sojournerphoto
Veteran
Sorry to be a bit uneducated but which American and which World Driving Championship - I find my view being somewhat Eurocentric
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Ah, the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT ....! I fantasized about buying one of those, but they've become far far more expensive than anything I can sensibly afford.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Ah, well, in NY State you could get a Junior License at age 15 or 16 ... I was addicted by the time I was 10. At 13, I was "borrowing" my grandmother's Corvair Coupe for night rides with my brother Matt.
The guy who lived across the street from us raced in NASCAR, the older guy down the block had a Lotus Formula 2 car, my Uncle Paul drove a Porsche 356A, my Uncle Matt had a succession of cars from a very early Corvette to a Lamborghini Espada to an Aston Martin DBS V8 ... etc. I started with the SAAB 96V4 my Uncle Paul gave to me and my older brother, bought an MG B after that, then a BMW 2002 (later fitted with Alpina kit) after that, and then a succession of Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider Veloce, Jaguar E-Type, FIAT 128 (sedan, modified with the rally kit), Lamborghini 350GT (chassis #2, engine #16), and on and on... I've owned over 78 automobiles and 56 motorcycles over the many years. About a third of the motorcycles and about ten of the cars were "project" machines, modified in all kinds of ways.
I lived at the road racing track most weekends for most of my life ... either working on the cars, managing endurance race teams, driving/riding (occasionally), and photographing the events.
It's been massive fun. It's not completely over yet...
...although I no longer have the desperate urge to go faster all the time and have decided that I can't have the fun I used to on the motorcycles, so I stopped riding. Still keep up my licenses, both motorcycle and race, however. G
—
"No matter where you go, go there in a Lancia Fulvia Coupé."
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
Phil Hill, F1 championship.Sorry to be a bit uneducated but which American and which World Driving Championship - I find my view being somewhat Eurocentric
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I seem to recall he was born in Florida, but grew up and lived most of his life in Los Angeles, CA, right? I supposed it would be easy to look up...
G
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
I'm not sure where he was born but his father was the Post Master of Santa Monica and he lived there while I was growing up.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I checked on Wikipedia: Phil Hill - Wikipedia
Yes, he was born in Miami. The article didn't seem to say when his family moved to Santa Monica, but he grew up there, and lived in Monterey at the time of his death.
G
Yes, he was born in Miami. The article didn't seem to say when his family moved to Santa Monica, but he grew up there, and lived in Monterey at the time of his death.
G
Muggins
Junk magnet
I've always had a soft spot for the Flaminia, having helped someone dismantle one back in the 1980s. A year or two ago I saw something very similar at a classic dealer near where I worked, and asked. It turned out to be a Lancia Appia coupe. The guy opened up the bonnet and it was a case of "Where's the engine?" Under this huge body was a 1098cc V4, it was almost invisible! Apparently it was great for cruising in town at 30mph, looking cool with an arm out of the window, but dogs would overtake it on hills.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I didn't know much about the Lancia Appia line, so I looked it up. Yes, a little 1100cc V4 with included angle of 10°. A number of cost reducing things like dual camshafts in the engine block rather than double overhead cam, with power output ranging from 38 PS in 1953 to 80 PS in 1963, depending on model, when the Appia line was replaced by the Fulvia models (Berlina, Coupé, and SportGT by Zagato).
Various of the different Appia models (I counted at least 11 mentioned in the three articles I found) were raced and won handily in their class over the ten years of the model run. And the Appia chassis and engine was also the basis for a series of light utility vans and trucks in their day.
It seems the majority of the various standard Appia sedan and coupe models had top speeds in the 70-75 mph range. It was obviously an economy car vs the Flaminia which was a luxury V6 engined car with 2.3L to 2.8L engine capacities. I'd say that the Appia was really not too bad for a 1953 design 1100cc economy car, and it puts into some perspective how far automotive technology has advanced in the past 60-70 years.
G
Various of the different Appia models (I counted at least 11 mentioned in the three articles I found) were raced and won handily in their class over the ten years of the model run. And the Appia chassis and engine was also the basis for a series of light utility vans and trucks in their day.
It seems the majority of the various standard Appia sedan and coupe models had top speeds in the 70-75 mph range. It was obviously an economy car vs the Flaminia which was a luxury V6 engined car with 2.3L to 2.8L engine capacities. I'd say that the Appia was really not too bad for a 1953 design 1100cc economy car, and it puts into some perspective how far automotive technology has advanced in the past 60-70 years.
G
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
A point of clarification, Godfrey, he never lived in Monterey, he was attending the Pebble Beach meet when he fell ill from his Parkinson's and died in Monterey at the hospital there.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Ah! That was unclear to me, but then I skimmed the article pretty quickly. Thank you!
Phil Hill was quite the guy in his racing years, although not quite as much obsessed over/adored as my all time racing hero of that time, Stirling Moss.
BTW: Returning to Lancia obsessions for a moment, I ran into this film yesterday while poking about on Prime Video ...
It's probably a pretty silly script like most of these racing movies are, but I suspect the footage of the rally Lancias and Audis will be fun to watch...
G
AlwaysOnAuto
Well-known
I'll have to look for that tonight when there's nothing else on. Thanks for posting it.
sojournerphoto
Veteran
Ah! That was unclear to me, but then I skimmed the article pretty quickly. Thank you!
Phil Hill was quite the guy in his racing years, although not quite as much obsessed over/adored as my all time racing hero of that time, Stirling Moss.
BTW: Returning to Lancia obsessions for a moment, I ran into this film yesterday while poking about on Prime Video ...
It's probably a pretty silly script like most of these racing movies are, but I suspect the footage of the rally Lancias and Audis will be fun to watch...
