International Lancia Forums

I was also surprised reading about "Lancia building Fulvias according to customers' requirements"; although I was living in the USA when Fulvias were being built
I never saw a Fulvia anywhere in the USA, ever.
I lived & worked east of the Mississippi then; including living in Mississippi, (with a few years in the SE Asia to keep things interesting)
To repeat myself, I never saw any Lancia anywhere & knew Fulvias only from Road & Track Magazine*
ooops, sorry growing up near "Little Italy" in NYC, now I recall seeing a few Flavia Berlina in black or dark blue...so I at least knew what a Lancia was..but still have never seen a Fulvia.

I'd guess, with hindsight-gained-wiseness, that the "bold & brave (crazy too)" USA Lancia Importer ordered what he / they thought could be sold in the USA, in colors he / they thought could be sold.
If this is accurate, then "Lancia building Fulvias according to customers' requirements" would be true.

I can't imagine that the USA Importer actually could have profited, or even expected to achieve a profit, in this business-venture... there must have been some other, unexplainable, reason(s).

The Fulvia ordering situation in S & mid-Europa possibly might have been: "customer goes to dealer, orders Fulvia (or Flavia) with specs desired, waits some time & gets specifically-built-car, as-ordered

Or - if he / she / they were too excited & couldn't wait for a build-as-desired Lancia. - took what was immediately available, without suffering the agony of waiting..,

But, all of this is only hyper-guessing, since I wasn't in 'none-of-the-above-countries' when Fulvia / Flavia were being built.

In my 'now-neighborhood' is a Audi TT - in battleship-gray - with "western-saddle-style red-brown leather with contrasting fat-leather-thong stitches" . The colors match not !!

This TT had to be a "special-order car".....I can't believe that Audi would build a TT in that color without an order & a serious non-refundable deposit.
I swear that this car can't be seen during the day, unless the sun is shining & that it is totally invisible when it is even slightly-foggy.....which it is 6 months of the year...

I've seen a few Fulvia Berlina in similar "almost invisible" non-colors & have also recently read in this "Topic" that Fulvia Coupes were delivered in similar non-colors as well. I read herein that a particular non- color could best be described as "putty". Doesn't sound "racy", does it ! Nor 'romantic' or 'tasty' ...

Which has often made me wonder ? "who was it that decided to paint a particular car that particular color & why ; was there a discount-sale on those non-colors?"........

Well, its "different strokes for different folks" & in my business we say that "some taste often has no taste" ....thus some particular strokes / colors / tastes will never be my Fulvia (or any other car) favorite.

Or my favorite ice-cream color / taste ! Ha ha - putty Ice-Cream !!

Paul de R. Leclercq wrote:
>
> But Fulvia is a name (Augustus Caesar's sister-in-law
> for a start) and relatively common in Italy.
>
> What was all that about Lancia building Fulvias according to
> customers' requirements?
>
> First I ever heard about it!
>
> Paul

Johnny48 wrote:
>
> I was also surprised reading about "Lancia building
> Fulvias according to customers' requirements";

It's complete nonsense--not the only thing in the article that's incorrect or a bit overstated.

> I'd guess, with hindsight-gained-wiseness, that the "bold &
> brave (crazy too)" USA Lancia Importer ordered what he /
> they thought could be sold in the USA, in colors he / they
> thought could be sold.
> If this is accurate, then "Lancia building Fulvias according
> to customers' requirements" would be true.
>
> I can't imagine that the USA Importer actually could have
> profited, or even expected to achieve a profit, in this
> business-venture... there must have been some other,
> unexplainable, reason(s).
>
> The Fulvia ordering situation in S & mid-Europa possibly
> might have been: "customer goes to dealer, orders Fulvia
> (or Flavia) with specs desired, waits some time & gets
> specifically-built-car, as-ordered
>
> Or - if he / she / they were too excited & couldn't wait for
> a build-as-desired Lancia. - took what was immediately
> available, without suffering the agony of waiting..,
>
> But, all of this is only hyper-guessing, since I wasn't in
> 'none-of-the-above-countries' when Fulvia / Flavia were being
> built.

