Words Remigio Camilla / Photos Alessandro Marrone

 At the beginning of the 60s of the last century, the Italian automotive scene but also the European counterpart did not have a completely new car, result of an entirely new and at the same time innovative project for the technical solutions adopted, but above all free from the use of mechanics or components taken from previously produced models.

In those years, Eng. Antonio Fessia was in charge as Central Technical Director for Lancia. In the second half of the 40s he had worked at CEMSA-CAPRONI, where he designed a truly innovative car for the times, the F11, produced in only seven units, equipped with front-wheel drive, a 1,099 cc four-cylinder boxer engine positioned overhanging the front axle. Unfortunately, it just remained a prototype due to the company’s financial problems. For Fessia, however, it represented the personal “milestone”, the achievement of personal success, which will lead him nine years later – at the end of the 1950s – to the design and construction of the Lancia Flavia. Fessia reproposed the same scheme of the F11, monocoque body, four-cylinder boxer engine with 1,500 cubic capacity placed frontally overhanging the front axle, finally managing to realize the much sought-after project of a front-wheel drive series production model and already proposed in the years in which he was working for FIAT and collaborated with Dante Giacosa on the design of the 500 A.

 

 

 

Simultaneously with the creation of the Flavia, Lancia was speculating on the model that was about to replace the Appia, which since 1953 had been built in three different series and versions. The first design steps of the new model, the Fulvia, date back to the summer of 1960 and conceptually in many of the solutions adopted the two projects seem to overlap each others in terms of the technical solutions adopted. For this reason they are also called “Siamese projects”, because they are children of the same design philosophy. Lancia had put great efforts in studies, research, design and construction of the front-wheel drive system and this could not just be dedicated to the Flavia, which is why the two models have many elements and mechanical parts in common. Priority will be given to the development and marketing of the Flavia, as it was extremely urgent to fill the great gap between the two in production, the large and expensive Flaminia and the small but refined 1100 Appia, in order to offer the public an intermediate model that could guarantee more income to Lancia. The same floor of the Flavia Coupe is adopted for the Fulvia, because it is about 17 cm shorter than the sedan chassis, including the front subframe equipped with transmission, suspension, steering and the rear rigid axle. The Fulvia was therefore born with a platform and a very robust mechanics that will prove useful not only on the sedan but above all in the sports models that will be used in racing and especially on the dirt rally stages.

 

As for the powertrain Prof. Fessia would like to follow the Flavia approach, but Lancia prefer to return to the classic 4-cylinder V-shaped layout. Initially they move towards the Appia Sport engine, a decidedly cheaper choice but also a fallback and this solution – after various studies and tests – will be abandoned, because it did not guarantee any possibility of future development for the sports variants. A new narrow V engine with double overhead shaft is therefore designed in perfect Lancia style and will have the particularity of being positioned inclined at 45° to limit its height under the bonnet of the sedan and cantilevered on the front wheeled axle. At the time, for Lancia purists, the new Fulvia was considered a proper Lancia, unlike the Flavia which, with its boxer engine, was not considered as such. The new Fulvia is immediately met as a car with plenty of class despite the small engine of only 1,091 cc, very well built and finished with quality materials, refined mechanics, four disc brakes, a large cockpit and trunk. The only flaw is the limited horsepower available, only 54 allowing shy performance due to the adoption of a single carburetor. Already the following year, Lancia remedied and in 1964 presented the 2C model, whose initials refer to 2 double-barrel carburetors that allowed it to obtain 71 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and a speed of 145 kph. Highly respectable performance for an engine of just 1,099 cc.

 

 

 

For years, Lancia had a consolidated tradition of combining sports derivatives alongside its sedan models, as had happened in the 1950s with the Aurelia and later with the Appia, the Flaminia and the new Flavia. For the Fulvia, the Lancia management decided to produce a coupe on its own in the Chivasso plants, using the same assembly lines and the same mechanics of the sedan, with an expected production of 100 pieces per day. The task of designing the coupe was entrusted to stylist Piero Castagnero, who had in fact taken care of the sedan. According to his intentions he had drawn inspiration from the famous RIVA superboats, through a very slender front and a clean cut tail. However, since 1959 there were prototypes made by stylist Giovanni Michelotti on FIAT 1200 platform and mechanics, in 1960 the OSCA 1500 made for Fissore and in 1961 the Sportinia for Scioneri, cars that visually brought back many details and similarities to Castagnero’s creation.

