TO CONTACT US: Email Click here Tel: 01392 811918     Mob: 07515 597 589

TO CONTACT US: Email Click here Tel: 01392 811918 Mob: 07515 597 589
Pitt Farm, Churchtown, Whitestone, Exeter, EX4 2LG
VAT No. 113 4339 47

Westernlancia was set up by Alan Wesson in 2004 and since then has been gaining a reputation for friendly, high-quality service at very competitive prices. Alan is a long-time Italian car enthusiast, having been 'into' Fiat Group cars since he was at school in the 1970s (at the time that meant Fiat, Lancia and Ferrari - no Alfas then!). He still has a wide range of 70s Fiat Group publicity material and posters, and also and his school folders, complete with Fiat and Lancia doodles...

He founded the Fiat 130 Owners' club in 1982 (see letter in the 3rd-ever issue of Classic and Sportscar magazine!), and since then has owned and restored many Fiats and Lancias (but no Ferraris yet...). His current collection includes two Appia Berlinas, an Appia Furgoncino, an Integrale Evo, a Kappa V6, and 'Luigi', a 1996 Ypsilon which has currently been hi-jacked by his 18 year-old daughter - who loves it so much that she refuses to give it back.

In the beginning we concentrated mainly on mechanical repairs, minor restoration and recommissioning, but over the last couple of years we have moved more and more towards body and paintwork, and in particular fighting rust, which was always Alan's interest. We recently moved to new premises which has allowed us to expand this part of the business.

Alan has over 30 years of experience of fighting rust and repairing bodywork, having had to start treating rust on his father’s Fiat 125 Special when he was 15 and it was one year old, in 1973! He kept the 125S in vitually concours condition... until he drove it head-on through a caravan in 1978.

Please see the photo gallery for examples of some of our restorations or part-restorations over the years. As you can see from some of the detail shots, we are VERY thorough, and we do our work with the aim that it shouldn’t need doing again for some considerable time. This attitude comes from owning classic cars long-term. If you own a car for 10, 20 or even 30 years (Alan has had one for 34 years), you certainly don’t want to keep redoing the rust, so it is vital to get it right first time. We extend this attitude towards our customers’ cars, and try to treat them as if they were our own.

If you feel bold enough to have a go at fighting the rust and doing bodywork yourself, we sell a small booklet called GOT RUST? to act as a handbook for fighting rust. This is available for £3.99 + P&P - please contact us for details. A 'prequel' called STOP RUST! is in preparation, and will concentrate on how to administer 'tlc' to your car and stop the rust forming in the first place - which is always the ideal scenario!

This beautiful B20 is a well-known and important car in Lancia circles. Sadly it has fallen on hard times as a consequence of poor storage, and has just been acquired by a well-known LMC member following the sad death of its previous owner, who had booked the car in for restoration restored with us before his untimely death. We are pleased to say that the new owner is carrying on with the previous owner's intentions, so we are pleased to say that at long last the car is going to get the treatment it deserves.