1960 Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato 2.5L 3C

The Lancia Flaminia is a luxury car from the Italian automaker, Lancia, built from 1957 to 1970. It was Lancia's flagship model at that time, replacing the Aurelia. It was available throughout its lifetime as saloon, coupé and cabriolet. The Flaminia coupé and cabriolet were coachbuilt cars with bodies from several prestigious Italian coachbuilders, including as with this car, Zagato.

The Flaminia was one of the most expensive Italian cars and was therefore much favoured by politicians and film stars. The Pope was driven in a Flaminia. The coupé version was even more expensive but sold well in spite of its high price, perhaps in part to Enzo Ferrari himself describing the Flaminia Zagato as one of the best handling cars ever built.

The Sport was built by Zagato and was also a two-seater. It was launched with a 2.5L V-6 engine from the start that produced power of 110bhp from a single Solex carburettor. "3C', as depicted in the title of this car denotes the introduction of triple carburettors, an evolution of the Series 1 cars which by now produced 140bhp.

Using the same shorter wheelbase chassis as the GT, the Sport had a very distinctive rounded aluminium body with pop-out handles. The first Sports had flush covered headlights, later changed to more classic round ones which protruded outward at the head of the front wings and later culminating in open headlights retreated into the wings for its successor, the Super Sport, which came in 1964 with the introduction of the 2.8L 152bhp engine.

Of the variety of coachbuilt bodies available on the Flaminia chassis the most desirable are certainly those by Zagato, of which this is an increasingly rare discovery. The property of only a handful of owners in its cherished life, the latest since 2006, "9744 VR' has graced some well-known collections only now becoming available after an almost five year period of little or non-use.

Imported from Italy to the UK in 1971, it has remained here since and during its time more than £25,000 has been spent on the car to maintain its charm, the majority of this spend between 1991-1995 as detailed below.

In 1992, chassis #1436 was entered in the GT Race at the Silverstone Festival. Though running well, an unfortunate additional pit-stop necessary due to the bonnet coming open resulted in a 30th place finish in a 37 car race. Still, track action perhaps isn't the specialty of this Grand Tourer which is mildly engineered to enhance its usability for touring by the inclusion of a long range fuel tank and the removal of some of the exterior chromework.

The original wheels which were supplied with the car, including the spare, are still present and with their unique design and brand new centres, they're very special. We have been told that the cost to replicate these wheels would be in excess of £3,000 each.

Unlike many cars of a similar period, chassis #1436 has a delightful honesty about it that others might be tempted to conceal. The bodywork is not perfect though it remains pleasingly original and minor corrosion to some panels is commensurate with what you would expect of a 60 year old machine. The instrumentation across the dashboard is labelled to assist unfamiliar drivers if invited to pilot a leg of a particular rally. Close inspection reveals that not all elements of the car are perfectly symmetrical; evidence of the hand-built craftsmanship this car embellishes as opposed to the regimented certainty that dictates modern manufacture. What some critics may consider detrimental to the cars presentation, is exactly what makes this Flaminia so appealing....

This highly desirable Zagato-bodied Flaminia will be a most welcome entrant to the various classic events it is eligible for. Cars such as this are rarely available on the open market and certainly this is an opportunity not to be missed.... Here is a brief synopsis of some of the invoices included in the history file:

1995 - Peter Harding Classic Restorations. £5,500 for bare metal respray, and to tig weld new aluminium into areas of oxidised aluminium on wheel arches and front valances.

1994 - Peter Harding Classic Restorations - £1,314 for removal, refurbish and refit of transaxle, drive shafts, clutch bell housing, handbrake mechanism and brake lines. Road test and adjust as necessary.

1993 - Peter Harding Classic Restorations. £740 for investigation into loss of engine output. The result of a thorough inspection concludes a small oil leak and incorrect spark plugs. The result is a power increase to 130bhp.

Aug 1992 - Rex J. Woodgate Automotive Consultants. £175 for service and preparation for racing at Silverstone Festival.

Aug 1992 - Connaught Design. £2,484 for modification of chassis to anchor seat belt securing bolts, to supply and fit said seat belts, and to transport to Panelwise, Weybridge to strip the bonnet, repair and weld in new aluminium to replace tired metal, and to respray as required. Also, the supply and fit of four Dunlop Racing Tyres from HP Tyres.

July 1992 - Peter Harding Classic Restorations. £433.40 for enquiry into reported blown head gasket and loss of coolant. The result was a coolant leak which was causing the car to overheat. No damage to head gasket was uncovered.

Aug 1991 - Connaught Design. £1,890 for replacement dynamo, new Lucas voltage regulator, prevent fuel leakage from filler tube, fabrication of chassis legs to prevent flexing under stress, the repair of faulty boot lock and the replacement of the hand-brake cable and calipers.

July 1991 - Connaught Design. £12,846 for the complete redesign of the entire interior including fabrication of an original Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato seat to be used in the re-trim. Replacement of all interior wood to original Flaminia design and bespoke build of new rear shelf, wool carpets throughout and fluted leather padded trim board for rear bulk head. Finally, lightly abrade all aluminium exterior mouldings to remove scratches and replace Perspex windstrips and gutter mouldings with new polycarbonate material to same design.