RE: Lancia Fulvia | Spotted

[Fiammetta]

Did a rally in Switzerland and there was one













picture upload

I was in the Dino .
The Lancia was totally restored by a firm near Geneva Airport .

[ChevronB19]

Think I saw this for sale a couple of months ago, at a higher price. They are achingly beautiful and elegant.

I’ve now ‘accidentally’ got two historic saloon race cars so am looking to sell the fastest one (the other is a family heirloom), but need to improve its reliability. If I could I’d buy this in a shot, and I know the guys at CCK as fellow racers.

[ParanoidAndroid]

This one looks lovely but being a 1600 HF the price is considerably higher.

http://www.mrspeedlux.com/1972-lancia-fulvia-1600h...

[lukeyman]

I want it!!

[soad]

£10k?! I’d hate to run one as a daily...not that you’d need to. But the harsh winter months would wreck chaos, surely? Salt on the wet, damp roads etc.

[paulwirral]

TJS10 said:

The narrow angle V4 engine is pretty interesting in terms of packaging.

And it was the main reason the car in the scrap yard was £50 , the only thing that had any resemblance to it was a Ford v4 , found in capris , corsairs and most commonly, transit vans and trucks !
The car itself was actually quite good condition but went to the crusher as it was basically worthless because of its rarity. Keep in mind that a roadworthy e type fhc was £800 at the time , a mate bought one for that amount and we raced it around another mates farm field !!
Oh for the good old days , once the electric generation takes over we may be able to re visit those days with amg mercs and the like ?

[Black S2K]

soad said:

£10k?! I’d hate to run one as a daily...not that you’d need to. But the harsh winter months would wreck chaos, surely? Salt on the wet, damp roads etc.

Indeed - a very complicated monocoque and corrosion repairs can be horrendously expensive. The car's not worth what it can cost.

A garage queen now.

But a beautiful one, at that. I know someone who has a dark blue one (with bumpers) and it's pure class, from the days when Lancias were pure class.

[Q Car]

I remember reading Practical Classics as a kid and there were always a couple in the 'under £100' section at the back of the classifieds. It fascinated me that something so beautiful could be so cheap, but as others have said, the restoration costs were the thing that have always put people off. Probably why I ended up with a Triumph Herald instead...

[shea89]

What's the catch with these? I've had a quick look on Car and Classic and you can pick up what looks like a nice example for under 13k. An Alfa Romeo GT Junior would be twice that and would the restoration costs be hugely different? Does the fact they're fwd play into it?

Edited by shea89 on Monday 16th December 11:40

[Tony B2]

ParanoidAndroid said:

This one looks lovely but being a 1600 HF the price is considerably higher.

http://www.mrspeedlux.com/1972-lancia-fulvia-1600h...

Oh feck....£40k...!

I practically gave away my 1600HF Lusso 8 years ago.

Admittedly it was not in anything like as good condition as this one appears to be, but stilll...

Who said “you never go bust by selling too soon”?

What with this, and the Sierra Cosworth mistake (also sold too cheap and at the bottom of the market) my car investment advice should probably be ignored.

[Yacht Broker]

well here is mine...



so far, the works

full engine rebuild
new clutch
complete heater strip-down and rebuild
carbs stripped and completely rebuilt
new alternator
new shocks
replacement suspension springs
new brake discs, pads, master cylinder and brake lines
new headlights
new dashboard
comprehensive rewiring
reupholstered
new exhaust manifold and exhaust
new Pirelli Cinturato tyres
repaint
complete new interior carpets
complete new rubber seals

and plenty more i have forgotten about.

The car spent almost all of its life in Sicily and was brought to the UK a few years back and sold through Coys Auctions. It was then 'restored' (badly) and I bought it two years ago and have been spending money almost continuously ever since sorting it out properly. Absolutely lovely it though!

Edited by Yacht Broker on Monday 16th December 12:11

[P5BNij]

The period reviews for these are full of praise for the quality of build and the amount of thought that went into the design and engineering, with the odd marking down here and there, for instance, having rubber floor mats instead of full carpeting in a relatively expensive car. A common thought amongst them is the feeling when driving is that you wouldn't know that is was front wheel drive.





















My other half was rather taken by this one which we saw at MITCAR in Rockingham a few years ago...

Edited by P5BNij on Monday 16th December 12:41

[Tony B2]

Lovely!

How was the underside?

Mine had major corrosion problems when I bought it (at about 7 years old) but presumably a car from sunnier climes might have survived better.

