How do you describe your Lancia to your friends?

[chriswgawne]

Most of our friends have no real interest in old cars whatsoever but they are polite people who feign interest from time to time, particularly if we have a new acquisition and as an aside most of the British friends think that the make 'Lancia' no longer exists.
If for some reason they see one of our old cars they seem to have to make a comparison to a make/model with which they are familiar.
So to them for example Aurelia B20's look similar to a Morris Marina Coupe, our Fulvia GTE looks like a Fiat 124 or Lada and the Aurelia B12 looks like a Riley Pathfinder, none of which rest easily with me due both to lack of engineering and design finesse or the actual age of the apparently comparable vehicle.
With B20's I suggest that a roughly equivalent vehicle might be an Aston Martin DB2 which isn't particularly helpful to friends because how many people have ridden or driven one of those but when it comes to the Fulvia GTE or the Aurelia B12 I am unable to offer a better known vehicle as a very rough equivalent.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? And what are rough equivalents to Flavias, Flaminias and Appias?

[Richard Fridd]

Strange but true! Comments I have received include the Fulvia Sport similar to a Ford Capri, the Fairthorpe similar to a Ferrari, and even the Alfa Guilia given the Lada comparison.

[nthomas1]

I have compared the Fulvia coupe to the pagoda Mercs (230SL, 250SL etc) and to the Gordon Keeble - but only in terms of styling.  All three have a similar profile with small glasshouse and relatively similar proportions.  I don't know what to compare the Fulvia sedan to but my Dad always described his as his little Rolls Royce!!

[Sebastien]

For the Aurelia B12 the MG Magnette comes to mind!
More frequent than the Riley Pathfinder - when have you last seen one?

[frankxhv773t]

I am able to tell people that a Flaminia Berlina was called Italy's little Rolls Royce and that the Italians still use a stretched version of it as presidential transport on the most important state occasions. I also tell them that when new you could buy for the same money a V12 E Type and a Mini Cooper S for your wife and still have enough change to buy another Cooper S for your mistress!

I find that drawing comparisons with more well known cars that cost the same when new is something they understand as well as what the more valuable models are worth now. At the moment on e-bay you can get two Porsche Carrera RSs for the asking price of a Stratos.

[ColinMarr]

Over the years I too have experienced friends asking me “so what’s so special about Lancia?” Ages ago I gave up trying to explain things about the subtlety of fine engineering and understated good design, which seemed to fall on deaf ears. Then I started to answer along the lines: “well, it’s a bit like Beethoven’s late quartets (or the Shakespearian sonnets, or the music of Duke Ellington) and in the same way, it takes a bit of effort to understand and appreciate why they are so special”. That usually seems to settle it and I am quite happy to live on in my own privileged knowledge of just how wonderful Lancias can be.

Colin

[fay66]

Shoot them out of hand for being so ignorant! no that's a bit strong.
With my 2c I often get the comment ' Oh, they were what the police used in the Italian Job' I usually put them straight, but I suppose it's a good comparison of a car of the same era, if not in quality or purpose.
I also tend to point out the excellent engineering and the performance potential compared to cars of the same era, often pointing out that my 1091cc engine put out 71bhp, which most 1600's of that era would have a job matching.
If I'm at shows I also let people sit in her, and everyone without fail remarks on the quality.
But I really get upset when Fay is compared to a Lada  

Brian
8227

[neil-yaj396]

I'd have thought that the comparison for the Fulvia saloon would be the early BMW and Audi saloons of that era, though the German cars were probably cheaper. It is ironic that so few of those remain because of their predilection to rust!

[chriswgawne]

I meant to say in my original post that it was prompted by Robert Coucher's enthusiastic piece on Aurelias and Flaminias  in this months OCTANE entitled:
 'There's not much point in collecting something if no-one knows what it is'.
Chris

[Tony Stephens]

Yes, but we need to remember ( his column header overlooks this) that his B20 was fitted with a Ford V6 engine!

[the.cern]

I meant to say in my original post that it was prompted by Robert Coucher's enthusiastic piece on Aurelias and Flaminias  in this months OCTANE entitled:
 'There's not much point in collecting something if no-one knows what it is'.
Chris

The point of collecting something is that it means something to you!! It's your money, your time and your effort that goes into whatever it may be. My wife has 100,000 pre 1930 postcards!! I don't begin to understand that!!

 However, rather than take the line of Robert Coucher, I would prefer to go with the maxim "There's not much point in collecting something if everyone seems to have or had one".

Just my personal opinion!

                            Andy

[Sebastien]

I don't like the "collecting" word. I enjoy my cars as an "amateur", not as a "collector".

Amateur: a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons.

So for an interested friend, I shall always try to explain what makes my Lancia special to me, and why I get pleasure from driving it!

And I am wary of comparisons. An Aurelia B12 is a B12 - and I just now saw during my Sunday walk a MG Magnette, and enjoyed that MG, and the sound, for what it was, a nice MG, driven by an enthusiastic owner!

[DavidLaver]

With the Aurelia I used to start from "its a five seat saloon that came second in the Mille Miglia against a field of prototype Ferraris".  Perhaps today that would be like an Audi A8 coming second at Le Mans - which might have been possible if it was the only 4x4 diesel with ABS and stability control systems up against petrol prototypes with no driver aids the year a hurricane hit France on race weekend.  For the Aurelia it was about the inboard rear brakes and trailing arm suspension, gear box at the back, stiff shell, compact and light V6.  There's also its robustness from a company with a rich heritage building trucks. 

"If Lotus did the design and Mercedes did the build".

For a Fulvia perhaps disk brakes all round which is still not universal. From that a pair of twin choke side draughts and twin cams.  Perhaps the same impact in its day as when the first Golf GTi came out with a "race engine in a sober family car".  The Lotus Cortina is another parallel.  The Fulvia coupe's rally success reflects well on the saloon.

"Reassuringly expensive" and "swiss watch" are worth a go.  In that regard I love the Appia for having so many of the expensive Aurelia details and build quality but in a "humble" little family saloon.  The reliability trials grab attention.

David

[Niels Jonassen]

I agree with Sebastien. The reason why I own and drive a B20 is that when I was sixteen I read an article about it and later saw an Italian movie about motor racing in which the main character drove a B20 as his private car. I realized that I would never come near a B20 - but nevertheless I did, in 1977. Clapped out, sitting in a barn costing about 1,000 pounds. I bought it over the 'phone without having seen it. It took four years to restore, and we have enjoyed it ever since. Does it compare with anything. Hardly. The Aston Martin DB2 may be a possibility, and then not. It is faster in a straight line, but otherwise it is so inferior to the B20. Trust me, I have tried both on the same day. The price then is probably the only way to give the unknowing an idea of what it was and is.

[stanley sweet]

I've been told my Fulvia Coupe looks like a Triumph Spitfire. Work that out. Also, almost everybody thinks the roof lifts off like an SL. If I want to describe it really quickly I use a term I once read - 'It's a Swiss watch in an Italian suit'. It's very hard to link it to anything. How many other FWD twin-cam 2+2's are there?