Re: Lancia

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

I'm going to have to object to a couple of points.  Michael's 
correction to his own post is dependent on your definition of 
"traditional," I suppose.  Even before Fiat took over and built the 
Beta with its conventional transverse inine 4, FWD drivetrain, Lancia 
built some of the earliest front-drive cars (I know Citroen and Cord 
did it pre-war, but the point is it hadn't become popular yet).  The 
Flavia and the Fulvia were front-drive, but with longitudinal 
drivetrains.  The Fulvia used a narrow angle V4 that was much like 
the late-model VW engines that everyone loves so much, the Flavia 
used a boxer, making for a drivetrain the resembles that of the 
Alfasud (although the engine itself was much wackier than the Alfa 
boxer).  On that note, it should be noted that the Aurelia (first 
production use of a V6 engine, 1950), with its aluminum V6, 
rear-mounted transaxle w/clutch, and deDion rear suspension, is 
rather similar to Alfa's GTV6.

And I must object to the Stratos (my all-time favorite car) being 
called a "Ferrari w/ another name."  Although it used the Ferrari 
Dino V6 (as did the Fiat Dino Coupe and Spider), it was in every way 
a Lancia, the last hurrah for their engineering department after they 
were bought by Fiat (not unlike the Alfa SZ of 1989), and arguably 
the last "real" Lancia.

At 9:08 PM -0600 6/8/2, C M Smith wrote:

> Traditionally, Lancia had rwd, sorry for the misinformation. The 
> sliding pillar front suspension was on rwd models.
>
> When Lancia became part of the Fiat empire the fwd models took over.

> Traditionally, Lancia were front wheel drive cars. Famous Lancia's 
> include the Aurelia, Flavia, Fulvia and Aprilia. 50's Lancias even 
> had sliding pillar front suspension just like those antiquated 
> Morgans.
>
> Rwd Lancia include the fabulous Stratos, which was a Ferrari with 
> another name, and the Scorpion (Monte Carlo in Europe) which was a 
> Fiat, as were the Betas. The Scorpion had the Beta fwd drivetrain 
> installed in front of the rear wheels as for the X1/9.
>
> The Zagato was a Beta Coupe with the targa roll bar and canvas roof. 
> Used a FIAT 124 engine and a Lancia gearbox transversely mounted.
>
> The Lancia also improved upon the HPE (high performance estate). The 
> Beta HPE was a very nice car. Reliant of Britain had the Scimitar 
> with the Ford V6 from 1968 and were first with this idea. Volvo of 
> course added this feature to their venerable sports coupe, the P1800 
> to create the P1800E. Jensen also had a Jensen Healey HPE with that 
> Lotus/Vauxhall engine.
>
> Most celebrated among modern Lancias were the awd Delta and 
> Integrale and the truly fabulous Thema which is a 164/ SAAB 9000 
> chassis with a detuned Ferrari V8 stuffed transversely under the 
> hood trying desperately to drive the car through only the front 
> wheels!
>
> Your Zagato is a very nice car, even if it was designed by 
> Pininfarina and only constructed in Zagato's small factory.
>
> Cheers
>
> Michael
>
>
> Michael Smith
> Calgary, Alberta,Canada
> 91 Alfa 164L
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