Lancia Motor Club

A few months ago I returned to Fulvia ownership after a long break of about 16 years. Before that I had several Fulvias from when I was in my teens onwards. My aim with this car is to enjoy it and steadily improve it. It is incredibly original structurally though in a non-standard colour.

I bought it in the US and it has just been registered. I think it came from the Netherlands so if anyone recognises it, that would be interesting.

I will post a picture or two when I figure out how to do so (large files).
Thanks.

Look forward to seeing the pics Jai, welcome back to life with a Fulvia.

Picture!

And another

Stunning Jai, look forward to seeing you out and about on the road Prescott Hill Climb perfect for Fulvias.

Thats a nice looking example Jai. Not overmanicured or spruced up and from the outside, it looks very original.
Chris

And the colour is to my eyes very nice indeed, unshowy but smart, and correct enough for the period I would think. Congratulations.

I think this is the one fronBAT, from Chicago area? know the former owner, very good guy. Car very original. Enjoy!

Thanks all. Yes, the previous owner was from the Chicago area, or GG did you know someone who had it before then?
I quite like the grey, pretty understated. I like red less these days in spite of having three red cars!

In the wild

Twenty-three years ago you had a memorable white 1600HF, seen in this photo at the North Weald Sprint. The Fanalone looks gorgeous!

Thanks Colin that is a nice memory. I enjoyed that car very much, and raced it as you will recall for several years.
I am ducking the question of whether I have aged by 23 years since that photo!

 know the Chicago area owner. Nice guy, the family had many Lancias, and other cars, all in good shape.

Thanks GG. According to his son, they had 78 cars!

The man talking with Jai looks a bit different now.
   
  Richard
 

As do I  :D

Hi Jai, not only you that has returned to the Fulvia fold, after a gap of 21 years I've recently bought a S1 coupe. Ed.

Hi Ed,

That is very nice to see 😀

Hello Jai

I read you post earlier and sent a copy of the photo of your old HF at the sprint to Justin Hildreth, who’s old car I could see in the background.

I also sent it to Tim Jewell, who sent me the attached to send on to you. It’s you at Castle Coombs I believe.

Tim says to say hello to both you and Colin, by the way.

Nick

Hi Nick,
Thanks, and hello back to Tim. Unfortunately I can't manage to see the picture. I'm not sure if it loaded properly (I'm no IT expert!).

Hi Jai

Yes I see what you mean about the photo. I e just tried again but it won’t link.

I’ll try and email it to you.

Nick

Thanks Nick, it's a great photo. I'll try to post it and see if it works. Colin

Nothing beats seeing a Fulvia in action.
Great photo.

Thanks for the photo, it is lovely to see. I think it was Castle Combe in 2001. I raced that car from 2001-2007. I clearly recall that race, the Fulvia was a 1.6 which was one of the smallest engine cars in the 70’s Roadsports series. I had the car as a road car before then, I bought it in 91. At that time it was very standard and it was towards the back of the grid, and the grids were often full as the series was popular. That particular race was one of the wettest I ever experienced and many cars were spinning or crashing. The Fulvia was fantastic in the wet, although there was a lot of aquaplaning because of the sheer amount of water and the semi slick tyres.  I managed to finish sixth which was my best result in that car ever. It rained so much that day the car was even aquaplaning on the motorway on the way home! Someone else told me that my times had the smallest difference between dry and wet times on that day. I always loved racing the Fulvia in the rain. I then raced a 308 GTB for another 12 years but it wasn’t as much fun as the Fulvia.

The car was white as in the picture, it was white from new. I had it painted red/black bonnet in about 2005 and I sold it in 2007 to Ken Rorrison, who had it painted blue and raced it for several years. Then he sold it and it was converted back to a road car, still blue. It came up for sale 3 or 4 years ago I think, in decent condition and is still around.

Jai

Hello All

New to this forum but not to NPP 228L.

In January 1973 Denham Service Station supplied a new Lancia Fulvia 1600HF, in Saratoga Bianco, for the princely sum of £2365.00.

The first owner kept the car until January 1980, despite having 'rust repairs' carried out on two occasions in '76 and '79. The car was then sold privately, the new owner purchasing it for his wife - who didn't like the car at all.

Enter yours truly, at 22, who swapped my Dolomite Sprint for NPP in June of 1980.

I was therefore, the third owner.

Some years later, I talked to Ken Rorrison at Silverstone about his dark blue car as the number plate seemed familiar. On the Sunday I returned having found my original receipts, both for its purchase and later sale, intending to hand them over to add to whatever history he had. Ken was nowhere to be seen, having suffered an engine failure the day before, and the paperwork remains with me.