Nevertheless we finally have a belt line characterized by the sharp edge on the tail, the front with 4 headlights as well as the side cut that leaves room to the headlights and even the flat pagoda roof that was much criticized to Michelotti when he proposed it on the aforementioned models. Leaving aside, however, the possible diatribe between the two designers, when the Fulvia Coupe was unveiled for the first time in 1965 at the Geneva Motor Show, it immediately got enormous success, thanks to the taut and clean line, slender and thin, elegant and sporty, with the classic cabin defined as a turret characterized by a large glass surface and thin pillars for excellent external visibility. As for the chassis, the one of the sedan shortened by about 15 cm, the mechanics are borrowed straight from the 2C sedan, a fact that can be found in the set-up which in the later 1300 versions is slightly lowered, up to the second series with the advent of FIAT management, where the high trim will be resumed. The interior is both sporty and very elegant with the dashboard and the steering wheel in wood, a refinement that few sports cars of the time could boast, as well as a very complete instrumentation where the odometer and the large round tachometer stand out. Also round but with a smaller diameter are the various water, oil, fuel level and clock gauges. The engine is increased to 1,216 cc with an output of 80 hp which will later also be used on the sedan that will take the name of GT.

 

 

 

In designing the body of the Fulvia sedan and coupe, great importance is given to the safety factor, which was still neglected by many manufacturers at that time. The use of the monocoque bodywork patented by Lancia already with the Lambda model provided a very rigid floor, just think ‘bout the various Lancia with four doors with wardrobe-like opening without central pillar. In the Flavia and Fulvia project, having all the mechanics in front position and mounted on an auxiliary frame consequently led to having a particular reinforced structure, formed by inclined struts that structurally interact with the engine frame. The result is therefore a body with differentiated crash absorption, where the slight ones are absorbed by the underbody and progressively by the frame in more consistent shocks, until the underbody and engine frame collapse downwards, safeguarding the passenger compartment.

The Lancia management identifying in the small and agile Coupe great qualities and possibilities for competitive use, will implement an extraordinary evolution on it thanks to Cesare Fiorio, sporting director of the Lancia Racing Team with the famous Reparto Corse directed by Gianni Tonti, assisted by his tireless and unsurpassed mechanics. Already in 1965 the new coupe, suitably lightened through the use of peraluman panels and by replacing the rear windows with plexiglass, was used in the Tour de Corse driven by Italian driver Leo Cella. From that prototype the future HF 1200 will be born, marking the beginning of a continuous and constant evolution of the HF models that will bring technical benefits to traditional coupes but also to sedan models. The Fulvia HF 1200 and 1300 cars were not very different from the model from which they derived, even if they were compared on a par for performance and technical modifications with rivals like the Mini Cooper and Renault R8 Gordini. In 1968 Cesare Fiorio decides he wants a more powerful Fulvia HF, more competitive than the previous HFs and that can compete with the lighter Alpines and also with more powerful cars. Thanks to this the 1600 engine was born courtesy of the design by Eng. Zaccone Mina, who works alone and almost in secrecy, especially at home on Sundays, due to the climate of hostility shown by Prof. Fessia, who is opposed to speed for Lancia branded cars.

 

 

 

Over the years and following motorsport actions, the car body had already been modified from a technical point of view, but in addition to the engine it was necessary to have a new gearbox, the four-speed was no longer adequate, since the control lever has long running movements, not ideal in racing. Time to work on the realization of a five-speed gearbox and with a leverage that allows a reduction as far as movements through the gears concern. Confining this new type of gearbox just to the HF 1600 for competition was, however, uneconomical. The time was now good to equip Lancia cars with a five-speed gearbox, essential not only on sports cars but also on motorway-style sedans. The new HF 1600 thus becomes at the same time a sports and transition car for the new Fulvia sedan and coupe models, but also for the Flavia. The new gearbox is initially made for economic reasons using the same four-speed gearbox casing, modifying the rear cover to make room for the fifth added ratio, called “testone”, a temporary and also delicate gearbox that will be mounted on the first 1,002 HF 1600 for a total of 1,278 produced, up to chassis number 2,002, waiting for the new crankcase to contain the five gears that will be adopted on all second generation Fulvia and Flavia. Aesthetically, the bodywork will be distinguished from the previous HFs by adopting two central headlights with a greater diameter than the external ones and this particular detail will give it a great personality and will deserve the name Fanalone. Another not only aesthetic detail is given by the tailpipes on the front and rear fenders, due to a modified set-up with a more pronounced negative camber and to the new Cromodora 6J-13 rims. The identification numbering of the new Fulvia Coupe Rallye 1.6 HF will be 818.540, its engine has an even narrower angle between the cylinders than the previous versions, 11° 21′, of 1.584 cc, powered by two Solex 42 DDF double-barrel carburettors capable of 114 HP, which the Lancia Reparto Corse directed by Gianni Tonti will bring in its maximum evolution up to 150/160 HP.