Hyper-guessing sounds like the perfect way to describe it. US cars were standard, 'off the rack' Fulvias as far as I know.

> I've seen a few Fulvia Berlina in similar "almost invisible"
> non-colors & have also recently read in this "Topic" that
> Fulvia Coupes were delivered in similar non-colors as well.
> I read herein that a particular non- color could best be
> described as "putty". Doesn't sound "racy", does it ! Nor
> 'romantic' or 'tasty' ...
>
> Which has often made me wonder ? "who was it that decided to
> paint a particular car that particular color & why ; was
> there a discount-sale on those non-colors?"........


Frankly, most of the standard Lancia colors from the period could be described as understated. Whether or not that 'putty' color sounds edible, it was a standard factory color, and looks just fine on a Fulvia coupe. And I've seen a couple of contemporary price lists; the price was the same no matter what color you chose...

I stopped giving names to my cars after the second car:
Galathea for a (yes I know - I'm sorry) '73 beetle and Dolores (after a pretty Spanish waitress) for my '80 beta coupé.
Berlina is called Berlina and Zagato ... Zagato. simple.

Talking about "Fulvias according to customers' requirements"; I believe except for some aftermarket alloy wheels, there were no options on a Fulvia?! I saw once a S1 coupé in silver metallic with standard metal sunroof.

It looks it was expensive because I never saw it again......

Bart

Hi Bart,

I know that this is Fulvia Forum, but ...since you are on the line...don't forget to remember that there is a Mega-Gamma-World-Universal-Meeting in Torino planned for April 08, via 'whatever route you want to take' or 'a planned 1/2 way (more or less) - from all points north- Meeting Point & Rest-Pause near Strassbourg. Check lanciagammaforum.com for more details (over the next many months).

At the 07 Lancia Club Deutschland Meeting a Lancisti recalled a few "1st hand- experience stories" - from the days when Flaminia, Flavia, Fulvia were being built.
He was a 1 man-show / fountaine de la connaissance.
I don't remember his name; maybe it was Jean-Paul?
A ? posed was "why were Zagato (Lancia &/or Alfa) built in 1/2 steel & 1/2 aluminum & then built in all-steel & then built in all-aluminum or the reverse thereof ? " To which no one present had a reply.

He went on to hilariously pantomime the (unfortunate) Zagato Purchasing Manager, speaking on 6 phones at 1 time, borrowing Lire from a Bank to pay the aluminum supplier 30% of the last 5 invoices - in order to finish 5 cars & to pay 30% to Lancia to buy 10 more naked cars, paying 50% now & maybe ,some day, the rest; while yelling into another phone to another bank & to the other phones to various suppliers, buyers & sellers, all while coordinating parts deliveries & construction - as follows:
OK, put alu-doors on the right side of those 5 cars & steel doors on the left of the rest, until we are out of left doors, than push the cars outside for a few days, because I have to find money to buy paint before we close for the 6 week-summer-holidays.
If we don't get paint soon we will just put more paint on the steel panels, to cover the rust.
At least that is what I think he said...partially in Italian, French, German, English & several languages that no one understood. Not to mention that the Manager also assigned the evening & weekend tasks, where retirees, grandmothers/students,or whomever was available, took certain materials home to hammer out certain pieces of certain panels...all to be returned...more or less...at an agreed upon time,,,so these "pieces" could be hammered, bent & welded into complete panels, that would, perhaps fit the next car being assembled, perhaps not. If not, specialists were called in to assure that that part fit.

Morale of Story: "that is why parts from 1 Zagato never fit another Zagato".

Then he started on Pininfarina stories...which were just as funny.

Henry Ford would have chocked if he knew of these "assembly-line " stories.
I look forward to meeting him again.

