Not all cheap Aurelia engines are bogus...
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a B10 engine for sale on an Italian website, described as Flaminia.
First things first I went through the usual kind of scammer checks - spoke to the seller (and half his family) and exchanged many emails thanks to Google's translate service (must take those lessons before it's too late).
Asking price 1,200 Euros. Gianluca, the seller, was prepared to box the engine and ship it to the UK for a further 400.
I'd mentioned at the beginning of my correspondence that he had an Aurelia engine despite the ad describing it as a 'Motore lancia flaminia tipo b10', but as the actual purchase got closer I started to worry about how things might play out. What if Gianluca discovered that it was an Aurelia engine (a very real possibility - any number of people might have seen what I'd seen) after I'd paid but before the engine was sent? I'd have a contract, but that contract specified Motore Flaminia. Things could get messy...
So when the seller in one of our final emails to finalise details wrote:
"
Se tutto ok ti invio i miei dati bancari con tutti i codici di riferimento per fare bonifico internazionale con causale ACQUISTO MOTORE LANCIA FLAMINIA DA PRIVATO.
Il prezzo è buono e come tu sai il motore è uguale a quello della LANCIA AURELIA."
which Google tells me means;
"
If everything ok I send you my bank details with all the reference codes to make international money order with causal PURCHASE FROM PRIVATE MOTOR LANCIA Flaminia.
The price is good and as you know the engine is equal to that of the Lancia Aurelia.".
(or something like that!) I cracked.
I wrote back explaining why, from the evidence of the photo the engine was Aurelia - the serial number, valve covers nut on top not round the side, circular casting hole for dynamo etc., and saying I was still interested in buying it but wanted everything out in the open.
4 days later I'd not heard anything, so I emailed again. Turns out a dealer turned up and bought all three engines in the picture above (it was via the Aprilia engine that I found the Aurelia/Flaminia one) for more than the asking price.
Hey ho.
If you're wondering about the paint on the engines, it seems they have spent the past 40 years as part of the equipment at a technical school, used as teaching aids.
