Lancia Motor Club

Hi all,
A GTL 2.8 3C I bought last year came with some history. An intriguing document in the file is a 'Maryland Certificate of Title' dated 2002. I wrote a letter to the then owner who subsequently Emailed me. An amazing story then unfolded.
It transpires that my car was unearthed in a lock-up during painstaking research by our man, an Auctioneer employed to research the deceased owners Estate.
It was bashed about, interior ripped to shreds by vandals and sitting on perished tyres. It had clearly been in situ for many years. Lifting the bonnet revealed an empty engine bay. The engine was nowhere to be found. Despite this, our man, a car enthusiast himself, agreed a deal with the Estate to accept the car in part payment of his fees and took it away, thinking at that time he would need to fit a locally sourced engine.
In the meantime, his wife, working alongside him but focusing on the document trails leading to the deceased' extensive Real Estate portfolio, uncovered an envelope marked 'Lancia'. In it was an invoice for the engine work dated 27 years prior. Despite some initial disappointment in finding out that the workshop was no longer there, enquiries resulted in the tracing of the ex-proprietors daughter. Our man knocked on the door, to be told 'I'll get my dad'. A 93 year old appeared and when asked about the Lancia engine, he said, 'Ive got it here'!
Perfectly preserved under wraps were the engine and triple Webers.
'Ive got the car, can I buy the engine?'
'you can have it with pleasure if you pay the $450 bill. I never got paid for it.
Happy Days!
Our man got the car going fairly quickly and enjoyed it in its tatty state for a couple of years before selling it on. It was subsequently restored to its current amazing condition in Mexico, finally being sold to the UK in 2015.
Fast forward to 2022 and I bought a mint, matching numbers 1966 Flaminia GTL 3C. I am delighted to have now listed all the owners right back to when the car was either new or, not very old...(?)
I would love to find out who the car was sold to from new. I wonder if it was a personal import or via a US dealer. Do the Factory Records exist I wonder?
A story stranger than fiction!
The engine is silky smooth and a clear testament to the old school engineer who rebuilt it all those years back.
The only thing we found last year was the clutch had been fitted incorrectly ( our man put his hand up to that when we spoke!). The aligning pins...ahem..werent(!), and the clutch was subsequently distorted when it was torqued down with the pins proud. It had an unacceptable judder on take-off. A new clutch assembly, everything balanced correctly (plus electronic ignition etc) et Voila! what a fantastic machine!

All the best
Peter Holloway

Marvellous story Peter. Any photos of the initial find?

  Richard

Hi Richard,
A cracker indeed!
I'll post any further developments. The $450 bill, plus some 'as found' photos would ice the cake for sure!
Do you know if the original records exist? I would love to find out where it went to when fresh off the production line.
All the best
Peter

Not sure where to look for records. I suppose full vehicle details would be a starting place.
  Sounds a a nice car. LHD?

  Richard

Hi Richard. Its a LHD car.

Chassis number: 826140001295

Best

Peter

Ooops! Sausage fingers!

Fabulous story!
Tracking down that engine, just brilliant 8)

That's interesting. What is involved regarding a Fiat Storica build certificate?

  Richard

I think there is an option to apply for one on their website, it costs about E 100 and is emailed (and consequently not recognised by DVLA). They used to do a more thorough inspection based assessment but I'm not sure that is still available.

Does Heritage not still offer a hard copy (if they have the records) alternative for some more euros?

Yes, I got one last year, included in the €100 charge iirc, just takes a while to arrive after the email.

Thank you all.
The build sheet would be nice. What I would dearly love to know is where it went to from the factory initially? I wonder if it was sold to a US dealer or shipped privately when either new or nearly new..??
And now...
My first GTL EAD 590A was featured in the December 2001 Issue of Classic and Sportscar. Thank you Martin Buckley for the Heads Up, what an addition to the history file! I now have 2 copies thanks to Ebay.
If anybody can contribute to the history of this car I would be very grateful indeed.
The article draws reference to an owner in Cheltenham back then by the name of Brian McKenna. I have written to an address that I found online and hope it is the same person.
I have also written to the owner prior to me, Farzad Zahab. No reply thus far..
All the best
Peter Holloway

Before and after!
Best
Peter Holloway

And here is my first car!
Peter H