Fulvia Story from US of A.

[Vivalancia]

discovered in:

http://collectiblecars.nytimes.com/View ... =COL607256

Nice story, but the Value is wrong: it should read "more than 100,000 !

I shortened it somewhat


Make: King Of The Road Fulvia 1972
Mileage: 69000 ; Restored
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Engine : 4 Cylinder Transmission : Manual Value: Less than $30,000

Description
My 72 Fulvia Coupe 1.3S (S2) is named Sylvia, as all Lancia's have names.
I spent years looking for Sylvia , in USA/ Euro before I found her on Ebay, less than 100 miles from home.
She was reportedly restored in Italy in 90 & lived most of her life in Sicily.
She emigrated to the USA in 04 & has been fully sorted out, as you must plan on doing with any old car. Parts & Service are surprisingly available, albeit on a time burning basis. But that is what this hobby is about. Fulvia are very elemental vehicles. They are noisy & you more or less wear the car, more than drive it. They are surprisingly roomy & truly entertaining to drive. I'm not a show off (at least consciously) but she attracts attention as any hot looking Italian would.
Lancia as a make is 100 years old & is reknown as an engineering innovator par excellence in the automotive world.
Lancia's were expensive when new & were sold to a elite clientele.
Sylvia was more expensive than a Lotus Elan or Ford LTD. Lanciaalso would pretty much build each Fulvia the way the customer wanted, so there is more than average variation from model to model.
Sylvia is a 1.3 which offers plenty of grunt, with the 1.6 HF being the top of the range.
A Zagato bodied version was also available.
HF models were higher performance, only sold to customers who bought several previous Lancia's, in
the "High Fidelity" program. The car sports a narrow angle V-4 canted 45 degrees & is FWD,
The handling characteristics are not what you would expect for a FWD car.
Sylvia has a 5-speed ZF transaxle, which is hard to dogleg shift 1st to 2nd when cold.
The 4-speed in the S1 cars is reportedly easier to shift.
See vivalancia.com for more information on Lancia.
I feel like Sylvia is a work of art. I would be happy to hang her on the wall if I could, but she is just so wonderfully aggressive & fluid to drive, it would be a shame to not take advantage of that.
Ciao!


reply 1
S1, up to 69 (before FIAT bought Lancia & ruined the company) with 4 speed was best one.
Really a very nice car. I owned a 68 1.3 Rallye S in Italy. You could see what FIAT did to Lancia in this one model which began in 65 and was made until 76. The quality of materials & workmanship plummeted under FIAT. A real shame.
Posted by citronr@mac.com on 10/11/2007 11:59:00 AM


reply 2
Hey, its wonderful to see a Fulvia in the USA. I had a silver '72 like this 1, with bumpers.
I owned it in Italy & sold it when I moved to the US.
I was designing for Lancia at the time & reveled in owning a piece of Lancia history.
Bravo per una bellissima restorazione!
Posted by Magari on 12/10/2006 11:21:00 AM
Una bella machina!!!

[Chasm61]

Vivalancia wrote:
>
> My 72 Fulvia Coupe 1.3S (S2) is named Sylvia, as all Lancia's
> have names.

My 1975 S3 has finally been christened as well... Her name is "Tessa",
which is short for Contessa, of course. )

[Ed Levin]

If my car has a name, it hasn't mentioned this to me yet...

[william vd Sman]

Amen to that!

[Ralph de Masi]

My wife and I use the name Fulvia, since that is a proper name. But when she uses the name it's usually as in " Oh! you'll be with Fulvia today" And as expected with this mistress undercurrent she won't drive it even though she did enjoy driving a Fiat 128 sedan we had early in our marriage.

Women, go figure!?!

[Chasm61]

Ed Levin wrote:
>
> If my car has a name, it hasn't mentioned this to me
> yet...

Actually, my wife gets credit for the name. For some reason she dislikes the name "Fulvia" as it seems to close for comfort to a certain female anatomical reference. So unlike Ralph's wife, going out with Tessa is much preferred to going out with Fulvia.

I guess we'll never own a Volvo either then...

[William vd Sman]

As I have a few lancias the reference is simpler. It is either the HF, or the Zagato, or the Beta. When my campervan restauration is finished we can take the Superjolly as well! How about that for a silly name!

[Johnny48]

I'll put some pepper into this conversation.
I actually asked a certain women, today by email; she who is the women who has been closest to my Z - since she is the only women who has even been inside it since I've owned it - if she would mind if my Z -
otherwise referred to as 'it' could assume a new identity & become (details to follow, if approval received)

[Brian Hilton]

My 1968 1.3 Rallye Coupe was named "Rae" as the Registration Number was RAE 8G,
my 2c Berlina that I've owned since 1997 is named "Fay" after her Registration Number, Fay 224D.
Unfortunately with the current registration system in the UK, it's very rare now that you can name a car from the Number Plate.

Brian Hilton
UK

[Paul de R. Leclercq]

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