In a strange twist of fate, however, I am now also the twelfth owner having bought the car back in 2020.

Sadly, Jai is a bit wide of the mark describing it as being 'in decent condition' - it's not, although it was bought very much with my eyes open. I have a few immaculate examples of cars from my past, but the idea that it was actually 'my' car means that the back-story is worth the pain of its resurrection.

How bad? The picture shows over 40kg of filler that I removed. Ironically it had alloy panels fitted to save on race weight  ;D

I don't want to derail Jai's new Fanalone thread (very envious), so at some point, I'll start NPP its own thread and I can share some of the restoration photos.

Hi T1RBO,

Thanks very much for posting! Apologies for the delay, I was traveling last week. What a lovely story, so nice to read the background. In terms of "decent condition" I was just going by the photos in the advert.

I bought the car from a chap called Guy, in 1991. We became friends and that remains the case today. When I bought the car it had a notebook which recorded pretty much all the work done since new. I kept it up during my resurrection, I recall the mileage was 64,000 then, mainly because I wrote the mileage each time something was done to it and it took a while to get it done.

When I bought it, Guy had owned it since I think '87. It had a gearbox failure and was taken off the road. At the time it already needed a lot of repair. It was in pieces and took two trips to collect all the bits. Then, I had someone weld it up in their garage for six weeks with sills, inner membranes half wings front and rear valences, floor repairs etc etc. I think repair panels had just become available and they didn't fit particularly well. I then worked on putting it together, along with a replacement sub-frame alloy panels etc. At the time the cars were not worth much and standards no doubt have risen.

When I sold it I know Ken had it re-painted blue and a considerable amount of filler was removed by John Day. I'd love to see a thread on it, I've had over 50 Italian cars in my time and this was the one I enjoyed the most so I for one would enjoy seeing the resurrection.

Jai

Here's a photo of NPP being raced by Ken Rorrison at Brands Hatch in 2009, being hotly pursued by Jai in his 308 and Alex Childs in his Fulvia Sport. One of the most exciting races I have ever seen with Ken and Alex changing places on each lap.

Another nice picture. I recall spinning that day.

Well by way of a mini-update, I was trying to piece the history together. I bought the car from the US, and they bought it from the Netherlands. I managed to track down the seller in the Netherlands, who is a Classic Lancia parts specialist (there is a photo of the car on his website).

He told me the following.

Quote-

The car was “mouse grey”, it was his sons car, purchased 14 years ago from first owner in Italy, they then sold it to the guy in the US. They worked on the car according to “German standards”, so did not use refurbished or overhauled or reproduction parts, everything was brand new.

Brakes are made by Hydrasil (sp?) an American company. It had new discs, callipers (stainless steel). The callipers are not of the original type (the originals are Dunlop and sometimes can be troublesome).

Headlamps were new, handbrake system/cables, lower wishbones new, wishbone supports replaced with poly pieces (from USA) from an aerospace producer in Daytona, Rear and side windows remain original plexi, the radiator was new, all the rubber hoses brand new, brake master cyl new. Wiring loom partly new.

The subframe and brackets were all new. Wax coating was Owatrol used by navy sea vessels (it is everywhere!). Wheel bearings were all replaced.

The car was painted this colour before they got it, so must have been done in Italy.

New clutch. Negative camber checked. New water thermostat, german made.

They additionally replaced the following.

Condoms (hopefully a translation error......) onto drive shafts
front shocks (adjustable)
rear shocks
upper ball joints = 2 X
lower ball joints = 2 X
steering joints = 4 X
centre track rod assembly
brake hoses = all
exhaust (front)
Ignition (computerized version)
Ignition cables 5 X
Wooden Dash (imitation wood)

Unquote.

So that is all really useful to know, even if some of it is all quite a long time (but few miles) ago.

Jai -
I remember seeing that car here locally and it was a very good car. Glad you got it.

I was interested, but held off as the Fanalone I owned 1977-1980 was with a friend in Wisconsin for the past 43 years, and he was possibly interested in letting it go (has several other Lancias). He liked the idea of it returning to Chicago.... so long story short.... repainted about 10 years ago to match the same scheme it had in 1977; no other major mods, essentially unrestored, but running well. Local mechanic did a lot of fettling, new rubber throughout, and its a very happy car.

Geoff

Thanks GG that is an interesting post. Congratulations on being reunited with your own Fanalone !