I've recently purchased a 1962 Flaminia GT 2.5 litre 3C. It's been in Australia for some 30 years,perhaps converted to RHD around this time, as it was originally an Italian owner car.
Does anyone know how I can find out what the original factory specifications of my car were: body colour, interior trim colour & material, instrument panel colour, wheel colour, etc? I've tried the corporate website quoting my car's engine, chassis and Touring number but have had no response.
Factory data on Flaminia GT
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Bert Ewalds
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Michael,
I'am afraid there is no way to find out
The Touring cars were built by the Carrozzeria Touring, not by Lancia but you probably are aware of that.
Touring went bankrupt in 1966 and the new owners of the premises destroyed most of the companies files
The owner of Touring Mr Anderloni who might have been able to help you, died last august
the only slim chanche y'ouve got is to contact the international touring register
www.registrotouring.com
but they are very slow in answering
best regards,
Bert
I'am afraid there is no way to find out
The Touring cars were built by the Carrozzeria Touring, not by Lancia but you probably are aware of that.
Touring went bankrupt in 1966 and the new owners of the premises destroyed most of the companies files
The owner of Touring Mr Anderloni who might have been able to help you, died last august
the only slim chanche y'ouve got is to contact the international touring register
www.registrotouring.com
but they are very slow in answering
best regards,
Bert
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George
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Hi Michael
There is (or at least there used to be) a good way to find out about the production details of your car: In 1997 I have sent a letter to the Fiat Archivio Storico on two Flaminia Touring cars and one Zagato and got a fairly detailed answer. The info I got on the two Touring models mentioned chassis no. (obviously you would give that in your query), production date, engine no., body and seat colours and even some more details like no. of gearbox, etc. (They didn't have any info on the Zagato Supersport, other than chassis no and production date - rather typical for the sloppy way, Zagato built their cars.)
With that info you know practically everything there is to know, because the wheels were always in a cream colour, the "carpets" in plastic (Cicognani in Italy has them remade in grey and light brown) save the transmission tunnel and bench behind the seats. Only the seats themselves are real leather (Conolly, sadly not produced any more), while door trim and back of the seat was in fake leather of the same colour. Do I need to mention that you best take real leather when redoing these? At least in our part of the world you pay more for the work (i.e. Europe), so that the price difference between real and fake leather is not really the problem.
One way to find out about the original body colour may also be to lift the chrome cover (sometimes cut apart to fit a radio) between the instruments and the glove box: If the car has gotten a respray some time ago, the original colour may still show. I think (but am not entirely sure) that in a '62 model, the dash should have had the same colour as the body, but I've seen younger cars (2.8 models) with a black dashboard, regardless of body colour (just like all Pininfarina Coupes, which to the best of my knowledge always have a black dashboards).
If it is of help to you I could send you a scan of the letter from the Archivio Storico.
Best regards,
George
There is (or at least there used to be) a good way to find out about the production details of your car: In 1997 I have sent a letter to the Fiat Archivio Storico on two Flaminia Touring cars and one Zagato and got a fairly detailed answer. The info I got on the two Touring models mentioned chassis no. (obviously you would give that in your query), production date, engine no., body and seat colours and even some more details like no. of gearbox, etc. (They didn't have any info on the Zagato Supersport, other than chassis no and production date - rather typical for the sloppy way, Zagato built their cars.)
With that info you know practically everything there is to know, because the wheels were always in a cream colour, the "carpets" in plastic (Cicognani in Italy has them remade in grey and light brown) save the transmission tunnel and bench behind the seats. Only the seats themselves are real leather (Conolly, sadly not produced any more), while door trim and back of the seat was in fake leather of the same colour. Do I need to mention that you best take real leather when redoing these? At least in our part of the world you pay more for the work (i.e. Europe), so that the price difference between real and fake leather is not really the problem.
One way to find out about the original body colour may also be to lift the chrome cover (sometimes cut apart to fit a radio) between the instruments and the glove box: If the car has gotten a respray some time ago, the original colour may still show. I think (but am not entirely sure) that in a '62 model, the dash should have had the same colour as the body, but I've seen younger cars (2.8 models) with a black dashboard, regardless of body colour (just like all Pininfarina Coupes, which to the best of my knowledge always have a black dashboards).
If it is of help to you I could send you a scan of the letter from the Archivio Storico.
