Re: New toy in the stable

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- Fltrplntman@domain.elided wrote:
> Today, I saw an usual car in the paper . 1982 
> Lancia Zagato. 
>
> Does anyone on the Digest have, or has had any
> experience with these? I would 
> like to chat with you to get some details. How much
> are these things worth?

Many years ago, I was negotiating for the purchase of
what ended up being the World's Worst Lotus Cortina. 
However, a friend of a friend heard about it and spent
quite some time trying to talk me out of buying it
(would that I had listened to him).

Apparently his first car had been a new Lotus Cortina
fifteen years before, it was totalled while parked
when he had owned it for only a few months, sob, sob,
sob.  

"I'll do ANYTHING to get you not to buy this car," he
said.  "I'll GIVE you my Lancia, for free."

Without missing a beat, I replied:

"Peter, you and I both know there's no such thing as a
free Lancia."

Of course, more than once during the year or so that I
owned the Cortina, I wished I had taken him up on it. 


As for the current market value of '70s-'80s Lancias
in the U.S., don't expect to make a killing on this
one.  Check eBay for references; Lancias come up only
infrequently, and almost always at very low prices. 
To those outside the niche of Italian car enthusiasts,
Lancias seem to get even less respect than Alfettas or
Berlinas, and command less value in the marketplace. 
(This is only half-true for the Lancias of the Fifties
and Sixties; while the general public's awareness is
no greater for a Flaminia or a Fulvia than it is for a
Beta or a Zagato Spyder, the prices expected for them
are significantly more in keeping with the marque's
heritage and the cars' inherent enjoyability.)

I understand the cars are rewarding to drive and know
they have their stalwart defenders.  You should
probably look at this car as an entertaining
acquisition and a sort of "secret classic," much the
way I've talked about my Berlina -- nobody knows what
it is, but they also don't know how much fun you're
having with it.  That alone can be worth the price of
admission.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
.
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
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