Bart Verbeek wrote:
>
> I stopped giving names to my cars after the second car:
> Galathea for a (yes I know - I'm sorry) '73 beetle and
> Dolores (after a pretty Spanish waitress) for my '80 beta
> coupé.
> Berlina is called Berlina and Zagato ... Zagato. simple.
>
> Talking about "Fulvias according to customers' requirements";
> I believe except for some aftermarket alloy wheels, there
> were no options on a Fulvia?! I saw once a S1 coupé in
> silver metallic with standard metal sunroof.
>
> It looks it was expensive because I never saw it again......
>
> Bart

hmmmmm, just think what would have happened to Prince's career if he had sang:
"she wore a putty-colored beret" instead of singing "she wore a strawberry beret"..
OK, that is my shot of humor for today.
Of course you are right about putty-colored Coupes.
I'll even go on record (if any cares) to say that Fulvia Coupes looks great in any color.
I'd have a hard time deciding "which color looks best'; so I won't. Perhaps the color of everyones own
Fulvia is what should look best to them.

>Bart Verbeek wrote:
> > Talking about "Fulvias according to customers' requirements";
> I believe except for some aftermarket alloy wheels, there
> were no options on a Fulvia?! I saw once a S1 coupé in
> silver metallic with standard metal sunroof.

According to the sales brochures, metallic paint, carpets, and leather upholstery were factory options for Fulvia coupes. I believe that a radio was a dealer-installed option. But I've never run across any documentation that a sunroof was available.

I assume the "putty" reference laced throughout this string is the Beige Mirabello color of my '75 S3. I prefer to think of it as "olive oil" in appearance. Much more appetizing and appealing than "putty". And it looks FANTASTIC with the new forest green vinyl interior I just installed.
That threadbare, mint-green OEM cloth just didnt' do it for me, but the dark green carpet did go well with the Beige Mirabello exterior. I think staying with that color for the seats and door panels worked out well. I was able to give the guys a number of very good pictures with detail of the Fulvia vinyl interior, pleats and all. They did an excellent job replicating it.
Tessa is a happy girl these days!

+, olive oil tastes great ,on almost anything & is so healthy.
No, I don't sell olive oil, but I put it on/in most anything..excepting ice-cream.

We can buy olive-oil margerine in mid-sud Europa, but it is Giallo color & expensiver than normal butter.
Yesterday I smeared some on my "in our break-room prepared instant pizza & was scorned for having such bad taste. It really was a great pizza; the olice oil becaome oily again & ran onto my hands & down my arms. I simple rubbed it into my skin when I was finished eating.
My, didn't I have happy hands yesterday afternoon ! And a buttery keyboard.
Yesterday evening, I was watching a Science-Program on TV.The topic was "how to recycle coffee-grounds"

Tonight I'll try;
a) using it a tooth paste. Alternative - already brewed tea-leaves
b) as a facial-treatment, guaranteed to remove wrinkles &/or puffiness. Again,tea leaves, even if still in bag; is an alternative. Just press the wet bags on your face (not while standing) & relax for 15 minutes.
c) in lieu of shampoo, then using old, leftover, bitter coffee as a wrinse . There was no mention of using tea in this application.
d) more applications, but I don't have any more time

I'll get back to you if I look so young that I don't recognize myself

Chasm61 - inform us where you can post photos, so we can see the + results of your investment (s).

johnny48 wrote:
>
> Chasm61 - inform us where you can post photos, so we can see
> the + results of your investment (s).

I don't have a website of my own up just yet, but I'll find some place to post the before and after pics for you all to gawk at! It'd be fun to get some feedback as I bring this car up to snuff!

In the mean time, is there a way to post a file here? I thought I had seen a few posts with attachements. If anyone knows, please pass along the secret!

Yesterday eve , while doing some investigative pre-planning for the April 2009
"International Mega Gamma Meeting in Torino" (hows that for a plug ? )
I was - for the 25x time (or more) reviewing "Personal Gamma Italian Web Sites .
On 1 particular site (sorry, I can't remember where to locate it today) are Gamma photos, more Gamma photos + - SURPRISE ! - a lovely series of a veryveryvery nice looking Beige-Mirabello Fulvia Coupe.
I believe it is still in Italy & that the photos are recent; ao it most probably isn't Chasm61's car.
I'll keep searching & post the address here asap.