Best regards,
George
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Michael Southgate
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Dear Bert,
Thank you very much for your reply. I guess I was afraid that this might be the answer, now that Touring is no more, but it never hurts to ask. I'll try your suggestion.
Best regards,
Mike
Thank you very much for your reply. I guess I was afraid that this might be the answer, now that Touring is no more, but it never hurts to ask. I'll try your suggestion.
Best regards,
Mike
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Michael Southgate
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Dear George,
Thank you very much for your response, which gives me some hope. I believe my car is still in its original colour - silver-grey - but the wheels are similar to this colour, which is why I wanted to double-check (I'm aware that cream-coloured wheels were something of a Lancia thing). The wheels don't show any evidence of another colour underneath, but they could have been completely blasted and redone.
I suspect also that at the time of conversion from LHD to RHD, black carpets were added. I know that they only came with rubber mats but I think carpet is more in keeping with the style & class of the car. I was particularly interested in the colour of the dash, so I was interested in your comments here. My car has had the dash covered in black vinyl, probably to hide all kinds of sins during the conversion. Some of the switches have not been completely converted over to RHD configuration, and there is a hole in the dash where a radio may have been. I was working on the assumption that the dash would have been body colour.
My seats have also been recovered in orange vinyl with yellow piping - it's reminiscent of a 1970s kitchen, hence the interest in the original trim and material. The door trims and seat rears are original in a brown grained vinyl that's not a particularly attractive shade..... Leather is definitely the way to go, but I'm not sure what the design of the original seats look like because I think the retrim simplified it somewhat.
I would appreciate if you could at least send the address of Archivo Storico so I can pursue this avenue, along with the suggestion from Bert Ewalds.
Thank you again, and best regards,
Mike
Thank you very much for your response, which gives me some hope. I believe my car is still in its original colour - silver-grey - but the wheels are similar to this colour, which is why I wanted to double-check (I'm aware that cream-coloured wheels were something of a Lancia thing). The wheels don't show any evidence of another colour underneath, but they could have been completely blasted and redone.
I suspect also that at the time of conversion from LHD to RHD, black carpets were added. I know that they only came with rubber mats but I think carpet is more in keeping with the style & class of the car. I was particularly interested in the colour of the dash, so I was interested in your comments here. My car has had the dash covered in black vinyl, probably to hide all kinds of sins during the conversion. Some of the switches have not been completely converted over to RHD configuration, and there is a hole in the dash where a radio may have been. I was working on the assumption that the dash would have been body colour.
My seats have also been recovered in orange vinyl with yellow piping - it's reminiscent of a 1970s kitchen, hence the interest in the original trim and material. The door trims and seat rears are original in a brown grained vinyl that's not a particularly attractive shade..... Leather is definitely the way to go, but I'm not sure what the design of the original seats look like because I think the retrim simplified it somewhat.
I would appreciate if you could at least send the address of Archivo Storico so I can pursue this avenue, along with the suggestion from Bert Ewalds.
Thank you again, and best regards,
Mike
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Randy Adams
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Hello Michael:
While Lancia are famous for their quirky devotion to cream-colored steel wheels and rubber mats no matter how expensive the car, some of the earlier Flaminias did not have the cream wheels. For example, I have a 1958 sedan that has the wheels painted the body color. It is very clear that the color of the body and the wheels on this unrestored car are original. I've also seen a few period Lancia advertisements that showed cars with body-color steel wheels. In fact one of them depicted a Touring-bodied Flaminia. By 1963, I think the wheels were reliably cream.
I confess that I have become quite fond of Lancia's plastic mats in the front portion of the interior. While they create a major water trap if you allow water to get into the car, they are much easier to clean and they express such a perverse Lancia-ness in their stubborn practicality.
If the door panels are original, you have your interior color. If you don't object to it too much, seek out leather of the same color. If you modify it, try making the change a relatively modest one. My Touring coupe came with a rather loud red interior. Consider yourself lucky with the brown. The black vinyl on the dashboard is correct. Every Touring Flaminia I have ever encountered had a black vinyl dash regardless of the colors used elsewhere on the car. The upper surface of the Touring dash was never naked metal.
The dash fascia is indeed normally body-color.
Best of luck.
While Lancia are famous for their quirky devotion to cream-colored steel wheels and rubber mats no matter how expensive the car, some of the earlier Flaminias did not have the cream wheels. For example, I have a 1958 sedan that has the wheels painted the body color. It is very clear that the color of the body and the wheels on this unrestored car are original. I've also seen a few period Lancia advertisements that showed cars with body-color steel wheels. In fact one of them depicted a Touring-bodied Flaminia. By 1963, I think the wheels were reliably cream.
