Leak or Seep? Its the language.
In discussion with Carter Hendricks of St. Louis, he recalled a conversation a few years ago with a Lancia mechanic who had been assigned travel duty in the 1960s to take care of customer’s cars in the US.
Carter asked him about the leaking front suspension (the sliding pillar) and the response was that they didn’t leak, they seeped. Carter read this as continued stubborness on the part of an old world Lancista.
Having worked for several years with the Torinese on Italian documents, a different view was offered; that is, Italian is a very precise language, and the little differences mean a lot. “Leaking” would be something designed to be sealed that failed. “Seeping” would be something designed to allow some oil to pass as part of the design.
My take on the choice of words was that the man was being accurate. What we saw as a leak was not; it was designed to seep slight amounts of oil as the factory knew that a perfect seal for the sliding pillar was not possible. Its all in the language.
Young enthusiasts
Tem getting ready
Walter Miller has long been one of the most important people in automotive literature in the US, with vast archives ofand interest in Lancias. Recently Walter got an Aurelia B12 sedan, which he is driving to several events on the east coast.
Helping Walter is his enthusiastic support crew, still learning about Lancias, but clearly hard workers. We welcome them and trust they will keep their good cheer throughout Best wishes to the whole crew!
The team is in central NY state, and able to go to Watkins Glen, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. Walter also has a web page on automotive art and style, see: www.moaaad.org
prep work
working on the door
from an earlier time, B12 in Kenya:
Walt Spak – Memorial
with his B20 on a cold wintry morning
A very dear Lancista, Walt Spak, passed away in June in Pittsburgh. He had struggled with health issues for some time.Our thoughts go out to his family. He will be deeply missed.
The memorial is being held August 24, in Pittsburgh at the Valley Refuge Shelter, Riverview Park.
You can find the location of the Shelter on Google, its in the SE corner of the park.
The event is called for from 2-8, and I’ll be there around 4 on. Look forward to seeing you all and raising a glass….
Walt was East Coast Vice President of the American Lancia Club, and a well known Lancia restorer. His knowledge of Aurelias and other Lancias was deep and unrivaled. He and his friend Bob Williams were resposnbile for some of the best Lancias in this country.
Our friendship started a long time ago, in the mid-1970s, close to forty years back. We shared a common passion in all things Lancia. His sense of fairness was central to who he was, and for those of us who knew him, he was most generous and gave more to others than himself. His deep respect for the elegance of Lancias, was inspiring.
Walt was also a Vietnam veteran, one of the few I knew, and had done active service for his country.
Handover in 1955
car into transporter
Various photos of the event exist, including a famous retouched photo where the Pirelli logo has been eliminated from the transporter. Not seen before is this clip found by Luigi De Virgilio of film footage of the event. Also shown is the shipping and loading of B24 Spiders onto the James Madison, for shipment to the US.
Its rather amazing what comes out of the woodwork these days.
transporter leaving Lancia plant
Ducati, Ipad and…. Lancia?
A recent post on the Apple site (Apple – iPad in Business – Profiles – Ducati) highlighted Ducati’s use of the Ipad to streamline production, communication and general information flow. It stressed the transformation of Ducati’s multiple versions and possibilities, which were difficult to communicate to their clients and vendors, into a streamlined system that allowed customization both for the customer and all other parts of the supply chain.
One feature of small volume industrial production in Italy is the ability to make small numbers and customize easily. However, this has long been a bugaboo as well, as communicating that to the clients, especially ones farther away, has been difficult, cumbersome and usually out of date. This new “flattening of the information hierarchy” allows what was a difficulty to become a virtue.
If one allows the imagination to wander, is it possible to consider Lancia in the 1950s and 1960s in this light, and to see what was burdensome in their production and managment streaming as really a virtue, but one that was not workable due to the difficulties of information flow and structure. In fact, could one even surmise that if this approach to managing and controlling production had been available then, things would have been quite different? Another way to put this is to say that Ducati, as presented in the video, is doing production much like Lancia did some fifty years ago. The difference is that the support structure is now in place to allow that model to work, whereas it was not many years ago.
form and practicality
two heads – B20 s.1 and s.4
Over the life of the Aurelia there were many changes to the car. In fact, from the s. 1 to s. 6 B20, it is hard to find components that were not changed, mostly small bits here and there as all the major parts were revised. Some of these changes were due to learning more about what was needed for a part to work. This can be seen in a comparison of the engine heads from a s.1 B20 from 1951 with a s.4 B20 of 1954/55.