G
I had fun with a Delta Integrale once. That was a very charismatic car - the noise was ever present. One of the ones that got away whilst they were still affordable and now never to be. Still, at least I got to play with one and it was really very good.
Later , I played with an Imprezza, but it didn’t have the same charisma and I bought an Accord Type R instead - a hand built normally aspirated engine and, probably, the finest front drive chassis ever in its time won over against the Subaru’s turbo and the most front end dominated handling I think I’ve experienced.
Muggins
Junk magnet
The ultimate Lancia rally car was surely the Stratos. Maddest piece of cheese the world has ever seen.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Yes indeed! The Stratos was made specifically for rally racing and was the cutting edge of it for several years. They had to make a couple hundred of them to meet the homologation requirements ... most of which, it seemed, ended up on the race courses within a month of being sold. It was so intense that other top rally teams would see them on the registration billet and not even bother to register an entry...
I had a wild hare chance of acquiring one of them some years ago, but the opportunity was gone before I could get my money together for the venture. I did get a chance to take a test drive in it — it was like NOTHING else I've ever driven on the street! Brutally honest, "take no prisoners" power and brakes... Brutal, cramped, loud, intense instantaneous response, and takes active control to keep it running straight due to the extremely short wheelbase, huge wheels/tires, and right-on-the-edge suspension geometry. But it wasn't designed to go straight: it was designed to slam through switchbacks and turns on tricky, crappy surfaces for hours on end continuously on the limits!
Damn, I would have loved it. They're worth far too much now to even fantasize that one might materialize that I could afford.
G
—
No matter where you go, race there in a Lancia Stratos.
Muggins
Junk magnet
Here's a nutter throwing one around in 2023. Sadly the water pump went *phut* before the end of the rally.
Last edited:
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Ah, the leaping frog car... The Stratos is so sudden, so abrupt in the way it works, they always remind me of a flock of tree frogs in a race.
Here's some of the Fulvia in rally mode at Monte Carlo ...
G
Here's some of the Fulvia in rally mode at Monte Carlo ...
G
Muggins
Junk magnet
Rally trim really emphasises the ballet dancer in Doc Martens look, doesn't it?
robert blu
quiet photographer
The Lancia Fulva Coupè was a great small sport car! I
I inherited the one from my dad when he died, the 1.3 S version if I remember correctly 103 HP. and two double-body carburetors.
Great engine for those times, I remember that at the change of season (summer-winter) in addition to the oil change it was necessary to recalibrate the carburetors to maintain the smoothness of driving.
I should have some more photos but I only found recently this slide, yes I'm here about five decades ago!
The Lancia Aurelia, mentioned before together with Vittorio Gasmann and a very young Jean Louis Trintignan starred in the film “il sorpasso” about 1960s Italy in the time of the postwar economic miracle.
I inherited the one from my dad when he died, the 1.3 S version if I remember correctly 103 HP. and two double-body carburetors.
Great engine for those times, I remember that at the change of season (summer-winter) in addition to the oil change it was necessary to recalibrate the carburetors to maintain the smoothness of driving.
I should have some more photos but I only found recently this slide, yes I'm here about five decades ago!
The Lancia Aurelia, mentioned before together with Vittorio Gasmann and a very young Jean Louis Trintignan starred in the film “il sorpasso” about 1960s Italy in the time of the postwar economic miracle.
Godfrey
somewhat colored
Mahvelous photo, @robert blu ! Yes, it's a brilliant small engine, highly tuned, with a lot of carburetor ... In times past, it was considered normal to have to adjust and re-adjust the carburetors on both these and the Alfa Romeo 1300 high performance versions as well to accommodate different seasonal temperatures. No automatic adaptation by computer and fuel injection as we have on today's cars.
A lot of the need to fiddle with the carburetors in that day was due to the relatively mediocre quality of older ignition systems as well as the mechanical points and coil distributor. One of the first things I did on this car (also the 1.3S engine) was to replace the old ignition system with a modern 123 electronic ignition unit, along with modern high-performance coil and ignition wires. I'm also running more modern, wide-spectrum performance spark plugs. AND I rebuilt the carburetors completely (they were in a sorry shape as I got the car).
Once timed and the carburetors set up properly with this configuration a year and a half ago, the tune has basically stayed exactly the same since. Fires up instantly, is warmed to drive off about 90 seconds later. I did have to re-adjust the idle trim when I fitted the Abarth exhaust system, but that's about it.
Ah, Lancia Madness ... I just watched that movie "Race for Glory: Audi vs Lancia" which is inspired by 1983 competition for World Rally Championship between the Audi 4wd effort and Lancia's beautiful 037 car. A lot of fun!
G
A lot of the need to fiddle with the carburetors in that day was due to the relatively mediocre quality of older ignition systems as well as the mechanical points and coil distributor. One of the first things I did on this car (also the 1.3S engine) was to replace the old ignition system with a modern 123 electronic ignition unit, along with modern high-performance coil and ignition wires. I'm also running more modern, wide-spectrum performance spark plugs. AND I rebuilt the carburetors completely (they were in a sorry shape as I got the car).
Once timed and the carburetors set up properly with this configuration a year and a half ago, the tune has basically stayed exactly the same since. Fires up instantly, is warmed to drive off about 90 seconds later. I did have to re-adjust the idle trim when I fitted the Abarth exhaust system, but that's about it.
Ah, Lancia Madness ... I just watched that movie "Race for Glory: Audi vs Lancia" which is inspired by 1983 competition for World Rally Championship between the Audi 4wd effort and Lancia's beautiful 037 car. A lot of fun!
G