Aldo Broverone's Opinion on Fulvia Sport

[fulvia a.i.]

J Romano, Editor of Viva Lancia - Magazine of Lancia Motor Club UK & reknowned Gamma Coupe Afficianato met with A Broverone, famous Pininfarina Designer of various Ferrari & OF COURSE - Lancia Gamma Coupe. They spent some time together one afternoon in Torino in mid-1999.

UK-Born J speaking his best Italian; Torino-Born A speaking some English. At least that is what J wrote in his long report of their time together covering some of the various topics they discussed; including...of Course...Aldo's Very Polite Praise of his own Design Work on his Baby (what else?) the Gamma Coupe, of course.

I read the Report of this Wonderful Meeting this Eve; having just received the last 10+ years Editions of Viva-Lancia from Gamma Rene of Bern..... Thank y J, thank u A, thank u R smiling smiley

A also spoke of Auto Designs of other Designers that he has worked with and known over his 40+ year career. He didn't speak highly of all the Designs he has seen (ex: Audi TT 1) ... which is not a surprise! Some designs he loved, he loved not only his own.

He did have this to say about ... the Fulvia Sport ... (what else?)... Designer... Ercole Spada ... of Zagato !
A'S WORDS: " ERCOLE SPADA AGAIN ! YOU CAN'T FAULT HIM, NOT A LINE OUT OF PLACE. WHAT A LOVELY CAR. NOW THAT IS WHAT LANCIA ARE ALL ABOUT".
I, John, am happy, knowing myself, for all these years, that A & I agree winking smiley
As you may have noticed, I did not try to translate any of this little blurb into Italian o. Deutsch) !!!

Buona Notta Tutto Johnny Fulvia a.i. Gamma

[lancialulu]

John

Do you still have yours??

Tim

[fulvia a.i.]

I now'ave a "p. frau" leather S2 Gamma interior, produced 1x for a G'misti 25yrs ago - a definate case of Gam ´Nuttiness - for Sfr 15,000 ....yes..that is true!! I stole leather, for 1 beer or 2, from Gam-Rene, who 'got it in a crazy-Gam-Deal' a while back !!. I received it via Dan in his Med-Supply-Van, Dan driving across some Alps to CH-DE border with friendly-police, both exiting & entering. No Tax Paid Thank You ! Not that I really needed lthr, but a Slvr Gam con blue-rugs didn't 'look-right' with brown-lthr-seats, so out go those seats, right into a Gold Gam with brown-rugs; which now looks great !!
Blue-lthr is in Slvr Gam thanx to friends who need to get outa the house on w'ends. That Gam retained its S1 door panels, just like a S1.5 Gam. The interior is a hot bed of sumptious-lthr-fetish; I think ! I've not sat in it yet; since Gam is still awaiting a non-spongy, suspension; thanks to Ed, who had a updated suspension & lots a other goodies installed in his Gam b4 he realized he needed a 'family sized-car' quik or a new-wife !
He & I traded a 'hot-suspension w/ Gam Coupe (or visa versa), for bits o' color-paper. His 'savable'-Gam has now donated: suspension, exhaust, f.-fenders, heater fan, lots o little items + 4 rare & perfect S2 wheels to svrl other Gam. It now sits in warehouse, occupying space I should use better.
The Slvr Gam's ex red/brown seats were also from P. Frau, ordered after the late 78 delivery of that Gam, originally with velour blue seats (current whereabout unknown) . Lthr seats cost DM ??? in 79. The Doctor who owned them won't tell me

This all & more has taken a lot of my "free-time" plannin&executin all these crazy-actions !.

Then - Oh yes, the Volunteer Fire Dept of my Home-Town in N.Y. USA visited my Now-Town in DE for Okt-Fest last week, 40 of them, which kept me & the other (few remaining) USA'ers in town busy - for weeks prior to their arrival, then a week of them being here, having FUN at -5° temps !! It was a wonderful visit of old & new friends; except for 1st hand accounts of "911 in NYC" from those who were there. It took me days to stop crying. This occurs every year ! Yikes !

