canada, it had been stored away, and hadn't been used for 4 years. After Dave bought the car, it needed work to make it roadworthy and reliable for the 51 club members.
About $15000 was spent on refurbishing this Delta, this has produced a top quality and reliable car.
Dave set out from Calgary with a baby seat, and baby! and a full set of tools just in case. He expected trouble, but happily the trip was breakdown free, but not incident free. Have a look at Dave's Youtube film series, click in the red box above..
Matt the road tester was impressed with the Delta, and he's tested a lot of cars. The Delta showed what a great little car it is, and Matt enjoyed his first drive in one of our proud Lancias.
This is Dave's Evo on collection, well secured on a good trailer.
The little car must be wondering where it's off to next, looking at that big scary mountain!
Here is Dave's Delta as it is now, in its Canadian home.
Dave gets big respect from us for making such a trip, and for trusting his Delta to show the US
guys how great an Integrale is.