Lancia LC2: the Ferrari-powered Italian that almost embarrassed Porsche at Le Mans June 1984. Le Mans. Saturday afternoon, final qualifying session. Bob Wollek climbs into a prototype wearing Martini Racing colours, heads out onto the Sarthe, and pulls a lap of 3:17.11. Eleven seconds faster than the quickest Porsche 956 from Joest Racing. Eleven. Seconds. … Read more
Lancia Beta Montecarlo: the car that changed brand three times before it existed Some cars are born with a clear identity from the first CAD sketch. They know what they’re going to be, which brand they belong to, which segment they target. Everything after that is just execution. And then there are cars like the … Read more
Lancia Aurelia B20 GT: the car that invented the modern Grand Tourer Here’s the question almost nobody answers correctly. What was the first modern Grand Tourer in history? The category currently occupied by the Aston Martin DB12, the Bentley Continental, the Ferrari Roma, the Maserati GranTurismo. The big, fast, elegant car that can cross Europe … Read more
Vincenzo Lancia: the racing driver who became a manufacturer and refused to let his cars race Here’s a paradox that almost never gets told and that defines this man better than anything else. Vincenzo Lancia, before he turned thirty, was arguably the fastest racing driver in Italy. He drove for Fiat. He racked up podiums … Read more
Autobianchi: The Brand Fiat Used to Take Risks It Wouldn’t Sign Its Name To Almost nothing you drive today would exist in its current form without a company most Americans have never heard of. That’s not hyperbole and it isn’t nostalgia. If your car has its engine mounted sideways, driving the front wheels, with the … Read more
Fiat: 126 years to build an empire, five to dismantle it Every so often Top Gear used to do those hagiographies about brands that “shaped motoring”. They did Ferrari. They did Aston. They did Porsche. They never quite did Fiat properly, and if you think about it for more than thirty seconds, that omission is … Read more
Lancia Sibilo: Gandini’s last wedge, a Stratos in alien clothing Picture this. Turin Motor Show, April 1978. The car industry is five years deep into a hangover that just won’t lift. The 1973 oil crisis has rewired everything. Big cars don’t sell anymore. Safety regulations are forcing designers to bolt rubber bumpers onto everything like … Read more
Lancia Fulvia HF Coupé: the car that taught Lancia how to win championships Some cars win championships by brute force. They have more horsepower than their rivals, more displacement, more torque in the right places. They show up, run over everything, win. That’s one way to win. There’s another way. Cars that win by doing … Read more
Triflux: the Lancia engine with the strangest cylinder head ever bolted to a block Quick test. If I asked you to name the first car ever to use a properly sequential twin-turbocharger system — the kind where a small turbo spools up at low revs and a bigger one kicks in higher up — what … Read more
Lancia Megagamma: Lancia invented the modern MPV in 1978 and Fiat buried it Quick quiz. Without looking at Wikipedia. Who invented the modern MPV? The boxy family hauler with the flat floor, the five doors, the room for five people plus their luggage plus a bike inside? The category Top Gear used to mock relentlessly … Read more
Lancia ECV: the rally car that was built to embarrass the Delta S4 and never turned a wheel There’s a particular kind of automotive heartbreak that only true petrolheads understand. It’s not the car that died young in a famous crash. It’s not the one that lost the championship by half a point. It’s the … Read more
Lancia: the brand that invented half the modern car and ended up selling Ypsilons in Italy There’s a question Chris Harris has asked, more than once, on camera. It goes something like this: which manufacturer, when you really dig into the history books, turns out to have invented more of the modern car than any … Read more
