Beautiful, Ivan! Looks like you have a wonderful view of the autumn colors around your house as well! Cheers, Thor
When i contacted Vinyl Specialities they advised they can not do the heat seal. They can repair the visors but they will have a small welt sewed on. Ivan did you get the same info?
Hi Thor. I am going a bit off topic but a few weeks ago the fall colors were at their peak and the Mistral had to get its excessive. Here is the Mistral photographed in the same general location as the Vignale spyder. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
Gene, You are correct, they also do not do the heat seal. I do believe they most likely do the best visor restoration and decided to try them out. I have three sets of sun visors from past Vignale. Mistral and Ghibli spyders and today sent them two sets. The third set I will experiment myself with a razor blade and glue. I will compare my results with theirs and pick the best. My money is on them ... Ivan
Off topic but but the autumn and winter colors as shown here are very beautiful non the less. The view from our deck in both fall and winter. That's Mount Rainier directly south of us off in the distance with Lake Washington in the for ground. Having lived here for over 30 years I am still amazed every morning. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Another option you may want to consider is Alfa Visors. I bought a pair new 5 years ago and the shape would actually work better for you car since it has the mirror mounted high. I believe these are still available.The Alfa visors are shaped so the mirror is still viewable with the visors down. I currently have these on my Vignale because I also have never been able to find anyone that can replace the heatsealed Vignale visors. I also have two sets of old visors one that the vinyl is in very good condition except the padding inside is soft. I plan to send these to Vinyl specialities to see if they can slit the top restuff and put a small binding and keep the rest of the heat seal.
I am using Alfa visors on my Ghibli. They have a different shape as the original but they do work well. I have only seen the Alfa visors in black and the original Vignale visors tend to be ivory color. What color are your original visors? Ivan
The visors that came on my car were black. I do have a set of the Ivory ones as well but I can not remember where I got them. Both of the Ivory ones have a mirror as well. The black pair only has a mirror on the pass side.
Yesterday I replaced the faulty brake master cylinder and, armed with brakes that work, today I was ready to take the car for a short drive around the neighborhood. I drove it for about 2 miles and was able to get it up to fourth gear. I have a clutch noise that comes and goes. I need to drive it a little more before deciding if the gearbox needs to come out. It is a bit unnerving driving the car since the transmission cover is at the trim shop and the gearbox is exposed. Somehow having a spinning driveshaft inches from me does not feel safe. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
On this car most electrical circuits stay "hot" even with the ignition off. To make matters worst, some items, such as the high beams, are not even fused. I left the original wiring harness intact in order to preserve its originality ... but it is really a bad design. I installed a battery cut off relay. When the ignition is turned on the relay kicks in and connects the battery. Turning the ignition off kills all power to the car ... simple. No wires had to be cut and everything can be easily reversed. Only negative is that the interior lights do not work when the ignition is off. I may run an extra wire from the battery to the interior light fuse so that they work all the time. I am using an Optima battery since it does not emit gases or leak acid. A metal cover conceals the battery and relay, therefore none of this will be visible. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Quicksilver exhaust is now hanging properly. It took almost a full day at the muffler shop to make it all work. Some cutting and welding was required but I expected that would be the case. I am happy with the quality of the exhaust and would buy from Quicksilver again. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
The trunk material was cleaned up and kept original. The spare tire wire wheel was in good original condition and was not redone. The battery is behind the left panel which is held by thumb screws. The metal panel is quite thick and shaped to hold the battery in place. I like the look of the leather straps that hold the spare tire. The straps were used on many of the production Vignale spyders but I do not believe they were used on the Touring coupes or Sebrings. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I like to originality of the trunk and glad you chose to leave it as is. I know what you mean regarding the Quicksilver exhaust system. I found myself at the exhaust shop all day and $831 lighter. I will be ordering another one of their systems in the next few days for 686 the "White Latina" I fully expect to spend some time at an exhaust shop getting it just right as you have done. The problem is finding a shop with a mandrel bender to make and cut all those curves in stainless. I love the quick engineering applied to the battery compartment. Very Italian. You are correct the Touring coupes used a very well done sculptured aluminum wing nut to hold the spare in place. See photo. The first one is of 708 and the second one is 686. Ciao, FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Brilliant stuff Ivan. Too bad I didn't see you on the road those two miles. Way to bring in the new year
The Mistral spyder is a sleeper in the marketplace compared to the Vignale and Ghibli spyders. Serious collectors are paying attention to the Vignale spyders and those are routinely trading in the $350,000+ for a driver quality car. Ghibli spyders are also strong and it is hard to find anything decent for under $300,000. Later this month two Ghibli spyders will be at auctions and we will see what the market has to say. I would not be surprised if both the Vignale and Ghibli spyders become $500,000 cars before too long. Mistral spyders remain unloved for reasons I cannot understand. I agree with you, the car is beautiful and screams "made in Italy" to anyone that looks at it! Perhaps it is the fear of the Lucas fuel injection. Similar to Citroen hydraulics on the Bora and Khamsin, serious collectors many times react to what they read and unfortunately spend little time researching the facts. The fact is the Lucas injection works well once it is sorted out. I have taken my Mistral on many long trips without a problem. I would say around $200,000 is what decent Mistral spyders are selling for these days. A little more for the 4.0 liter version. I would recommend going for the 4.0 liter version for two reasons: rarity (more appreciation potential) and reliability since it uses the dry type injection system. Ivan
Frank, What clamps are you using for the exhaust system? Is there a "proper" clamp to use on these cars? I used stainless band clamps which work well and do not distort the metal like the U bolts. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login
I didn't use any. The followning photos show the original clamps. Hope this helps. FGM Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I took about a month and five trips by the installers but the soft top was completed yesterday. It needs to be up for two weeks to work out a few minor wrinkles. At that time they will come back and stream the top one more time. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And this is what the interior looks like now that it is nearly completed. Ivan Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
