Fulvia article in April edition of "Classic & Sports Car"

[Shaun Pond]

This UK based magazine features the Fulvia in their "Starter Classic" section this month (and quite properly lists www.viva-lancia.com as a web resource for the model).

Basically a good, positive article about the car. Only two quibbles:

1. I disagree with is their "Marks out of 10" verdict. The total score they give for the Fulvia is lower than the scores they've previously given for the VW Beetle, the MG Midget, and the MGB, among others. I've had ownership experience with each of these three, and there is no question in my mind that the Fulvia rates much higher than any of them.

2. Personally, I think it would be a mistake to have a Fulvia as a 'starter' or first classic car. I think there'd be a real risk that you'd be spoiled for anything that came after. I can't think of anything that handles as well, or that is so challenging and rewarding to drive quickly, or that can do both chores during the workweek and sporting endeavors on the weekend with such grace and style.

There are of course other cars I'd love to have at some point, but they'll have to fit next to the Fulvia in my garage, not in its place.

Regards

Shaun Pond
67 Coupe Rallye 1.3

[P. de R. Leclercq]

I remember a C & SC article years ago about the Fulvia. It said "the engine is quiet due to the use of belt rather than chain."

So much for C & SC!

How anyone can take a VW Beetle seriously is beyond me - all the more so if one has a Fulvia to drive.

1600cc and fifty horsepower; what a joke...

Paul

[gamma as in goat]

i can't argue with 1 word you wrote; in fact I can only agree. may I recommend a future-fulvai stable-mate ? try a gamma coupe. when i drive mine i feel like a millionaire driving on a Fiat Stilo budget .
the 1st time my wife rode in a Gamma the first thing she said "this car is loud". 5 minutes later she (comfortable in the generous rear seat ) was fast asleep. She, who never sleeps in a car due to permanent "nervousness" of what 'some other driver may do' (even on empty highways), woke up 2 hours later, thinking 10 minutes had past ! So much for loudness (at 130kph) ! This would not happen in a Fulvia !
When I drive my Fulvia, I fell like, well..umm...aaah...its sorta hard to describe...but my face cramps into a smile...it is the only 'sports-car' I've owned that makes driving difficult do to laughing-fits. (# 2 would be a 124 1.6 Coupe I owned many many years ago...). Gamma Coupes are certainly 'underpriced' & under-rated; Fulvias as well

[gamma as in goat]

sorry, I meant to write "due to" & not write "do to" !
I was laughing too hard to spell properly & I'm not even ( I'm sure you know this, but I'll say it anyway)
sitting in my Fulvia. Man, am I glad spring is coming ...I need to drive them both (not at the same time)
again soon !!!

[Peter Cripps]

Sadly, Gammas were never sold in the US. I've always admired the coupe's good looks, although there do seem to be mixed reports on engine reliability?

As for Fiat 124 coupes, yes, a good #2, especially the nimble early versions with the torque-tube rear end. Here's the one I had in 1976:





The Fiat does beat the Fulvia on a few points ... more room in the back, more scope for engine tuning ... but it doesn't have quite the same feeling of precision and balance.

Peter

[Randy Adams]

My very first car was a 71 124 Sport coupe 1600 (with the four headlight front). My example had been badly neglected for five years by the time I bought it and it lost the timing belt inside the first month I had it but the car was a marvelous introduction to the joys of Italian automobiles and I've never looked back since. It certainly did not have the Fulvia's hammer-like build integrity, what with cheapie short-lived electrical switches, an even shorter-lived fuel pump (I had to change it every year), quick-fade paint and quick-crack plastic upholstery and that aggravating glued-on rear quarter window latch mechanism, but it looked like a million bucks and when my youthful exuberance led me to run it broadside into a giant mid-70s Cadillac sedan, the Cadillac was a total loss but the Fiat was ready to continue down the road (looking a bit cock-eyed) after a little judicious application of the crowbar on one of the front wheel arches. That Fiat double-skinned bodywork was good for something besides trapping moisture!

The Fulvia coupe I eventually acquired was another badly neglected example and had a lot of rust coursing through its veins but you couldn't kill that car with a bomb. No honest person could ever compare the Fulvia in any way with a VW--it's chalk and cheese. And, frankly, however much I personally like the MGB it is rolling rubbish compared to the Lancia. The Lancia had that wonderful sparkling engine sound coupled with impossible performance for a 1.3, that amazing tight handling coupled with steering mysteriously devoid of any shocks to the hands (with a spindly wood/plastic wheel rim!), those big generous brakes and it looked like nothing else on the road no matter what view you had of it. To this day, my two Fulvias (coupe and Sport) remain the most reliable cars I have ever owned.

I wish I could have a Gamma coupe. I am in the US. I would gladly nurse it along forever just to have that beautiful shape and the exotic machinery.

[Huib]

Amen.

Yesterday I put Tina back on the road. That is my celeste chiaro 1967 coupe rallye 1.3. After 4,5 years of total bare metal restoration with everything new or overhauled it is nice to have it start at first try.
It will be my daily driver for the next half a million kms! Every mile with a smile!
Engine is very strong with the head flowed and ported by Paul. I put the 818100 camshafts with the shorter overlap in. I prefer the torque at lower rpms over the few extra hp's at high rpm's
With 5W40 synthetic oil and engine hot the oil pressure is already at full scale at 2000 rpm!

Annabelle my wife now wants Elena, the other 1967 rallye 1.3 as a daily driver. Well, she has to wait a year or two as Elena also needs a total strip down.

[gamma as in goat]

somewhere I read that gamma coupes had been imported to the usa ( I assume unsucessfully); I'll try to remember where I read that & put you on to it. do I remember usa bumpers in a photo ?

[Ed Levin]

Gammas were never imported into the USA--no 'federalized' version ever existed of either the berlina or coupe. The "USA bumpers" you seem to recall were probably just the visual effect of the absurd front & rear overhangs of the coupe.

After the Fulvia, the only Lancia imported here was the Beta. The Scorpion/Montecarlo wasn't sold after 1977, the berlina and HPE died in 1979, while the coupe lasted only until 1981, and a few Beta Zagatos were sold in 1982, at which point Lancia pulled out altogether.

[Sam Danenberger IV]

Shaun-

Thanks for the heads up on the article.

Without sounding completely redundant in this dicussion, I too have owned a MGB, driven a Midget and a VW Beetle, also restored a '57 Smallmouth TR3, but nothing is quite like a Fulvia.
No comparison really and the numbers/rating seem meaningless.
Those of lucky enough to own in drive them are preaching to the preverbial choir.
Hard to describe to the unintiated why the car is so unique, and drives like no other.
Jamie Kittman, a editor for Automobile magazine, once wrote to me that Lancia and in turn the Fulvia, was probably the last car designed and built without an accoutant in sight, totally designed and produced by engineers(the frequent bankruptcies bear this out).
Hold onto your Fulvias folks one day the automotive will give them their due!!

Sam Danenberger IV