Lancia Motor Club

It is time to come clean ..... last May I bought a Flavia 1800 Vignale. It is a mint condition model, not something that I am used to!!!! I have really enjoyed it, very rarely having the hood up and choosing my routes carefully. It was snugged away in the garage for the winter, but came out on a few occasions when the weather permitted. One problem I have is that I will not take the car out when the roads still have salt residue on them and sunny winter days, when one is tempted to go for a drive, often follow cold, clear nights which bring out the gritters!!! Many beautiful potentially wonderful driving days become no go simply because of salt!!!

So about 4 weeks ago it was time to get her ready for more frequent use and, rather importantly, get an MOT. A quick check of the lights horn etc showed but one problem ... no main beam headlamps!! A check of the wiring diagram and a check of the car revealed fuses ok, but the relay was not  working. The one in question has what can best be described as a nodding donkey mechanism that engages a 4 toothed sprocket which turns the main beam on or off with each quarter turn ... it looks as though it was designed and made by a clockmaker!!!! Colin at the Consortium was most helpful and it became apparent the safest route would be to acquire a new relay unit. Surprisingly NOS units are still available and a visit or three to the internet revealed that Amadei Ricambi had a unit. They are not listed by Cavalitto, although I did not phone to check! The price was steeper than anticipated (it usually is) and Alessandro explained that it was the last one he had! So, now lighter by a few euros, the unit arrived (sooner than expected) and was duly fitted ... still the dip did not work, but that turned out to be the mechanical element needing a little (very little) oil and freeing up and soon all was well. So, an easy ride through the MOT yesterday and now all is ready for the summer ..... please let there be a summer!!!
The photographs were taken last summer ....

Now for photographs of the new relay. The electromagnetic switch on the left in the second photograph is the 'nodding donkey' unit. I have not seen anything like it before!

                          Andy

You dark horse you Andy.........

Thats very, very nice, well done, wishing you many happy and safe miles.

P

Good choice Andy! I am sure it will give you lots of pleasure. It looked good 31 years ago too!

Colin

That is lovely, thank you Colin. That was 1985, do you what event it was and who owned it then?

                          Andy

The event was the Flavia/2000 Consortium's celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Flavia. It was held on 18 May 1985 and was at Charlecote Park, Stratford on Avon. There were some lovely cars there including PYW, which was then owned by Brian Milner. This was the first real outing for me in my Vignale, which was then very tatty and it was inspirational!

Colin

We as a family of 4, went to Brittany in a Vignale many years ago,  848 KX , long since gone. Colin I doubt if your Vignale was as rough as the one I had, you know the one!

Roger, do you have any photographs of your journey?

I hope that at least two of your four were quite small, there is not a lot of legroom in the back of a Vignale!!!

                                           Andy

My Vignale was a much loved car, taking me with a couple of mates - one of whom was rather large - to the Nurburgring, towing an Austin Seven. It was Kugelfischer injection and was amazingly economical no matter what I did with it.
 Regards, John

The Vignale towing the A7 is a lovely sight. I bet you got a lot of interest and were photographed many times!!! I'm sure that you all had a great time.

                                                     Andy

Andy, I was about 9 or 10 ,and my sister would have been about 12, there are some photos that I took somewhere at my dads, next time I am over there I will get them and scan them, ours was the same colour as yours

The reason for this complicated dipping system was so that the headlights would always come on in the dipped position each time they were turned on so as not to dazzle other motorists.
Brian Long

Thank you Brian, I had not worked that one out. I was just amazed at the lovely bit of engineering hidden under that nondescript brown box. I had expected just to see the normal little electro magnets. Someone had had a problem in the past as the front relay of the three had been replaced by a modern cube.

                                      Andy

. . . which also happens on my Lambda, thanks to a complicated solenoid thingy! On the Augustas and Aprilias they had turn switches which switched dipped beams on before main beams.
Regards, John