I confess that I have become quite fond of Lancia's plastic mats in the front portion of the interior. While they create a major water trap if you allow water to get into the car, they are much easier to clean and they express such a perverse Lancia-ness in their stubborn practicality.
If the door panels are original, you have your interior color. If you don't object to it too much, seek out leather of the same color. If you modify it, try making the change a relatively modest one. My Touring coupe came with a rather loud red interior. Consider yourself lucky with the brown. The black vinyl on the dashboard is correct. Every Touring Flaminia I have ever encountered had a black vinyl dash regardless of the colors used elsewhere on the car. The upper surface of the Touring dash was never naked metal.
The dash fascia is indeed normally body-color.
Best of luck.
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Len
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Michael,
If you can find it there is a good publication (wriiten in italian) called "Lancia Fulvia, Flavia, Flaminia -tutto su tutti i modelli" 1989 published by Girogio Nada Editore, Milano that has a breakup of each model and version with each derivation of each version which includes a description and specification of mechanicals and performance i.e. motor, transmission , brakes, suspension, electrics, dimensions and capacities max speed, acceleration figures, recommended fuel oils etc, wheel and tyre sizes and even production figures for left and right hand drive cars etc. Best of all there is two wwonderful colour pages of original flaminia touring examples, one 3C convertible and one GT. They include front, rear, side and interior shots showing seats and dash.Unfortunately only part of seat is visible but would certainly show colours.Dash tops are definitely in black vinyl but the dash is bisected by a chrome trim strip and the bottom half is body colour. The convertible has factory option borrani silver (non body colour) steel centre alloy rim wheels and the GT has factory standard steel wheels with SS dress rings and the "cream" centre although the cream used doesn't seem to be usual "Lancia" cream for wheels. Both cars are left hand drive.If you would like to contact me i could possibly scan the relevant pages for you and forward them.
Regards
Len Torti
If you can find it there is a good publication (wriiten in italian) called "Lancia Fulvia, Flavia, Flaminia -tutto su tutti i modelli" 1989 published by Girogio Nada Editore, Milano that has a breakup of each model and version with each derivation of each version which includes a description and specification of mechanicals and performance i.e. motor, transmission , brakes, suspension, electrics, dimensions and capacities max speed, acceleration figures, recommended fuel oils etc, wheel and tyre sizes and even production figures for left and right hand drive cars etc. Best of all there is two wwonderful colour pages of original flaminia touring examples, one 3C convertible and one GT. They include front, rear, side and interior shots showing seats and dash.Unfortunately only part of seat is visible but would certainly show colours.Dash tops are definitely in black vinyl but the dash is bisected by a chrome trim strip and the bottom half is body colour. The convertible has factory option borrani silver (non body colour) steel centre alloy rim wheels and the GT has factory standard steel wheels with SS dress rings and the "cream" centre although the cream used doesn't seem to be usual "Lancia" cream for wheels. Both cars are left hand drive.If you would like to contact me i could possibly scan the relevant pages for you and forward them.
Regards
Len Torti
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Michael Southgate
Re: Factory data on Flaminia GT
Hello Len,
Thank you for your response to my question, and the book suggestion. I might get a chance to track it down when I visit Europe later this year. After checking a number of websites and any photos they have to show, I get the impression that silver cars had (slightly different from body colour) silver instead of cream wheels (and in my opinion they are probably better for it). My wheels show no evidence of being anything but silver. I'd like to get the car as original as possible, but at day's end it's down to preference.
I'd be very interested in seeing the photos in the book you mentioned, and if it isn't too much trouble for you to scan and forward them, I'd appreciate that greatly.
Best regards,
Mike Southgate
Thank you for your response to my question, and the book suggestion. I might get a chance to track it down when I visit Europe later this year. After checking a number of websites and any photos they have to show, I get the impression that silver cars had (slightly different from body colour) silver instead of cream wheels (and in my opinion they are probably better for it). My wheels show no evidence of being anything but silver. I'd like to get the car as original as possible, but at day's end it's down to preference.
I'd be very interested in seeing the photos in the book you mentioned, and if it isn't too much trouble for you to scan and forward them, I'd appreciate that greatly.
Best regards,
Mike Southgate