Following on from the Lancia Beta a few weeks ago and more recently, the Lancia HPE VX (which, incidentally, sold for just £6,480), I make no apologies for featuring another Lancia as our Prime Find this week. After all, they have been responsible for some very lovely cars, particularly their coupés – I’m less convinced by their saloons, though, some of which are actually a little ungainly to my eyes.
The coupés, on the other hand… from the Aurelia through the Flavia, Fulvia, Flaminia and Gamma – and not forgetting the astounding Stratos – Lancia built a series of the prettiest cars ever made.
Some of Lancia’s greatest hits
They don’t look brutally powerful, or particularly aggressive; rather, their lines – usually penned by Pininfarina – are quite delicate, lending the cars a poise and elegance that the Italians seem to do better than anyone else, though anyone looking for a classic mid-sized 2+2 from the late 1960’s through the ‘70’s is not short of options… here are just a few…
With the possible exception of the Fulvia, there are not so many ‘60’s and ‘70’s Lancia’s about, and on top of that, they are – at least in the case of the 1960’s and ‘70s cars, largely relatively inexpensive for classics with such a pedigree. Perhaps this is a knock-on effect from the disastrous 1980’s that the company suffered, but if a small to medium sized thoroughbred Italian coupé is your thing, then Lancia’s such as our Prime Find are well within reach, considering our self-imposed £20,000 budget ceiling.
Our car this week is the successor to the Series I Flavia Coupé, itself based on the Flavia saloon, introduced in 1961. Indeed, the Series II is in many ways more an update of the Series I than a new model, being mechanically and internally pretty much unaltered.
Externally, the changes are not extensive – indeed, in profile, there is very little difference at first glance – but they do change the look of the car considerably. The small rear fins have gone, replaced by a smoothly styled, slightly squarer rear. At the front, the previously exposed dual headlamps are now integrated into the front grille, which now runs the width of the car. Some say the Series I bears a resemblance to the Ferrari 250GTE, the Series II to the 330GT – both Pininfarina designs, of course – you be the judge.
In any case, I think the car looks smoother than its predecessor, and is an exceptionally handsome 2+2, with a decent-sized luggage compartment, making it as practical as it is good-looking.
Mechanically, it shares much with the saloon version – a choice of carburettor or later, fuel-injected 1991cc four-cylinder engine, itself a development from the earlier 1800, and a 4 or 5 speed gearbox – later models would come with a 5-speed box as standard. Power output was 115bhp, delivered to the front wheels, and top speed was a very acceptable 115mph, with 0-60 reached in a slightly less acceptable – for a car with GT pretensions – 12.3 seconds, according to Motor Sport, though I have seen better figures quoted.
In his test of the Lancia back in September 1970, Motor Sport magazine’s Bill Boddy mixed praise with criticism. On the credit side, he liked the roadholding, the comfort, equipment levels and cruising ability and on the debit side, he disliked the lack of torque, felt the brakes were spongy and lacked stopping power, and to be honest, he seemed slightly disappointed by the 2000 overall, summing it up as “an expensive acquired taste” – at the time it’s list price was £2,907, over £600 more than the currently equally under-valued NSU Ro80, and £250 more than a Jaguar E-Type 2+2, so it wasn’t a cheap car. Compare its pricing to the Jaguar now…
Now I’ve never driven one but if it were judged as a 50-year-old classic, I imagine the comments would probably be more generous. What I do know is that I love it’s looks, shallow individual that I am, and the interior, also the work of Pininfarina, is gorgeous – the binnacle of dials directly in front of the driver looks very cool – and it looks like a very nice place to spend some time, again with echoes of its Maranello relatives.
So we come to our Prime Find, which is one of the lots going under the hammer in the delayed Historics auction at Ascot Racecourse on December 12th. It’s in silver with smart red leather upholstery, and while clearly not concours, looks pretty good going by the photos – hopefully our “Lockdown 2.0” will have been lifted by the time the auction takes place and I’ll be able to check it out for myself. It’s a left-hand-drive car, first registered in 1969 in Switzerland, so an early example of the Series II, and as a result comes with the 4-speed gearbox rather than the 5-speed that later became standard, before moving on to France and then the UK. Quite a bit of work has been done on the car over recent years and there is a good history file. The car also comes with a (legally unnecessary) MOT, valid through to August next year. The odometer reading is 33,216km, but this is almost certainly on its second if not third time around – the history file should clear that up.
These Lancia’s are considered by some to be the last “real” Lancia’s, designed before FIAT’s influence prevailed – some might say disastrously – on future models. They are also said to be less rust-prone than those later models infamously proved to be. Whether due to rust or other reasons, very few remain on UK roads – just three are currently licensed here, with another four SORN, so if the eventual buyer is UK based, he or she will be driving around in a very rare car.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this car though is the estimate, with a range between just £9,000 and £11,000, which – unless there are some real nasties hiding underneath that stylish Italian suit – seems very reasonable. Other examples that I’ve found for sale around Europe range from c.£15,000 to £28,500 for a fully restored 1970 car, so this one might be a bargain, but of course, if you’re interested, arranging a prior inspection is highly recommended. You can see its auction listing, from which we have borrowed a few photographs, here. Certainly it seems to be a car that could be improved in stages while enjoying driving it – I just need more room in my ever-expanding imaginary garage…
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk