Aurelia Mania

[Richard Fridd]

I have accessed the site, but can't print the pdf. In the meantime can anyone remind me what this is please? (On the Aurelia Mania site but also in VL c1995)

[Parisien]

It looks like a skeletal tubal frame holding an extremely poorly bodied B 20 together.......bit like someone with a cranial fracture, sorta ingenious


P

[Richard Fridd]

Another

[DavidLaver]

Is there a way of telling if it is a B20 substructure or a Berlina that wants to be a B20?

David

[Niels Jonassen]

In 1982 I visited Luciano Basso's workshop i Turin. He was in he process of building two copies of the lightweight racing B20s with aluminium body. The car I saw was bulit around a frame looking exactly like this. If you look at the front of the frame you will se that it has the racing Aurelia louvres.

[ColinMarr]

Here are photos of one of Basso's replicas - taken at the LMC track-day at Castle Combe in 1993.

Colin

[Richard Fridd]

I was at Castle Coombe that day Colin and thanks for the reminder! I too took a shot of that car. If I had known more about it at the time,when I was in my twenties, I would have paid more attention! Anyhow which one is this?

[chriswgawne]

The brown car at Castle Combe in 1993 was supercharged I recall and looked and sounded great and I think the bulkhead was modified to clear the supercharger. Great to see photos - any of the engine bay Colin?
I believe I saw the pale blue one in a workshop in Turin in 2006 when it had a 2 litre engine with, I think, a twin Soles Nardi conversion. If my memory is correct, this car was built on a 1st Series floorpan.
Chris

[Richard Fridd]

There is this one as well

[ColinMarr]

My memory is that the brown lightweight B20 at Castle Combe didn't do more than one session and was put away somewhere - I didn't get the chance to see under the bonnet or to hear it. I was a bit preoccupied with my own B20, but I did have the chance to admire the D24 (and its inboard front brakes!), which was also owned by Anthony Maclean. I think I have posted these photos before, but they are worth another outing. Anthony is the guy in the middle of three in the black and white (Leica!) photo. Note the absence of the lightweight car in the parade lap assembly.

Colin

[chriswgawne]

Richard,
Correct me if I am wrong but the black car actually has a standard B20 body. The front wings look original to me.
However fitting sliding perspex windows + frames can give an illusion of a lower roof, particularly if the roof is a lighter colour. The sliding windows not only save weight but more importantly (IMHO) they allow the driver a lot more elbow room with a big steering wheel.
I have seen a couple iof B20s with a lowered roof normally coupled with a roof vent and upper wiper but there is more work to this than meets the eye.
Chris

[Richard Fridd]

Thanks for pointing that out Chris, and I wish I had taken more photos at Coombe Colin, although I probably only had a 24 film with me to last the whole day(including rejects) Here is one more photo where the car has a roof duct but no upper wiper, and peering into my Blackbaerry what looks like a a B20 shell

[DavidLaver]

I think that is the Mark Knopfler car - maybe it was a team of three that included him - that did the Carrera PanAmerica in the late 80s...  I'm trying to remember 25 years back but it might have had Flamina running gear all the way through.  A google just now linked Nick Mason and Dave Gilmore to the enterprise and perhaps 1988.

David

[ColinMarr]

I think there might be a confusion here between 'proper' lightweight replicas, such as the Anthony Maclean car, and the look-alike cars as used in the retro PanAmerica events. I remember one such car being prepared by Barry Waterhouse and the job I saw him doing was to put on a bit of negative camber on the front suspension. I think I mentioned this before - he was about to use a whole bottle of gas to do both sides in-situ on the car. I think it had been sub-contracted to Barry by the man who used to run Paradise Garage in Fulham and maybe he was contracted to do it by Nick Mason. The car was standard all-steel B20, but certainly looked the part. Sorry, no photos!

Colin

[Sliding Pillar]

These are the details for the pale blue car
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15342/lot/372/?search_query=1&division=&passages=True&earliest_first=True&value_data_currency=GBP&value_data_order_spec=%5B%27-value_low%27%5D&back_to_year=2003&date_range=past&main_index=lot&department=MOT-CAR&query=lancia%2Baurelia&create_facets=False&value_data_range_display=

and one of the recreation Carrera Panamerica cars
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/13352/lot/233/?search_query=1&division=&passages=True&earliest_first=True&value_data_currency=GBP&value_data_order_spec=%5B%27-value_low%27%5D&back_to_year=2003&date_range=past&main_index=lot&department=MOT-CAR&query=lancia%2Baurelia&create_facets=False&value_data_range_display=

and another race prepared car
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/13162/lot/229/?search_query=1&division=&passages=True&earliest_first=True&value_data_currency=GBP&value_data_order_spec=%5B%27-value_low%27%5D&back_to_year=2003&date_range=past&main_index=lot&department=MOT-CAR&query=lancia%2Baurelia&create_facets=False&value_data_range_display=