[P5BNij]

UK RHD example here, looks good... https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1173908

[Daniel-ezc4y]

In response to the ‘Man Maths’ already mentioned, a 5 year loan of £10k is around £185 per month. Or £42 a week. After 5 years of delight behind the timber wheel of this little cracker, it will have appreciated to probably £15k. So even if you don’t have the funds, the ‘Man Maths’ argument for this one is flawless. If I didn’t have 15 cars already, (and space for 12 at a push) then this would absolutely be coming home with me. Someone buy it. NOW!! What a little gem!!

[mgrays]

Mine has been off the road since I got my MX-5 in 1997 I'm afraid. Sold the 1.6HF engine for £750 in '03 and I saw one this month in the owners club for £7500!

I had one as a daily for about 6 years in total. It was the second car I bought, 35 years ago.. crashed that one, bought current one oh..30 years ago. Had 4 at one point plus couple of 2000/Flavias, scrapped one, sold 2 as rolling part bins, kept one.
The 1.6HF is plenty enough for day to day current traffic but 24-26mpg, really needed the HF front wishbones to revise camber as it turned it to power understeer whereas as the 1.3 is very neutral handling. The 1.3S did 28 mpg going on 33 mpg which is good going. I used to keep XR4i and early Subaru turbos honest with that engine in late 80's.

The weak point was the rear legs of the front subframe. Folk law says the engineer put solid lines not dotted lines on a drain hole on a drawing. That caused the factory to put the drain hole on top of the subframe leg which is right behind the front wheels. So it filled up with dirt and rusted out in a few years.. then the stress would crack the front wings at the top. First car I rebuilt this but did not restraighten before welding so it was hog backed!

The 1.6HF was about 140% of an E type in the day. Really nice engineering and the FIAT ones are not that bad .. cheaper a little but replace the cylinder head bolts (which has long since been done on all) and the rest is fine except for the mid 70's colours (mine was a yellow with green tinge paint and lime green cloth!). Hey-ho .. mine is one of the many retirement projects as sprogs have got in the way .. and an FM2 MX-5 is more pain free fun (opps.. that has been off the road for 6 years now..).

.. I do have a spare set of 2000/Flavia alloys which are 5.5J (not 6J of 1.6HF) which would fill out the wheel arches of this one.. .

[12lee]

Convicted perv teacher at my school had one of these in the 1970s in ‘my perv fantasy brown’. I recall he stuck a Porsche badge on the front of it....

[magic torch]

I have an ongoing Alfa Bertone restomod project, always liked the Fulvia's looks and thought I'll get one to use in the interim.

I paid £5,500 for it in summer this year, and drove it back from Sardinia. The logic being the climate would have been kinder, and it's an interesting road trip. It was interesting but for unexpected reasons.

So the clutch is 80s supercar heavy, and the dogleg box can be frustrating. But I completely fell in love with it. It's a great steer, not as slow as I feared, it'll keep up with traffic (I even overtook some cars on Route Napoleon).

The reaction it gets is incredible. I have never known a car like this, way beyond supercars. People wave, shout, even stop on roundabouts to let you out.

I don't think they'll go up in value, but that shouldn't stop you heading to Southern Italy and picking one up. Especially with the current exchange rates. £82 a year to insure too.

[Skyedriver]

scottygib553 said:

Expected this to be much more for some reason.

Agree, they seem to be advertised nearer £12k to £20k, maybe the market is waining.
They are a lovey car, I had one back in the 1980's (paid £190)

[Skyedriver]

magic torch said:

I have an ongoing Alfa Bertone restomod project, always liked the Fulvia's looks and thought I'll get one to use in the interim.

I paid £5,500 for it in summer this year, and drove it back from Sardinia. The logic being the climate would have been kinder, and it's an interesting road trip. It was interesting but for unexpected reasons.

So the clutch is 80s supercar heavy, and the dogleg box can be frustrating. But I completely fell in love with it. It's a great steer, not as slow as I feared, it'll keep up with traffic (I even overtook some cars on Route Napoleon).

The reaction it gets is incredible. I have never known a car like this, way beyond supercars. People wave, shout, even stop on roundabouts to let you out.

I don't think they'll go up in value, but that shouldn't stop you heading to Southern Italy and picking one up. Especially with the current exchange rates. £82 a year to insure too.

£5500! Are they really that price down in Italy? OK LHD but where do I sign?