The Lancia Fulvia was first shown at the 1963 Geneva Motor Show – the name following the Lancia tradition of referencing historic Roman roads (in this case the Via Fulvia, which runs from Tortona to Turin).
The Fulvia was a new front wheel drive design, with independent front suspension using wishbones and a single leaf spring, and a beam axle mounted on leaf springs with a Panhard rod at the rear. From inception, the car had disc brakes on all four wheels. The new model used a longitudinally mounted, narrow angle V4 engine, positioned in front of its transaxle. The engine had just 12° separation between the two banks of cylinders, permitting the use of a single a single cylinder head and was mounted at an angle of 45°. When launched, the engine was available in a single displacement of just 1091 cc.
The Fulvia was manufactured in three body styles – the Berlina, a 4-door saloon; a 2-door Coupé, and the Sport, a Zagato-designed fastback coupé. The model underwent a number of ‘Series’ developments over its life and production ran on until 1976.
This Fulvia Berlina 2C was first registered in Pavia in Northern Italy in March 1965 and was originally right hand drive. Being a 2C model, it had an uprated engine – still 1091 cc – but fitted with twin Solex carburettors and given a higher (9.0:1) compression ratio, to produce a claimed 70 bhp. We know little of its early history, other than it was taxed for road use up to 1970. Then in 1989 it was granted a CSAI (Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana) competition licence. At this point it had been converted for historic rallying and appears to have been built as an homage to the Lancia Fulvia works rally car that competed in 1964/65.
In 1990, the car was granted an FIA licence (Group F – Hist B), but we have not been able to trace any actual competition history for the vehicle.
Latterly, the Fulvia underwent some bodywork renovation by specialist classic car restorers (Corbellini Fratelli in Italy) and was imported to the UK in 2013, re-registered here and has since been in the hands of a single owner, with very little subsequent use – the vehicle being kept in storage.
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