LanciaInfo Blog

Things are starting up again. The windshield is in, and unlike the later cars, there is no rubber used. Kind of screwed in. And the dash is in as well. Switches are getting tied to the wiring harness.

A lot of parts have come down from the body shop, where they were painted or coated – the gas tank, radiator, the chrome and little bits here and there. Door latches can be installed, handles, and final light assemblies. But there are a lot of bits, and its all a bit scary, as you can see what might be missing or not quite right….

The gas tank is sealed and painted. Notice the weld seam on the top, and the mounting for the sending unit on the top. Looks like a gas tank too, rectangular and simple.

The radiator is done, and the Y looks good, as does the old Bakelite cap. Notice the Aurelia heater valve, turned on or off under the bonnet, not from within the car!

Finally, there are the two shrouds that cover the steering column. Like all the interior panels, they are number stamped to the car.

both steering column shroud and original upholstery panel behind rear windows numbered to the car

Ever look at an old Ferrari chassis? Made by GILCO in the late 1950’s, its pretty robust stuff, outsourced, and not at all like Lancia engineering. Still, interesting.

Some progress – the car is on wheels, suspension is on. The electrical harness is in place, and coming along. Switches, loose ends, waiting for lights – it all seems scattered, but there is some sense of order. Instruments were cleaned, not restored – to keep some of that older look. The windshield wipers are in. Windscreen is next. Getting the rubber mats to fit is a problem – they aren’t quite the right fit….

Driveshaft is back from Oregon, and looks nice.

Progress has been limited recently. The good news is that the chromer is finally (its now May?) finishing up the last little bits of chrome. He’s done a nice job. Lights are assembled. Some detail shots of chrome are shown below.

The machinist is making progress with the engine – the heads are almost done, and the block is out getting soda-blasted to remove corrosion.

There has been a slowdown in the project, as none of us are getting younger. I wish good health to all.

Two exhibitions were recently mounted in Italy, both near Venice and in the northeastern part of Italy. One is the wonderful Aurelia exhibit at the Bonfanti Museum, in the small town of Bassano del Grappa (yes, that’s right, where they make Grappa!). The other is a very large and comprehensive show at the M.A.R.T. in  Rovereto, near Verona.

Photos from these two shows, and from the Lancia collection in Turin can be seen at:   photo galleries

UPDATE May 10: the viewers of the photo galleries have had the option of just viewing, downloading the image, or even purchasing a print for their own use. Due to concerns about the appropriateness of this with photographs taken in museums, the “printing option” is no longer available. Apologies for any confusion.

The Aurelia show at Bassano is due in no small measure to the work of the Aurelia Registry, and Francesco Gandolfi, who reached out to Aurelia owners in providing this museum with a good look at the broad range of Aurelia models.

There one can find anything for the Aurelia fan – the early 538 45˚ V6 motor of 1946, all the sedans, the B15 6 light car, several B20’s, including the 3rd series Rome-Liege-Rome winning car. There are two stock B24 Spider and Convertible, both  in black and paired with each other, as well as the 1955 Mille Miglia entry B24 Spider.

For one-off’s, there is the B50 Cabriolet, some special B50 coupes, a sports racing car, and a lovely Vignale coupe looking quite smart in non-Lancia red.

Two favorites were the woody station wagon, full of body-workers ideas and charm in the details. Also there was an unrestored Florida, which really caught (for me) the spirit of the times – fresh, a bit wild, and yet setting up a new set of car design issues for the next decade.

Also on exhibit is a letter from Enzo Ferrari to de Virgilio about buying an Aurelia, if only in left hand drive. Long reported, but not seen before.

Its a wonderful show and many thanks to Bonfanti for setting this up and to Francesco for pulling it together. It was up through the 9th of April.

Pictures (from the top):

s.3 Rome Liege winning B20, and interior

s. 2 B20

B24 from 1955 MM

B50,

Vignale one off,

B20 with sun roof

back of Vignale

Florida prototype

late Aprilia

woody wagon on B50 chassis

one-off sports racer.

B20 coupe, 3rd series, c. 1953, winner of Rome-Liege-Rome rally, nicely restored, on show at Bonfanti Museum

Projects have their own pace. This one is beginning to pick up momentum. Recent events include:

– most of the chrome has come back, and negotiations with the chromer have worked out so that everyone is happy.

– the driveshaft has been aligned, balanced and returned from Oregon, and is in the car.

– the rear brakes came back from being cut, fitted and balanced by balanced by Tony Nicosea In Los Angeles. he did them before, but we then found out that they were B12 brakes, and had to redo it for the s. 2 B20 brakes which are larger.

– the front axle and suspension came back from Will’s Garage in Pittsburgh, repaired, and has been fitted to the car.

– the starter, generator, voltage regulator and distributor are being rebuilt, so when we need them, they’ll be done.

So now we have a car with most of the suspension, brakes and steering in place. Lights, wiring and dash will come after the windshield is in place (chrome surround to be completed first).

So we’re getting there. Still, some parts are needed – mostly for the rear driveshafts,  including the outer CV joint and some rubber pieces. I’ll be off to Cavalitto next week, after a visit to the Aurelia show at the Museo dell’Automobile “Luigi Bonfanti”.

We’re still waiting for the engine work to be completed – Billt he machinist is thinking of soda-blasting the block, to clean it safely. Everything passed magnafluxing, and the pistons have come in from J&E, so work can go ahead when he has time.

