Page 46 - Oct 2022

"Adrian didn't discover all there is to know about the
car, but he has been the most diligent about
documenting the details for posterity. Interestingly,
Adrian and I did not meet in person until 2016 at Paul
Harvey?s Owner?s gathering in the UK."

In 2016, Bob and his wife were invited to England with
other Italia owners to attend the UK International
Vintage Auto Show. They stayed at an Inn in
Warwickshire as guests of Harvey.
" I met 19 other owners from all over Europe and the
USA. One individual, Joop Noordijk from the
Netherlands, approached me and inquired about
purchasing Italia #241 (body only) that I owned. He
wanted to weld the quartered car body back together
and put it back to road condition. Above: Bob has kept a complete set of hand drawn
and written notebooks to document everything he
"Over the next 3-4 months, we came to an agreement.
has done during his re-creation journey. They
In 2017, he and his wife came to Nashville and stayed
should be invaluable to Italia owners of the future.
nearby at an AirBNB. I took a week off from work.
Each day they came over and Joop and I would work on
crating up the car and sorting parts. My wife
entertained Joop?s wife, Stijntje, with trips to
Cheekwood and other attractions. Over the week, we
became good friends and continue to correspond
regularly."

The experience demonstrated yet again that car talk
and enthusiasm is indeed an international language.
Anyone who shows an interest can learn to speak it.
According to Bob, the car Joop (pronounced Yoop)
bought was one that Bill Clark had bought out of Miami
in the 1970?s. He found it in Hemmings, advertised as a
?body only. When he got the body back to Nashville, he
cut it into four pieces, cut the top off and stored the
parts in his shed. Clark reasoned that the extra
(unique) windscreen alone was worth the $500 price.
Above: "This the Italian barn find Italia #215 (bugeye
Also, he figured that if he got in a minor accident that a
Sprite green) owned at that time by Paul Harvey, our
fender might be useful as well. When Bob bought #184
host for the UK event. This car is now in the hands of
from Clark, the butchered #241 came with it.
a gentleman with a private museum in Eugene,
Joop's intention was to have the car welded back
Oregon. It is one of the most original Italias. We use
together so that every seam showed what had been
pictures from this car all the time for examples of
done to it. That wouldn't have been Bob's choice but
what is correct for restoration. This includes an
every collector makes his own decisions on how to best
original ?Styled by G. Michelotti? badge from Paul

present a car. "At this time Joop has #241 in a shop in
Germany being reassembled on an Italia chassis ," Bob Harvey?s #215," Bob said.
added. Concludes on page 48
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