History
The last of the 2.5l 3C Flaminia GTs (3C represents the 3 twin-choke downdraft Weber carbs) before the 2.8l was introduced, just under 700 of these were made. Carozzeria Touring of Milan built these cars alongside the Maserati 3500 GT - rumour has it they share the same windscreen - using their "Superleggera" construction technique of small steel tubes clothed in aluminium. Touring were also responsible for the design of the Aston Martin DB4, but these were built by Aston under licence - it's why they share the "Superleggera" script on the bonnet (minus Touring's winged logo). The Flaminia was Lancia's first departure from their sliding pillar independant front suspension, adopting double wishbones instead. The rear was a de Dion arrangement sprung by semi-elliptic leafs surrounding a 4-speed manual transaxle, following the practice established by the preceding Aurelia model. Brakes were discs all round, inboard at the rear.
Purchased by me in late 2003, the previous owner had the car for 18 years. First registered in South Australia in the early 70s as far as I can find out, at which time I believe it was converted from LHD to RHD. Prior to that it may have been in use in Italy - it has a Club Automobile Roma 1969-70 sticker on the rear window.
Since then I have done around 30,000km with very little trouble. We completed about 2,500km over a week in October 2011 as part of the Australian Lancia Register's Castlemaine Rally and Tour, which happens every two years. In April 2010 I took it to Canberra for Auto Italia, and to the Queensland Lancia Club's Wintersun rally in August, a 3,000km round trip, to give some idea of its capability. I drive it to work occasionally, now that the club permit log book scheme has been introduced.
In terms of repairs, the water pump had to be rebuilt recently, and before that I had the radiator re-cored. The double wishbone front end has had bushes, tie rod ends and ball joints replaced. At the moment, the fuel tank is out to address rust issues. Otherwise it has just had routine maintenance.
Cosmetically she's rough, but she runs so well I'm reluctant to take it off the road for the time it would take to prep the body. I have had the wheels repaired/reconditioned so that the brand new wheel trim set that came with the car could be fitted, and the wheels repainted. The dash has been restored back to correct painted metal facia instead of the vinyl that covered the results of the steering conversion, but the top needs recovering in vinyl.
Modifications
No real modifications, apart from the distributor. Originally a Marelli unit, which I had refurbished, I also had a Bosch unit modified and converted to electronic ignition, to preserve the original as the original caps are very hard to come by and very expensive!
