A bit of history…
We have decided to include on our new portal a space dedicated to the history, in particular to the history of the Lancia Fulvia Coupé, to which the majority of the spare parts we currently deal belong. But to get to the Lancia Fulvia Coupé it is necessary to start from the trees and contextualize when and how the Lancia brand was born.
The history of Lancia began on November 29, 1906, when Vincenzo Lancia, a former test driver and former Fiat driver, founded the Lancia & C. brand together with his friend Claudio Fogolin.
The company logo, consisting of the spear, the flag and the stylized steering wheel that we all know by now, was designed in 1910 by Count Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, a great car enthusiast.
The first model produced was the 12HP, presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1908 and already characterized by a high level of finish for the time, equipped with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and capable of reaching 90 km / h .
The feedback from the market was immediately positive and this allowed the company a rapid expansion, continuing year after year in the production of new cars up to the Theta in 1913, the first car in history to have a complete electrical system and the first model of Lancia to boast an irrefutable international success.
With the outbreak of the First World War, the Lancia was decreed “Auxiliary plant of war”, so all the energy of the factory had to be directed to the war effort of the nation: it was thus that the company began to produce trucks for the army.
After the war, starting from 1919 the company returned to producing cars: the Kappa was presented, equipped with an engine with separate head, a lever gearbox between the two seats and the abandonment of wooden wheels in favor of disc wheels , in sheet metal.
However, 1919 was not a lucky year for the company which, for the first time since its foundation, recorded a decrease in production and the year ended with a substantial loss.
Lancia was relaunched definitively by the Lambda model, sold starting in 1923, the first car in the world equipped with a load-bearing body and one of the first with independent front suspension. And again, the Dilamba, with an eight-cylinder engine, destined for wealthy motorists on the American market.
In the following decade the production of models very appreciated by the customers of the time continued and, at the end of the period of the Greek alphabet, the names assigned were now taken from the ancient Italic civilization: the Artena, the Augusta, which brings the load-bearing body to its debut. on a lower-end model, the Aprilia, the latest car designed by Vincenzo Lancia, and finally the Ardea.
During the Second World War the Lancia factories were again converted to war production.
After the war, the company decided to invest in competitions and in 1947 it passed into the hands of Vincenzo’s son, Gianni Lancia.
The 1950s were once again marked by a series of commercial successes for Lancia. The Aurelia was presented, the first production car to have a V6 engine and independent four-wheel suspension, the B20 coupé. This model managed to establish itself in the most important competitions of the time, such as the Targa Florio in 1952 and the Monte Carlo Rally in 1954. In the following years, Lancia won the Targa Florio twice more, in 1953 and 1954, winning for the first and the only time the Mille Miglia and debuts in Formula One. As for the production models, the Appia was presented.
Starting from the second half of the century, the slow decline that will lead to the current situation will begin. From a financial point of view, things began to go wrong and the Lancia family was forced to leave the property, giving the majority to the Pesenti family. With the new management the Flaminia were built in 1957 and the Flavia in 1960.
Here we are in 1963, the year in which the Lancia Fulvia debuted.
The first version to be launched on the market was the Sedan, from which the Coupé was derived. The Fulvia Coupé was the model that achieved the most success, due both to its distinctive design and to the victories achieved in competitive racing by the ‘HF’ variant in the first half of the 1970s. In fact, the Fulvia Coupé was produced continuously for more than ten years.
The bodywork was designed by the stylist Piero Castagnero, already the author of the design of the previous Berlina. It presents itself as a car with compact shapes that are somewhat reminiscent of the splendid Riva motorboats. The front track is 1,300 mm, the rear one is 1,280 mm, the wheelbase is 2,330 mm, shortened by 150 mm compared to the sedan.
The evolution of this car was driven by racing needs. Achieving success in the Rally Championships was one of the primary objectives of the Management of the