Then - we opened an new office in mid-Fr (1 Day before Fr.Fulvia Ralley). The physical work was done by Fr. guys , not by me ! Which has been a success -taking lots o time; yipee! Viva la France !
Then - I went, myself, back to "field-work", by choice, since our summer-boom was over ! Just to experience an early Winter-Boom (yipee); putting a quik-end to 'field-work after only 2days & 2 new accounts. Yippee again, for 2 accounts & for me not being "out in the field!" B)
Then - our Kiev Office exploded (with orders). Once again, I did nothing to make this happen - Triple Yippee !!

All this good-news has caused me to spend even more time "not-being-in--field"; since I need to be in office / on phone when J of Kiev.. actually Ivan, which he told me is John in Russian ?, Rene (not Rene with Blu-Lthr) of Fr, Dan of CH etc need me to be (tu) & then Johnny the Young of Mi Casa volunteered to sell his slow, loud, economical, not so hot for a "Date" Ami8 next spring & use the proceeds to buy the Fulvia ! What ??? He was upset & unhappy when I announced - some months back - that it was time to sell the Ful ! Barbara, who is afraid of the Ful, accused me, at that time, of infantile-jealousy; since JtY is now old enough to drive the Ful, She said I was selling the Ful to spit him !
Go Figure ???
J t Y said, "if U sell my Ful U have to give me a Gam & promise to drive me to school each morning when the weather is un-Gamma-Like".
Yes, we have no Bananas & thus 'we' did not make a real-effort to sell Ful, but I still had fun detailing interior with wet q-tips & playing w/ all sorts of sealers, floor-waxes, rubber treatments, with help & advice from my retired neighbors.
I did get some wonderful emails about purchasing it....but too many crazyish-persons (it seems) are looking for a "project car, they want "something for me to rebuild myself, with my own hands, over the next 25 winters". ha ha ha !!
I could not help them, other than to say...you may want to replace the dash-cover,
Some said it was a sin to have removed the original-seats (still in my possession) ,,, but they never sat in the original unconfortable (& ugly) seats ! Not many compliments flowed in about the RedWite&Blu (which is a lovely WW I Battle Song. if you like battle songs !, sang by English speaking (singing) Soldiers in Trenches .. Fellas who were, I assume, not happy at the time).... Paint-Scream; sorry...I meant... Paint-Scheme !!! ... So the Paint-Scheme (including worktimemoney that would be involved to undo it) didn't add much to hundreds of "real-offers" that didn't arrive.

Honestly, I've so many 'eggs in ma fryin-pan' these days that I'm glad I've no time to actually go about seriously trying to sell "my Z"....or the 3 Gam interiors I now have or sell a Gam nor sell Barb's Y, nor sell the many sets of Lanc Mag-Wheels ..Ful & Gam, nor sell other Lancia odds & ends that I should sell ! I'd like to sell Barbara's 12yr old Y so she can drive a newer car w/ A/C, more airbags etc...but she'd "rather fight than switch" ! She loves her underpowered Y, especially now that it has "zocko-wheels" ! So, who am I to fight smart decisions - to keep 1 Z & 1 Y in the G family ?
Then, when John told me that he was to be the new Ful owner, Barbara stopped talking to both of us (which, we agreed has some benefits; ha ha ha). Then she accused me if being a poor-influence on an innocent boy; so then we washed & waxed her Y...ahem...courtesy of a Class A Car wash w/ free vacuuming. Then we paid for its bi-yearly (every 2 years ? is that bi-yearly?) service & then were too broke now - after paying for that service - to put fuel in the Ful.
She didn't even notice anything afterwards... or - if she did ... she was low-key in her euphoria ! No, thats not really true ... actually she said - a few days later , "it drives like a new car; it is much faster & quieter & red-dash-lights have stopped blinking & my rear wiper functions again & why didn't all this stuff get fixed earlier ?"
She was, of course, right...but finding 2 days when she was to be Lancia-less is like trying to steal my beer ! Almost Impossible! ha ha; she could have driven the Ful for the 2days her Y was in the shop !
Actually, the cost of the Y service was actually OK...no more beer for 6 months ! ; since it is actually the1st major-service in 5 or 6 yrs, so the actual operating cost averages out to actually be only pennies per month & she still loves 'My Lancia' (her words) meaning 'her Y' & now she talks to us again !
Back to: not-selling the Ful: A Gam friend came to visit some weeks back; he yelled at me for even thinking about selling the Ful .. ... cheech John, he said, nobody needs 2 Gam...sell 1 of them,,,,keep the Ful ! This friend is yet another John, but he is not American. He owns 7 or 8 Gam Cpe, 2 Kappa Cpe (at last count), a Y (for everyday driving) & lord knows what else -besides business Vans & Trucks- is hidden in his company's warehouse...... he is, btw, in the wooden-flooring business, not the Auto-Trade. Another Case of Advanced Lancia Nuttiness. Long may he (we) Live !!