 

 

 

Its racing season began as early as 1968, the year known above all for the experimentation of the new engine and will continue with great successes and victories until 1972, an unforgettable year with a fantastic list of victories that allowed Lancia to get the World Championship. 20 Championships and Trophies, 79 Overall Victories, 242 Class Wins and the unexpected gold in Monte Carlo. In his book “Reparto Corse Lancia”, Gianni Tonti says: “The whole world of rallies believed that the Fulvia HF had its day. It was no longer competitive at the highest levels. Compared to the Porsche 911 S with a 2,400 cc engine and with the super-light Alpine A110 powered by the 1.8-liter engine, it seemed impossible. The mechanical parts of the Fulvia 1600 were all at the physical limit: engine, transmission and suspensions “. Moreover, by now under the FIAT direction, the production of the Fulvia sedan had already been closed and that of the coupe was also about to close, so the scenario – says Tonti – was gray. The only possible update for the 1600 already in the pipeline was the self-locking differential, which at that time was exclusively mechanical and produced in England by Borg Warner, very difficult to use on front wheel drive cars because it forced to a very tiring drive. In this regard, Gianni Tonti recalls a phrase said by Lancia driver, Amilcare Ballestrieri, after having tested a Fulvia HF 1.6 equipped with a self-locking device: “It is very hard to keep the road. It’s like driving a magnet between two iron walls”. After several attempts at the Reparto Corse they came to a compromise to make the effort behind the wheel less demanding. This compromise consisted in decreasing the incidence and the camber of the two vertical axles of the front wheels which made it lose some transversal grip but gained traction on wet, muddy and snowy ground, just what was needed for the Montecarlo.

 

 

 

On the victory at the Monte Carlo in ‘72, Mattia Losi – editor-in-chief of Sole 24 Ore and cars enthusiast – wrote an exciting and engaging book entitled: “L’Incredibile Corsa” (The Incredible Race, ed), with the eyes of a 10-year-old child, since that was his age in 1972, with the Fulvia in his heart and Munari and Mannucci as his heroes. It is a book that forces you to read it all in one breath and it is so exciting because – as Losi says – it is a true story that has become a legend. When the book was released, it was presented in various locations, but in particular I remember the one in Padua on the occasion of the Auto e Moto d’Epoca event, at the ACI stand, where Sandro Munari remembered with emotion that extraordinary victory and how FIAT, following this triumph, was forced to reopen the coupe assembly lines due to the innumerable requests from fans of this model. Thus came another five years of work, saving hundreds of workers from layoffs. Still today, for Munari this remains the greatest victory he carries in his heart. The victory of Monte Carlo on January 28, 1972 made the Fulvia “Fanalone”, Sandro Munari and Mario Mannucci absolutely legendary.

The two Lancia Fulvia Coupes of this article were taken up in the heart of the Langhe, a Unesco heritage area, between hills and vineyards, places with noble wines, good food and ancient villages, with giant benches – the work of American designer Chris Bangle – placed in panoramic points and where sitting takes you back to a child’s dimension, because they are completely out of scale for people and for the landscape. We drove our Fulvias on the hilly path between La Morra, Barolo and Monforte in search of glimpses, landscape, scenic routes that well suited the elegance and sportiness of the two Fulvia, on a day of pleasant warm sun that already gave us a foretaste of a summer season round the corner.

 

 

 

The oldest Fulvia Coupe here, 55 years old, belongs to the first production batch, to be clear the one with a 1216 cc V-shaped engine of 12°53’28” type 818 130 and expresses 80 horsepower. From the Lancia registers it appears to have been built again in 1965 and registered in March 1966, its color is Mendoza Blue, a typical shape of the first generation. The interior is in light tobacco-colored imitation leather which matches well with the dashboard and the wooden steering wheel, while at the same time very pleasing with the same color of the body. I bought the coupe in spring 1997 and already in September I decided to use it in regularity races. Precisely for this fact, looking at its interior, some changes aimed at the type of race are evident. The two original front seats have been replaced with Fusina replicas equipped with headrests, not only for safety, but to have a firm head support when it is necessary to sight the pressure switches. I had them made with the same tobacco-colored faux leather of the interior, the seat are in black velvet to improve comfort, especially during the hot season. They have been positioned slightly raised compared to the originals, to improve visibility when approaching the pressure switches and when passing over ‘em. The original steering wheel was also replaced with a Ferrero of the time, of a smaller diameter, again for better front visibility, and a shelf for chronometers and satellite tripmaster was placed on the dashboard in front of the co-driver. Through these slight changes, the interior appearance is, to me, visually engaging and offers an immediate sporty appearance. The driving setting is pleasant and enclosed, the long rod lever of the gearbox, even with its wide excursions, is soft and precise in its movements. It is a car that for comfort, grip and engine verve certainly does not show its age and almost does not make any difference with a current front-wheel drive car. By the way you cannot but appreciate the absence of noise and vibrations coming in the passenger compartment.

