Today is Valentine’s Day so what better time to exoll some Lancia love?

Nothing happens around here unless there is a deadline and as the Aurelia is now booked in for a spray job the clock is ticking, everything I don’t want painted has to be removed.  I have removed the front bench seat this morning and what a wonderful example of Lancia’s attention to detail the seat mechanism is.

Bench seats were popular in the 50’s and 60’s and they may have worked fine when they were new but usually the rails they “glided” on became clogged and it became a two person job to move them back or forward.  You can assume that the Lancia accountancy department probably fitted in the understairs broom cupboard as the Lancia engineers had free rein to engineer everything, seating included.

Here is a picture of the underside of the front seat.

As you can see there is what appears to be a window winder (C), this when wound it will move a bell crank that has one end anchored via a link to the rhs floor (A) the other end (via red link D) to another bell crank that is anchored via a link to the lhs floor (B) so turning the handle pulls both sides of the seat equally so no jamming.

Lancia did go broke not long after this so now you know why. 

Earlier this year I was given a Lancia Aurelia B10 but as it was located in South Australia it was not until the first weekend in December that I was allowed to go get it. You may not know what a B10 looks like as it doesn’t get the publicity of it’s younger sister the B20 Coupe. 

Here is a picture of a B10:

The B10 was a very conservatively styled postwar saloon but as with most Lancias, the magic was under the skin. It was the first  V6 car, up until then no one had figured out that the “V” angle needed to be 60 degrees and the crank needed 6 throws among other things to get a smooth running V6.  If you look under the bonnet of my B10 you will not find the engine as it has been reduced to its component parts and is currently residing where the back seat should be.  I think this is the reason it went off the road.  Another mechanical first was the rear suspension that a decade or so later Mecedes, BMW and Triumph thought they invented, it has the transaxle at the rear and the Lancia favourite, Sliding Pillar front end so a bit of old and new. 

Here is my car:

The car seems to be all there and not rusty. It will need a repaint, it was originally black, discussions are currently in play with Mistress Susan as to the colours she can live with.  It will need to be retrimmed as it has been previously trimmed in vinyl  so will be going back to cloth and lastly it will need an engine rebuild and mechanical refresh which is the only part that I will get involved in.  Unlike the Fulvia, the body is sound so maybe it will only be a matter of five easy monthly payments instead of thirteen.