LANCIA FLAMINIA SUPER SPORT ZAGATO

Produced from 1957 to 1970, the Lancia Flaminia was Lancia’s flagship model at that time, and replaced the Aurelia. Named after the Via Flaminia, (following the Lancia tradition of naming their models after Roman roads), the Flaminia was available in several versions: saloon, coupe’ and cabriolet. The latter two versions had bodies built by several prestigious Italian coachbuilders, namely Pininfarina, Touring and Zagato. Four “presidential” stretched limousine Flaminias were produced by Pininfarina for use on state occasions. Like all things Lancia, the Flaminia was an utterly unique car with some breath-taking examples of engineering – an all-alloy V6 engine whose power was directed through a  rear-munged gearbox and De Dion axle.

The Flaminia’s chassis was a development of the Aurelia’s, but was significantly upgraded. The front suspension was changed to a more conventional configuration with double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers and an anti-roll bar. The rear suspension retained the De Dion set up, with a transaxle mounted at the rear, like in the Aurelia. The first Berlina was available with drum brakes or discs, all other models used discs only. Being light, with aluminium panels, the car had a top speed of 210 km/h, making it the fastest Flaminia.

The Sport was built by Zagato and replaced with the Super Sport in 1964 with the introduction of the 2.8 L 152 bhp (113 kW) engine. Until 1967, 593 Sports and Super Sports were built of which 99 were Pre-series, 344 Sports and only 150 Super Sports, making it a very rare car.

First registered in Rome with the number ‘18813 Roma’, this Lancia Flaminia Super Sport was subsequently sold in Perugia in 1969, and its libretto dates from this period. It has resided in Italy for most of its life and was acquired by the current owner in 2014, having been in the same family since 1975.

Thornley Kelham have now been commissioned to undertake a full restoration of this rare, refined and sporty car.