 

 

 

During 2019 it underwent a long and meticulous restoration that involved all mechanics and chassis, at the Officina Ratto in Savona specialized in Lancia Fulvia. The front frame with the engine, gearbox, suspension and the rear axle have been completely removed, in such a way as to leave the body free, which the Carrozzeria ADM in Saliceto has placed on the templates for a perfect fit. All the joints and welds have been completely redone and the classic reinforcement triangles have been added in correspondence with the inclined box struts that end with the front attachment of the frame, just as was done for the racing specs, in order to obtain a greater structural rigidity of the entire body.

Meanwhile, in Officina Ratto, the engine, gearbox and transmission unit was completely separated from the subframe which in turn was disassembled, sandblasted and then repainted. The engine was tested in order to be able to detect the actual power, the torque to the wheels and identify all the defects and decide how to intervene.

In particular, new pistons were designed, built and assembled according to Roberto Ratto’s specifications, the camshafts were revised, as well as all the moving parts of the engine and the steering box, which was completely disassembled and overhauled. It has been equipped with electronic ignition hidden in the distributor for a smooth and prompt response of the engine, especially at low revs, depending on the regularity races, where the passages on the pressure switches are sometimes slow and then fast immediately afterwards. The two Solex double-barrel carburettors have been refurbished and particular attention has been paid to the braking system which has been revised as well. Lastly, the engine tests were repeated highlighting the excellent results achieved.

 

 

 

The Fulvia Coupe Rallye 1.6 HF belongs to my friend Valter, a passionate collector of vintage Rally cars. It is one of the legendary Fanalone, 818.540 with a completely original 114 HP engine, chassis number 002776, corresponding to one of the last 200 built, equipped with a five-speed gearbox grouped in a single crankcase. Produced in 1970, it was registered in 1971. Originally the fender flares were black and subsequently painted in the same Rosso Corsa as the bodywork, as could be requested directly to Lancia. It is interesting to note that the bodywork, even with bonnets and doors in peraluman, is the same as the 1.216, the same go for the grille and the doors without opening deflector. It is not a luxury model and therefore has no bumper and it’s more simplified in some details to be lighter, precisely because it was dedicated to those who intended to use it for racing. Today it sports the glorious Marlboro livery, like Munari-Mannucci’s number 14 at the 72 Monte Carlo, when Marlboro was the official Lancia sponsor.

The interior, apart from the black color for the seats and doors panels, is the same as the 1.216, with the dashboard exactly identical and with all the controls in the same position. The rev counter is typical of the HF, so equipped with a red pointer that can be moved, due to the type of engine tuning regarding over-rev control. On the right, instead of the clock, there is the thermometer for the oil temperature. Also on this Fulvia the original steering wheel identical to that of the first series coupe, with two flat aluminum spokes and wooden crown, has been replaced with a classic Munari-signed Ferrero, which has the particularity of having the crown covered in leather but without seams – because Munari wanted it like that, as the seams would have given enormous discomfort during continuous steering and counter-steering situations. The HF sports seats have also been replaced with Fusina replicas, equipped with headrests for safety, with seat and back in corduroy for better summer comfort. Unlike the traditional coupe, the rear seat is a simple bench with backrest with pockets, useful for storing helmets and other material during races.

The difference in the gear lever is evident, in this case shorter, characterized by a larger knob with the indications of the gears on a blue background and the insertion of the “first” at the bottom towards the driver, as the 5-speed gearbox had been studied in collaboration with ZF.

 

 

 

Examining the engine compartment, compared to the 1.216, apart from the yellow valve cover – synonymous with HF – on the right side we notice the rectangular oil cooler, narrow and placed vertically opposite to the water radiator, but what visually offers a decidedly racing look are the two 42 Solex carburettors, which have been completely overhauled and fitted with trumpets. This Fulvia also attended the Ratto workshop in 2019, where a complete and meticulous intervention was dedicated to the braking system and the engine. The latter was removed from the frame for in-depth tests, the pistons were replaced, always made according to the technical specifications of the Officina, the camshafts were revised to improve performance and also in this case they fitted electronic ignition and positioned an electric petrol pump. Lastly, a completely new exhaust has been fitted, not of the standard type, but decidedly more performing and consequently more satisfying due to its intense sound. If driving the Coupe 1.216 is rewarding but also relaxing because it allows to be driven at low revs, that of the HF Fanalona is not such, ‘cause the engine needs to be kept at high revs. Its behavior at low revs becomes rough and grumpy, it really loves to be pushed hard and it is exciting to be able to do it thus hearing the deep roar. The five-speed gearbox is very fun and precise even if its maneuverability does not really have contained excursions. The performance differences of the two cars are evident in terms of engine character and set-up, but both remain very entertaining.