Lancia Fulvia advice

[Aero8]

I'm looking for a mint 1.3, can't quite afford a Fanalone yet. Is there anything to watch for except the obvious? Nice ones seem quite rare, theres one on Jersey that may fit the bill. Thanks for any help! :-)

[Evoluzione]

Join the CLS forum, there are a few Fulvia owners on there who might be able to help.

http://www.lanciasport.com/forum/

[Aero8]

Thanks, I tried before but registration is disabled :-/

[jamieandthemagic]

There's a guy in Essex. Imports them from Italy to order if interested.

[racerbob]

I don't know if it's true but I was told that the series 1 Fulvias were produced with better quality steel than series 2. I have a series 1 which looks like it has had a lot of fresh metal over a period of time, but I have owned it for 10 years now and it hasn't deteriated at all, mind you it is well waxoiled. Mechanically they seem pretty bulletproof, mine gets used for classic rallies and survives pretty well, paint work ain't too pretty now but what the heck !

Best make sure the front subframe is solid or has been reinforced, then check that steering box and ball joints have no excess play, engines are usually pretty good, mine's done over 90,000 miles and still goes well. Good luck, I've been tempted to sell mine a few times, but every time I use it I quickly change my mind, plus you don't see many about now.

[nc107]

The key (as mentioned by racerbob) is the state of the bodyshell. Check the pickup points for the subframe, the subframe legs, the sills and look for cracks on the top of the front wheel arches (a sign the subframe is moving.

Mechanically they are very strong, albeit if they do need serious attention they can be expensive to attend to. Springs can sag (cars should have a slightlt tail up attitude).

Series 1 cars are better built than the later cars, but by now its more about how the car has been looked after than what it was 40 years ago. S1 cars have many much nicer little details and the lovely 4 speed gearbox. As a for-instance, S1 steering boxes have bronze bushes inside and if looked after live for ever. Later cars had these replaced with a polybush that collapses over time and is a pig to change - there are many little detils such as this.

S1 cars ar a bit lighter on their feet and are, when properly restored and set up a nicer drive in my opinion. But they are more expensive to get there (Dunlop brakes are expensive to restore for example). So you pays your money and takes your choice - if you're not hooked on an S1 buy on condition - good ones are still around for ~£7-8k for a 1300.

Good hunting

Edited by nc107 on Saturday 13th October 19:24

[Aero8]

Thanks for the info guys, very useful. I feel like it could take some time to find the right car. I see later cars have different profile front wings around raised headlights. Like you say, condition is going to be the over riding factor whether its an S1 or later.

[nc107]

The raised headlights were purely for the UK market, there are quite a few around with low lights in RHD (for the SA, Irish and Oz markets). There are a few standard cars around that look good bets;

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C338598

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C331577

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C322646

Worth asking Richard Thorne or Omicron if they know of any.

It's not a major point but the comment on the Jersey car add that "last lancia before fiat etc" is only partially correct. It was the last lancia designed before fiat took over (1969) but by late 1970 fiat were already forcing through changes to the Fulvia in the name (I presume) of "value engineering". Fixings were changed from engineering cap head bolts to off-the-shelf 8.8 bolts (torque values are different), quality of the interior material dropped and various other (mainly small) detail were "cheapened".

If LHD is acceptable you'll open up a much bigger selection from Europe, but prices are roughly the same.

[Aero8]

It was the Jersey car that first caught my eye, I've enquired about it and sounds worth viewing. 5% tax would be added to bring back to the UK.

[racerbob]

The series 1 cars also had ally bonnet, boot lid and door skins, I don't think the series 2 and onwards had these features, they must have been pretty expensive cars when new, does anyone recall the original purchase price 1966 onwards ?

[nc107]

I've a price list from 1969.
Coupe 1300 rallye S £1745
Coupe 1600 HFS (fanalone) £2525

This looks nice;

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C291719#

Edited by nc107 on Monday 15th October 22:15

[racerbob]

Agree that does look very nice, worth the money I'd say.

So a Fanalone in '69 must have been near E type money ?

You can see why when Fiat got involved they started the 'cost down' program !

[bruciebonuz]

A little selection of Fulvias to help the uninitiated...

url]|http://thumbsnap.com/b0TNFlRA[/url]

[Aero8]

nc107 said:

I've a price list from 1969.
Coupe 1300 rallye S £1745
Coupe 1600 HFS (fanalone) £2525

This looks nice;

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C291719#

Edited by nc107 on Monday 15th October 22:15

That's the other one I'm going to look at, though it doesn't have a lot of history compared to the Jersey car. Nice colour combo.

[bruciebonuz]

A LHD one had appeared on eBay. If the body isn't too bad it could be a decent buy.

[Aero8]

This ones just come up: http://www.europeanclassiccars.co.uk/cars_41.html . Should HFs have extended arches?

[Fulvisti]

Looks legit. The 1600's had the slightly more flared arches at the back like that one does. If you look at a 1300 you'll see the difference in the rear arches between the link you posted, like the first one in the pics above. It has the correct seats too and the nicer (my opinion) headlight config, not such a big fan of the higher lights. Not all had the glass arch extenders, I think they were an option, or retro fitted by owners.

Edited by Fulvisti on Thursday 1st November 02:09

Edited by Fulvisti on Thursday 1st November 02:10

[Aero8]

Thanks Paul! It looks like this could be the right one, fingers crossed.

[nc107]

The flared arches are to take the slighly wider wheel/tyres of the 1600 (vs the 1300) and were only on the S2 1600 bodyshells, although the Montecarlo 1300 sepcial edition also used the 1600 bodyshell (in the best tradition of using up unused bits on an SE ).

The plastic extension were only fitted to the S1 1.6's (Fanalones). These bodyshells didn't have the flared metal arches so to fit a wider wheel they were fitted with 13" (instead of 14") wheels but as they now stood proud of the (unflared) wing plastic extensions were fitted by the factory. To the best of my knowledge the plastic extensions were never offered on the S2 cars although they will fit.

[Aero8]

nc107 said:

The flared arches are to take the slighly wider wheel/tyres of the 1600 (vs the 1300) and were only on the S2 1600 bodyshells, although the Montecarlo 1300 sepcial edition also used the 1600 bodyshell (in the best tradition of using up unused bits on an SE ).

The plastic extension were only fitted to the S1 1.6's (Fanalones). These bodyshells didn't have the flared metal arches so to fit a wider wheel they were fitted with 13" (instead of 14") wheels but as they now stood proud of the (unflared) wing plastic extensions were fitted by the factory. To the best of my knowledge the plastic extensions were never offered on the S2 cars although they will fit.

Thanks! :-)