Driving by the seat of his pants
IN MY LAST report I was delving into the innards of my Abarth Simca’s rear brake caliper. This was not the customary Girling threepot variety having, before my ownership, been replaced by a single-pot type fitted to the contemporary Bertone Simca Coupé with which it shared a floorpan and suspension. Rebuild complete, I was mildly surprised to find that it appears to work.
I even took a photograph of the assembled caliper but it was far less interesting than the shot of the disassembled mess in my last report, being merely a caliper with a shiny piston in place, so I have spared you the sight of my handiwork. I haven’t yet taken the car for its MoT but I am optimistic.
Meanwhile my attention has turned to Abarth seats. My Vignale-bodied 750 Sperimentale, commonly referred to in Italian as the Goccia (‘drop’ as in raindrop) or, by those nearer to home and familiar with the adventures of Dr Dolittle, as the ‘pushmi-pullyu’, is now sporting its newly upholstered seats in black leather with red piping to match the external, and original, colour scheme.
The Simca, too, has had a seat swop. Before my ownership, sometime in the ’60s I guess, it had been fitted with Corbeau bucket seats with chrome perforated inserts à la GT40 and a matching rear luggage shelf. I like the look but the seats’ high sides combined with a low roof now make it difficult for my increasingly less flexible assortment of limbs to squeeze under the steering wheel. Fortunately I happened to have ‘in stock’ a brace of Abarth seats of the correct type, and I’ve slipped one in to the driver’s side as a trial.
In both the Simca and the Goccia I’ve bolted the seats directly to the floor to gain a precious inch of headroom. Buttocks are now just five inches from the tarmac in both cars, and as the seat bases are pancake-thin they do little to absorb road shock. It gives a new meaning to seat-ofthe-pants handling.