1963 Lancia Flaminia

The Lancia Flaminia was introduced in late 1956 as a 1957 model to replace the aging Lancia Aurelia line. Whereas the Aurelia carried the rounded looks of its 1950s design heritage, the Lancia Flaminia looked forward to the sharper edges of the 1960s designs.

While Lancia made the mechanical underpinnings and Battista ‘Pinin’ Farina drew the basic design, coachwork was farmed out to Italy’s finest designers and coachbuilders, including Zagato, Touring, Pininfarina and Ghia. This resulted in a number of different special editions, including a special aluminium-bodied fastback by Zagato.

The Flaminia debuted with 2458cc V-6 engine rated at 98hp and 137 lb-ft of torque. An optional high-compression version of this engine was available for saloons and was installed as standard equipment on coupes and convertibles. The optional engine was rated at 119hp on coupes and 140hp on GT coupes and saloons. In 1963, Lancia upgraded the engine to 2775cc and 150hp. That engine was used through the end of the line, though the vast majority of Flaminia production happened between 1957 and 1963.

The Flaminia carried a 4-speed transmission, and all were rear-wheel drive. Where the older Aurelias used a sliding-block front suspension, the Flaminia utilised modern control arms and coil springs at the front end, but maintained the standard semi-elliptic leaf springs supporting a solid axle at the rear. Four-wheel disc brakes were standard on all Flaminias from the beginning of the line.

From the beginning, various coachbuilders supplied a variety of body styles under the Flaminia name. The original 1957 design was a pillarless 4-door hardtop, but starting in 1958 Farina delivered a coupe while Zagato offered a 2-door fastback. There was also a Spider convertible, and Touring made a GT coupe. Through the 1960s, a variety of bodies continued to come and go. After 1967, production was limited to the original 4-door hardtop, known by Lancia as a pillarless sedan.

Throughout the entire run, just 8,745 Flaminias were made. About 6,750 were delivered with the 2.5-litre V-6 engine, while about 2,000 received the larger 2.8-litre engine, which was introduced in 1963.

The Flaminia offered excellent performance for its day. Boasting 0-60mph times of about 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph, Lancia’s sports car was more than respectable. Prices started high, generally about 30 percent more than the equivalent Fiat models through the early 1960s, but increased little in the next decade, even for the most expensive sport coupes.

The majority of Lancia Flaminias cost about half the price of a Ferrari 250, but that was still double what you’d pay for an exciting Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, which explains Lancia’s disappointing sales figures. In 1958, Lancia sold 8,974 cars, against Fiat’s 169,532. The 1963 Fulvia revived the company’s fortunes somewhat, but it was taken over by Fiat in 1969.