Many thanks, Mr Goldberg. May I ask if you could kindly point me towards a book or article written by you or by another well informed author on the question of whether Marshall Plan aid for Lancia was adversely affected by concerns that the Lancia family had been, in postwar US State Department eyes, too close to Communists when opposing Mussolini. Is that question perhaps covered in your De Virgilio book?
I'm interested in learning more about how the postwar fortunes of Lancia, Fiat, and Alfa varied. I add that I'm more of a general Italian car enthusiast than a die hard Lancista, although I find myself tending to get more Lancia-ish as time goes by. Right now I'm celebrating my decision not to buy a very tempting 1976 Alfetta GT last year, because that meant that I had funds available when a RHD 2000 HF Coupe suddenly popped up.
Your question has long been a difficult one for Lancia historians. There have long been rumors about the Marshall Aid and the family "connections" to political entities. I cover this somewhat in the book, but not fully as the research was ongoing and not quite complete at the time; Paolo Giusti has done the deep dive into the Lancia finances, and we have worked together on how to present the information. His research into the numbers show that the Lancia company was able to get loans and aid from the Marshall Plan, and that there appears to be no evidence of hindrance. Paolo has investigated the loans, which continue into the 1950s. What one might argue is whether or not they got their fair share, when compared to Fiat and Alfa Romeo, but that is a much more complex effort.
Please know that the research into this has included looking into Lancia corporate records (which Paolo did most carefully), and US Gov't publications of the period for loan amounts (year by year). While his writing on Ital economics and financial policy may be a bit florid, the research was sound.
See:
https://forum.viva-lancia.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1266251&p=1266251&hilit=paolo+giusti#p1266251A few other interesting points:
- the search for financial clarity is difficult due to the rather private way in which Lancia kept their financial records, Italian practice, and financial re-org in the company. Even more curiously, in 1952, Lancia corporate records simply decline listing any financial records, oddly taking a pass on the year. One can puzzle on that for quite some time.
- Guido Rosani spoke to me in detail about Gianni's involvement during the war. He was involved in the partisan movement, which at the time was a loose collaboration of many different resistance efforts, and included the Communist party. But he was not associated with them directly - Rosani made this very clear. And all the information he gave was always right, so I believe him on this too.
- the last major Lancia loan that Paolo identifies isn't paid back until the late 1950s, under the Fessia/Pesenti regime.
Hope this answers. What this does not address is two other issues: the role of out-of-date production practices, historically an issue at Lancia (too much hand work, and redoing) that stems from the 1930s, and also the role of racing and the tower building in the 1950s financial crisis (which is covered in detail in the book).
