Lancia Flaminia Saxomat

[jan van hoorick]

Hello,
does anyone out there knows of such automatic Flaminia's.
More or les 70 were produced.
Are there known survivors?
Thanks for your information.
Jan

[Cory Youngberg]

Funny you should ask. I recently acquired a 1959 Berlina #813.36-2783 from an Ebay Auction from New York. The car had two owners, the first until 1972 and the second until 2006. The car has about 19,000 miles on the odometer and appears very original. The tires it came with were the original Michelins, made in Italy. The car was optioned with red pleated leather interior, which apart for a couple of holes in the driver's section has really cleaned up nicely. The chrome trim, especially in the interior is extremely good. Unfortunately being from and driven in New York, it has rust on the fender wells and at the door bottoms, but the floor is solid.

It is a running car and I have driven it the ten miles to the local DMV to register it. To shift, one touches the column shift, which activates the rear clutch via an electrical and pneumatic actuation. There is a centrifugal clutch just behind the flywheel, which engages at about 1,250 rpm. There is an invoice from 1962 where the clutch was sent to Sweinfurt, Germany for rebuilding. I assume the clutch rebuilt was the centrifugal clutch.

How is it to drive? Not that hard. It is important to warm up the car thoroughly so it idles correctly at 800 to 1,000 rpm. One can put it in first gear and wait at a stop with the car in first gear without normal automatic transmission creeping. As the engine speeds up, the take up on the centrifugal clutch is smooth. One needs to keep the rpm around 1,000 when releasing the lever for a first gear start. If the rpms are at 1,500 the car takes off with a jerk as the centrifugal clutch is suddenly engaged. Shifting in all four gears is also smooth. One has to remember not to touch the column shift while driving, only when one shifts. The response is very quick and clutch engagement is very smooth. The Saxomat was a $203 option to the base price of the car of $5,998. The leather upolstery was a $256 option. The car also came with a 40 page factory technical manual for the Saxomat, listing all the parts. There is a purchase invoice dated from 7/28/1960 from a Oldsmobile Rambler dealership, where the car was purchased for $4,000 cash. I suspect it is the original purchase as Flaminia's were very hard to sell, so the dealer had to substantially discount the car to move it. The car also came with the original invoice from Hoffman, the U.S. importer at the time.

From the records received, the first owner kept the car until he passed away in 1972, probably with only 19,000 miles on the odometer. The second owner purchased the car for $600.00 and kept it in his garage until his death in 2006. I would believe the prior owners were afraid of driving the the car due to fear of breaking the clutch, but I have had no problems. I wouldn't seek out a Flaminia with a Saxomat, but given the low miles and beatiful leather interior, I overcame the my resistance to purchase a Saxomat car. Once moving the car is very easy to drive.

[jan van hoorick]

Hi mister Youngberg,
very nice history indeed. Thanks for your information.
I presume the Saxomat Flaminia's are not regarded as icon's and
probably very few are left, or do you know of other similar cars.
Kind regards,
Jan

[tom pacelli]

ciao.

i have recently purchased a 1960 flaminia berlina 813.36 saxomat number 2784. needs a bit of help but in generally good shape. funny thing seeing the owner of the one made before here on the forum. mine is black with red leather interior as well.

tom

[PG]

Tom, post a pic of your car please.
My records say that Hoffman imported 31 Flaminias 813.36 with the Saxomat, i know just 4 of them and your is the the fifth.

[tom pacelli]

here is the first two of seven, not the best quality photos from a phone.

[tom pacelli]

the next two.

[tom pacelli]

another three

[tom pacelli]

final one with the car number

[b20swalt]

PG and others,

I have been involved with Lancia since 1967 and worked with Tom Sheehan for 9 years in the parts business. We never heard of these 813.36's back then. We knew that there were Saxomat's, but never had a customer that was running one.

Lately I have been getting calls from all over the US from people who are selling them or trying to buy them.

My question is: Were all of the 813.36's supplied with the Saxomat? Some of the people who are selling claim to have a clutch pedal.

Walt Spak