The most striking difference is in the water passages – in the earlier head, they are precisely shaped, as drawn by an engineer, and carefully and formally arranged. Quite nicely so. A few years later, a different picture emerges – the passages in the s.4 head are located slightly differently, and shaped practically. Probably easier to cast, and likely more effective.
Its a small item, buried away inside the engine and no one will ever see it. But its one of the many changes that tell of the dialogue at that time between Lancia’s engineers and their production. Its a dialogue that goes on today, still. Form and practical – two ideas that need each other, as neither does well without the other.
Wheel Color?
So what color were those Lancia white wheels? In general, stock steel wheels from Lancia (Aprilia through Fulvia) were painted a Lancia creamy white, often called Avorio Antico. Finding that color in today’s paints can be difficult, although there is one English paint company that lists it on a website. People have tried to determine a modern equivalent to this color:
1. Jean Marie Levallois did some careful research on Aurelias and found some original white color (unfaded) behind some bits on his car before it was painted. He noted:
“On the back-side of the half-ring of horn control, there is an original avorio antico paint having resisted time (fading)… It matches Dupont de Nemours for fiat/lancia: code color 234, avorio antico, 1967 to 1975 (old colors were translated into new chemical formules), number 36194. You use it in one measure with two of pure white and you will have the right colour…with patina.”
2. I have used the color of Summer Beige, Nissan RF, 1994-2006, or Glasurit SM 003.50 to match Jean Marie’s white. I was quite happy with this color. For my B20, which is painted a light beige, I used this color in the central part of the wheel, and the outer rim was painted the color of the car. This “two tone” approach was used in period by Lancia, although perhaps not consistently.
3. Don Cross has noted that for Appias:
“The nearest match I have found to the cream colour is a Rover colour called Arum White and I have used this on my cars.”
4. Paolo (PG 1964 on line) notes that the correct color for Lancia wheels in the mid-1960‘s was Avorio Chantilly, which he noted as Lechler32/MaxMeyer12043,, with its color formula: 
5.Posted 10.2014 was this from Klaus Jeschke on VivaLancia.com. I don’t know him or how accurate this is, but he says the ICI Paint code for the wheels is:
buttermilk BS4800/10C31 ICI paint recipe: P425-900 356.0 gms, P420-904RT 372.4gm, P420-908RT 379.5gm, P420-905 408.8gm, P190-376 586.5 gm,Hellfenbein P4206Bp9
6. Recently (4.2016) from the Alfa Romeo BB, from Don000:” For those unable to access Lechler / Max Meyer color references, # 430B5 seems to be the best match in the Asko Sikkens book for the Lancia wheel color.”
Bo
Bo lives in central Illinois and has a great deal of wisdom to share when he says “You’ve got to love what your doing, else its a waste of time for everybody.”
Bo Dannenberger and his son Sam are committed Lancisti, with Sam’s Fulvia and Bo in the middle of getting a lovely Appia sedan up and running. Here is a video of Bo in his shop, absolutely compelling and full of seasoned passion. We should all be so happy.
A bit of history
A recent issue of Sports Car Market Letter, Keith Martin’s excellent publication on older cars, had a lovely tidbit from a man who had travelled to England with Phil Hill, where they visited Richard Seaman‘s tomb. Seaman was a Grand Prix driver of note in the 1930s and died after his Mercedes GP car crashed into a tree in the 1939 Belgian Grand Prix.
Noting fresh flowers on the grave, they wondered who had provided them? An older gentleman replied the flowers were sent by Mercedes, weekly since his death.
Lancia by Trow – books for sale
Nigel Trow has written five books on Lancia and is a veritable expert on the marque. He has a few remaining copies of his books, Lancia Delta, Lancia Stratos, and more importantly, Lancia Racing. Hard to find and priced accordingly, email him directly at: <nitrow@tiscali.co.uk>. He’ll even sign them for you.
