Early series 1 Fulvia coupe

[Phil Laing]

Hi Guys,
As you know from my previous "Carb" threads, I recently came across a fulvia which was about to be scrapped. At first inspection, I believed oit to be too far gone to be resurrected, but managed to buy a few items which I thought I could use or needed. Good windscreen, carbs, trim etc. I have since discovered that this vehicle is probably an 1100 or 1200 all steel body with fixed side 1/4 windows.

Should I be relooking at saving this vehicle. Is it more valuable than the later models?

Comments please

[william]

If we are talking about a 1200 coupe then the value is not very high. Even though they may be more pure than the later 1300 models. Al steel body is unprefferable since aloy has much more appeal to the majority of the classic lancia enthousiast. In europe a desent 1200 coupe can be had for 5000 euro. about $6500. For that money you simply cannot restore. My advise would be to forget about it when it has no sentimental value for you.
William

[Huib]

An 1100 never existed so it is a 1200. If it is 65 or 66 it has steel doors and bonnet / trunk lid. If it is 67 or later it has alu parts and a light weight rear axle.

The alu parts have the advantage of low weight and no rust. The disadvantage is that the alu cracks easily. All alu doors and bonnets have cracks. The steel doors, particularly of the early 1200's, can be adjusted such that they fit perfectly (impossible with alu doors) and close like vault doors which is a revelation and also impossible with alu doors. I prefer steel vault doors to flimsy alu doors any time. On the other hand I prefer flimsy alu doors to badly fitting and badly closing steel doors. Since steel and alu have their advantages as well as disadvantages, I would not let it influence my choice. Just look at it as an (hopefully original) 1200 coupe and accept what is on there.

In general the S1 cars are valued twice as high as later models. Personally I value the ones with the fixed 1/4 lights higher. These are the 1200 and rally 1.3 models. The fixed 1/4 lights were part of the original design. Earlier Lancia's such as Flavia and Flaminia had opening 1/4 lights. It was common on cars of that era. Nevertheless on the Fulvia coupe the designer choose to have fixed 1/4 lights. This was a conscious choice. The original design is much cleaner, lighter (optically) and in balance than the later ones with the opening 1/4 lights. Of course you must have an eye for balance.

Don't underestimate the speed of the 1200. Off the motorway and track the 1200 is as fast if not faster than the 1300. The lower engine capacity is compensated for by the final reduction of the gearbox. Of course you have to work harder and shift gears more often but for many this is exactly the fun of driving a classic car.

In short: I prefer a 1200 coupe or rally 1.3 coupe to any of the later ones.

[Phil Laing]

Thanks for the info guys,

Huib, do you think I should then try to save the gearbox....... and doors as they don't appear to have any rust. (Bonnet and boot are completely rusted)

[P. de R. Leclercq]

This is interesting.

The car I have (I know it is not standard!) was a rescue job - it was 40% rust, 10% holes, 45% steel and 5% cobwebs when I got it:

The point is that it is an early (reg April 1967) 1300 coupé. The car had (rusty) all steel panels, including the fixed quarter light dorrs.

So can anyone tell me when the aluminium panels were introduced? In other words, was there officially a 1300 coupé that wa not a "rallye"?

Paul

[Alan Cooper]

I thought it was the rallye S that had alloy panels and not before that

[jogo48]

Hi Phi, I am not Huib, but I'll reply anyway. save what can be saved. If you don't need the things you save yourself, somebody else certainly will - someday if not right now. That soebody will thank you for your foresight. & besides, "What you got, you got !" JoGo

[Sam Danenberger IV]

Just to add my 2 cents-

My Series 1.2 Coupe, titled as a 1967, has aluminum hood(bonnet), and fixed front quarters, steel doors and trunk. When purchased out of Los Angles in 2001, the 1.2 was in the trunk(boot).
It has a 1.3 engine now, and I must agree with Huib, I love the earlier car(s) in build quality, and now have the benefit of a little more ummph from the 1.3 engine.
I also agree with save EVERYTHING YOU CAN, SOMEONE WILL NEED IT!!

[Huib]

The story as I know it is that the alu doors were originally for the 1.3HF. The rally 1.3 is the "street" version of the 1.3HF and also had the alu parts and the light rear axle. In the past I believed all the 1200's had the steel parts. Over the last two years I have had quite a number of 1200's in my shop and noticed that the pre-1967 1200's have steel parts, a fan in the heater, the simpler windshield demisting and the 1216 cc engine. The 1967 and later 1200's have the same parts as the rallye 1.3: alu panels, impeller in the heater, light rear axle, better windshield demisting and the 1231cc engine. The 1231 cc engine has the same crankshaft, crankcase, flywheel, cilinder block etc as the 1.3. Only the pistons are smaller and the head is the 818.100 head with the narrow ports.
When you think about it this is of course the most economic way for production and thus the most logical.

The change over did probably not happen at the 1st of januari 1967 but sometime during the year. Since one of my rallye 1.3 coupe's is from spring 1967 it must have been rather early in the year.

There may be some change over cars like Sam's coupe with only partial alu parts or the parts may have been changed at some other time during the following 40 years. Probably at a time when there were plenty of coupe's in the wreck yards.

I am now working on a very early 1200 coupe, number 700 or so. It does have an alu bonnet with the long stalk on the engine side but it does not have the catch for the stalk welded onto the inner wheelarch. The first few hundred were made with a short spring loaded stalk half way the bonnet on the battery side like the berlina's. The impression for the short stalk half way the gutter on the battery side remained though till the last coupe in 1976. Apparently the short stalk was the cause of a problem that made Lancia change to the long stalk on the other side and caused the change of the bonnet on this car. I stripped the car and there was no trace of accident damage. Maybe it touched the plus pole of larger batteries

Many of the changes I though to be model related for many years turned out to be time related. And again, if you think about it, this is the most logical for a relatively low volume production.

Another example are the side vents in the dashboard. For many years I though the 1200 coupe and the rally 1.3 have chromed metal ones and the rallye 1.3S has plastic ones untill I saw a late rally 1.3 with the plastic ones. The early rallye 1.3S coupe's have the alu parts. Later ones have steel parts. Popular belief is that Lancia changed back to steel for cost reasons. I doubt it it. I think it was because the alu parts were too flimsy.

[Huib]

Most certainly, Phil
RSA is a bit far off but I would one day like to have a set of S1 doors from an RHD car. I confuse RHD and LHD most of the time. By RHD I mean a UK or RSA car. Most of the time I have problems with the left hand door on our LHD cars. The top rear corner of the window does not perfectly close into the rubber as on the passenger side. It does not whistle of leak but I would like to find out if this is the result of the addition of a chain of small wear and tear things on an often used driver door or perhaps more structural.