In any case, after having such a great time really truly & honestly in Fr. in 2010, again, again driving "My-Z-Sport" with so many other Posh-Lancia-Fulvia-Sport-Z-Owners, this year, what would I do if I had no Ful ?
Go Back to Drinking ? Polka Classes ? Violin Lessons ?

[lucasgeheniau]

Wise decision John, you should keep the blue red or red blue to attend the yearly Fulvia drivers meeting!!

Cheers

Lucas

[fulvia a.i.]

Lucas G, looking forward to next meeting ! I've sent Bartman notes about a possible location that could be exciting for all & perhaps attract more Fulvisit from Germ / Fran


wow kids; look what is fior-sail in USA: http://www.jameslist.com/advert/132647/ ... cia-fulvia.

the seller must be B)-;

I hope that $ price is indicative of 2010 correct-value ... which would mean that Fulvia Sport Drivers are sitting in little "pots of Gold!" every time they drive..............speaking of which...what a good idea

The sun is shining & I am going to the Garage B)

[Henrik]

A Fulvia Z "Automatic" And from Chicago of all places(td)
Nah -- I would prefer a Z from Europa. Perhaps a "Bi-colore" from Germany.

[Geoff]

I did talk with Ochsner once some time ago about this car, and I don't recall any mention of an automatic transmission. Probably a listing error.

[fulvia a.i.]

of course you are certainly-probably-maybeperhaps right Geoff, but in the good ol' USofA you never know what might be what or not nor why:).
After all a (west coast) rage of 70's (1 rage of many I am sure) was to pop out the rather anemic flat 6cyl 914/6 engine & jam a 327c.u Chev in its place, which a) made a very fast Chorsche b) was cheaper to maintain that a real Porsche c) made Porsche in Stuttgart so angry they produced a few 914 flat 8's themselves ....... making the 914/8 more expensive than the just as fast 930 Turbo:D, thus eliminating any chance to market the 914/8 Smokin-Rocket, although I believe they did race it a few times.

Why not america.hot-rod an anemic little Fulvia too ?? with A/T.
ha ha, with a roaring 4cyl chev, maybe with PS/PB too ? Why not A/C ?

Perhaps this Ful-Sport has had an aluminum Chevy Vega 4 banger w/ auto-box shoved in its engine bay somewhere along the line; maybe up in Jay Leno's L.A. garage:).

Hmmm, if it was the aluminum Cosworth Vega Engine it would be a very fast Z for sure; for the 20,000 or so miles that it took the engine to destroy itself. B)

[racing]

Yes, Fulvia Zagato , Design etc.

but look at this pictures:)-D

Regards Andreas

[fulvia a.i.]

oh my - is this a current or a finished project?; are such projects ever finished? that you are enjoying (I hope) in a narrow garage. I look forward to more updates.

have you followed the "never-ending-stories" of a do-it-yourself major fulvia-resto-project posted by montecarlo over last 1.5 yrs (+ -) in viva-lancia.de - with horor fotos & hapy fotos ?

Just as I think that he has given-up or gone-crazy, new posts pop up .