1961 Lancia Flaminia Saloon *Sold*

Description

• 2.5-litre V6 engine
• Four speed manual
• Restored in Italy
• Driven only 55 km since Feb 2018
• MOT’d to July 2024
• Part of a private collection

The Lancia Flaminia. The last ‘proper’ Lancia and a car described by Enzo Ferrari as ‘the best handling car available’. The Flaminia was launched with typical understatement at the Geneva Salon in 1957. It was a model built in ludicrously small numbers, seemingly only kept alive for the next decade to reinforce Lancia’s status as a maker of luxury sports saloons and GTs.

History

A rather stately and impressive Lancia Flaminia saloon.

• First registered in Italy on the 30th June 1961
• Finished in a Dark Blue with matching grey cloth interior
• The Flaminia has real presence due to its size and elegant Pininfarina designed bodywork
• It is left hand drive
• Manual 4 speed gear box (column change)
• With a V6 cylinder 2500cc engine, this limousine is silkily propelled, keen to transport dignitaries and alike in style
• Restored in Italy prior to its importation to the UK, there are many photos on file showing the car before and after the work was completed
• Early in 2018 Italian classic car specialist Mr Speedlux imported the car to the UK
• It was registered here on 1st March 2018 with the registration number 408 XVA
• Our vendor acquired 408 XVA on 26th May 2018 and has used it very sparingly
• The Lancia has only covered 55 kilometres since February 2018
• The odometer now stands at 60,458 kilometres
• Fortunately, 408 XVA’s history file is reasonably thick with paperwork from its time in Italy (in Italian), many photos of its restoration, import to the UK documentation and recent bills for the recommissioning
• There are also a couple of Lancia repair manuals (photocopies) for the Flaminia

Mechanicals

The Lancia Flaminia had a new larger, 100bhp 2.5-litre V6. The engine had a shorter stroke and was smoother with greater torque than before. With more modern cylinder head design and better cooling than Jano’s earlier V6, it was balanced by a transaxle that had synchromesh on all four gears.

A de Dion tube was fitted at the back, Lancia’s upgrading the suspension in favour of unequal-length wishbones and coil springs meaning much more refinement.

Over the past month the Flaminia has been recommissioned with an oil and filter change, overhaul of the brakes, electrical niggles sorted, suspension greased and points and ignition timing adjusted. The car very recently sailed through its MOT.

Mechanically, the oil pressure is where it should be ; the engine readily cranks into life and once warmed up runs smoothly.

Under the bonnet all is very clean and there are no signs of corrosion in the inner wings. The engine and ancillaries all look smart but there is some room for improvement, if the new owner wanted to.

The twin pipe exhaust is in fine fettle.

Although the wheels are steel, nicely painted in white, they are enhanced with chrome Lancia hub caps (a few minor dents) and rim embellishers that shine and have no rust.

Inside

Something about the Lancia’s driving position and steering wheel gives the Flaminia a formal flavour. It has a sense of occasion. Anything less than a minor state event seems beneath its dignity.

Inside, it has that peculiarly Lancia smell that is a potent mix of fermenting glues and Italian materials, helped, no doubt, by that old car feel.

The interior is in mostly good condition – there are a few minor stains on the seats and there is a small tear on the top corner of the driver’s seat.

Carpets in the rear are in grey and in nice condition whilst the front cabin has a mixture of grey carpet over the sills and transmission tunnel (in tidy condition) and grey hard rubber matting, which has a few splits which are age/use related.

The headlining condition is mostly good but there is a small hole above the top of rear left side door.

One of the features of this car is the dashboard. It is stunning. An impressive array of knobs, buttons, lights and dials, all set in a metal blue painted surround. A large steering wheel with Lancia motif centre and a chrome horn rim add to the pleasurable driving ambience.

Door cards and architecture present very well.

Outside

The most striking change for the new Flaminia was the Pininfarina-styled body. Its crisp simplicity seemed to signify the beginning of a new era for Lancia under the leadership of tycoon Carlo Pesenti.

Elegant and civilised, the Flaminia sports saloon was sophistication and over-engineered. Connoisseurs of the marque generally agree that this model Lancia probably represented the high water mark in quality standards achieved by Lancia. The Flaminia was born of a different era. It was the product of a mindset that was convinced that traditional Lancia customers would always pay a premium for the best and they did. The price tag for RHD cars in the UK nudged towards Silver Cloud price points.

The bodywork is mostly very good – there are some scratches and a few small areas where the paint has cracked (boot and right rear wing). That is usual of course on a classic of this age.

Sills and door bottoms are impressive. However, all four doors at the bottom of the outer skins show signs of bubbling, which is most probably a reaction to filler. Some bubbling on the left rear wheel arch is evident.

There is a lot of chrome on this car and it is predominantly in fine condition with no rust.

Door exterior architecture has some pitting to the handles and one of the caps on the rear door of the driver’s side (just below the window) has lost its chrome due to over-zealous polishing.

Lights are all good although there are a few small cracks in the plastic tail lenses.

Underneath the car is solid (chassis rails, floors, sills, wheel arches) with only a little surface rust apparent.

On the driver’s side, the rear bumper has a split to the right of the overrider where it joins the horizontal middle section although the bumper remains solid. That said, both bumpers are massive and very much make a quality statement about this car as does the large stainless steel front grill. With a beautiful vented bonnet and wrap around front screen, it’s difficult not to give this car a second or third glance when it approaches.

A sizeable boot has an original rubber floor/side matting with good condition spare wheel, which retains an original cover. All four tyres (Michelin 165 R 400s) are not worn or cracked and have plenty of tread, whilst the spare looks like an earlier Italian make.

Our view

Midnight Blue paintwork with the exterior chrome sparkling like stars  in a Mediterranean night sky. It’s an Italian sports saloon what else did you expect us to say, it’s not a Beige Maxi in Middlesbrough is it!

This Lancia Flaminia is a beautiful looking car, which is blatantly obvious to anyone looking. What is less obvious is the solid engineering that underpins this Lancia and that 2.5-ltr V6 engine.

At its height, the Flaminia was also a great symbol of Italian pride and La Dolce Vita glamour. It was a car beloved of film stars; Bardot and Mastroianni most famously – and racing drivers such as the great Fangio.

That style and rarity combined persists in the popularity of this Touring Car of Milan creation.

The Lancia Flaminia one of the most attractive Lancias? Probably. Unmistakably Italian. Definitely. A proper Lancia.