The car was finished off with four coats of acrylic urethane. No clear coat was applied, as it tends to give a grayish tone to the black paint. To give the paint that added show car quality I wet sanded the entire body again with 3M 2000 grit. I did the edges and tight sections by hand and used a block for the rest. Through this process I removed any orange peel, dust, dips and runs in the paint. To eliminate the fine scratches left by the 2000 grit and complete the paint’s finish, a solid week of polishing was required using a variable speed polisher. This finishing work was done under the hood as well. The end result was exactly what I sought, a flawless coat of paint to complement the perfect body.

After I got through the bodywork, everything else was relative child’s play in comparison. A real breath of fresh air. I lowered the car 3 inches in the front and 2 inches up front using Sparco racing performance springs. The suspension also features Koni shocks all around and a bigger front sway bar. I installed a set of Fondmetal 15 X 7” aluminum rims wrapped in Pirelli P7000 rubber measuring 205 ZR50 in the front and 225 ZR50 in the rear. These are more for show whereas generally, I use 13" Cromodoras as pictured just above.

Under the hood, I opted to yank the old 1438 and install a screaming little 1608 modified with the original European IDF carb setup, linkage, waffle manifold with a turtle-back air cleaner. It has domed high compression pistons, Alquati cams, an Ansa header and tailpipe. The following image shows a bit of the underhood work. I think I probably went a bit overboard with the colors but what the hell.

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