Lockdown fever

A puncture led to a full scale wheelbarrow refurb.

My faithful old Homebase wheelbarrow suffered another puncture, caused by the old rubber inner tube cracking, the barrow has been used on some demolition work lately, and is suffering a bit.

So I ordered a new tube and tyre on ebay, Chinese again I'm sure, it was very cheap. It then seemed a shame not give the old barrow a make over.

I stripped the barrow and took the chassis down to my lock up, I sanded it down and treated the frame with rust converter. I welded up a few holes, buzzed it all down and etch primed it, then red primer.

Lancia have a proud legacy of commercial vehicle production, so a lovely coat of Lancia Rosso Corsa was appropriate here!

Brushing cellulose left over from our last Integrale project was perfect.

New tyre and tube fitted to old plastic wheel, I had no suitable paint for the wheel.

I gave the metal body a bit of straightening and sanded it down.

Because it's galvanised I gave it a waft of etch primer first,

then a couple of coats of wheel silver.

I reattached it to the chassis with new bolts and big penny washers,

these'll spread the load a bit, there is some cracking with metal fatigue.

I had welded a wider cross member to the chassis to better support

the loaded body.

With some lithium grease the axle was re located in its hard composite

mounting, with the tyre pumped up, I took the barrow for a test push around the garden, it handled well and is ready to transport our grandchildren

on their next visit.

The barrow is now ready for use, I've ordered some rubber handle grips to assist steering, the grandchildren like tight corners taken quite fast. The tyre has stayed pumped up, and when the handle grips are fitted rain won't fill the frame when the barrow is propped up on the fence.

The barrow is now back at work and looks the biz!

Lancia once made a large range of commercial vehicles,

the attractive light model shown here, was called a Beta.

This handsome truck is a Lancia Esadelta.

Heavy Italian trucks were made right hand drive, so that the drivers could see where the edges of the steep mountain roads were.

Italian truck weight regulations allowed for some unusual truck and trailer combinations,

multiple lift up axles and trailers larger than the trucks were often employed.