So work is slowly picking up. The bits are coming together, and in a few months, the engine will be built and the car will be getting ready for the road. Its pretty exciting to think in maybe in about 4-5 months it’ll be running!

Update

Neils Jonassen has written a new book on the Aurelia, called “Lancia Aurelia in Detail”. The book is now beginning to be available in the US, and several people have asked for opinions on it.

Three things stand out with this book:

1) its a good consolidation of info on the birth of Aurelia. There is good information from the de Virgilio archives, and a good presentation of how the Aurelia came to be.

2)    there are very good individual summaries of the different models – the berlinas, the specials and the varied B20’s. In  general the detail is good, although not infallible.

3)    there is some nice work on placing Aurelias in context, both in competition and with other production cars of the time. Most of the references are to similar type (?) English cars, but other Italian and German cars are presented as well.

The book is not without a few faults, but none major. There are some minor errors, almost inevitable in any Aurelia history. There is also a bit of over-reliance on personal information retrieved from De Virgilio, and not a clear sense of the other players (engineers, designers) at the time. As both Gianni Lancia has elected to remain silent, and Jano is dead, information that comes to the table gets more attention.

THere are also some areas of repetition in the book. This is probably due to writing it in separate chapters, and not editing out the redundancy. Again, not major, but a bit unsettling.

There are good pictures of the different models, but in some cases, better examples could have been included. In particular, for a history like this, the s. 2 B20 selected should be one with original bodywork, not altered. The other models are better represented. It would be nice to have more information on some of special models, such as the station wagon or the B15, which are so rarely seen. But the information on the sedans is well done.

The good points of the book are that it places all the Aurelia information in one place, it updates the general history of the model, and it is in English (finally).

It provides little new information, but mainly serves as a solid, competent, and caring assembly of information that has been in separate places, and is now placed in one book. The technical data appears relatively accurate, but is mostly a repeat of infomation in other books. There is an inteesting chart of the cost of Aurelias vs. other cars in Switzerland, the only neutral, non-auto producing cuntry in a central location. This does place the Aurelia pricing in context, and is worthwhile. (note: in the blog, there is some additional pricing information on Aurelias in Switzerland as well, so I have to support this methodology!).

In conclusion, this is a worthy book. While not groundbreaking nor as complete as the history of Bernabo history, it is a solid compliaton and a good general contribution on an unrepresented model.

Aurelia GT – the book

The car is at Scotty’s, tucked happily away. My son (in the red coat) went for a brief visit this past weekend. Its coming along – but there is a long way to go. The photos show:

– the new wiring harness, with one rebuilt carb.

– brake drums are ready to be put on.

– brake reservoir is installed.

– early series horns with neat air chambers.

– trans is installed, steering box is ready.

– rear suspension bushed and ready

– ventilation (yes!) bits, and pedals

– curiously, the brake cutting tool came from the 1950’s and had a B20 on the cover of its instructions!

Bill (Apex Engineering, Bensenville, IL) is the classic machinist – thoughtful, precise and very busy. He does all the unusual automotive machining in the area, be it current or the odd Maserati race car and Ferrari in the Chicago area The quality of his work is exemplary – there is little he doesn’t know.

He’s made some progress on the B20 – the liners are out and cleaned. He’d prefer to reuse the original liners, as he had some problems with remade Alfa liners. The heads have been pressure tested and passed, the crank has been magnafluxed, and the pistons have been measured up for new ones to be made by J&E in California.

We’re hoping to find head studs – otherwise we’ll have ARP make some up. The rest of the bits look good. We’ll probably install a rear crank seal on the motor, which requires some modification to the end of the crank.

Also, if the block is decked (maybe some 10 thou of an inch), he’ll have to lower the liners too. As the top of the liners are each stamped as to which cylinder they are for, he’s considering milling the supporting ridge on the liner to lower them in the block. Interestingly enough, the cylinders are also stamped with the firing order number in the head, right in the combustion chamber. The heads and pistons are dated, 1952. 

The heads are very open – full of good cooling area, and rather remarkable castings. They are in good shape, altho a bit of repair here and there will be needed.

We had a good time talking about Lancias, and he showed me the Volkswagen narrow angle V6. It looks like a current version of a Lancia motor that they didn’t quite ever make – Lancia had 4’s and 8’s, but the narrow V-6….maybe that’s yet to come. Pretty interesting.

below – he’s also working on the current Volkswagen narrow V-6:  the cast iron block is like an Astura, but with only 6 cylinders (or an Appia with 2 extra!). The alum head (left and center) has the combustion chambers in the pistons; the little half-moons in the head are water circulation passages. Note the complex casting on the top of the head and the simple machining on the bottom. 

Aluminum head with lots of water passages, and angled valves. Head has a date on it of 19 2 52, probably a February casting. Interesting to have such an early date in 1952.

Note the billeted crank, in good shape. Shop is rather full with other stuff.

There are some final bits of upholstery and trim (at least for this round – we’re still waiting for the chrome …). Rubber mats are being installed. Luckily we have the old ones still, so screws and snaps are located as they were originally. New mats come from Italy, were remade from the original molds, but are a bit thicker. Its  hard to get them to lay as flat as the older ones. Still, at least they are available. We changed from the original and used black snaps, though!

Trunk was trimmed out in vinyl. There is little information on how to do the trunk: the later B20’s have quilted vinyl,

but the earlier ones are simpler. This seems like a good answer.

The window shades took some work to get the tight edge seam that is not bulky. The dash is just in for fitting – it will come late in the day, after electrics are put in.