To the best of my research, this fine little blue car gives every appearance of being a 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF.
Translated as well as possible from the eauh-seauh-veddy-eauvaheated prose of Sotheby’s, this 816-kg (1,800-lb) car came with a carburetted 1.6-litre V-4 engine and a close-ratio five-speed gyuhbox. The previous Fulvia had large 7-inch inboard and small 5¾-inch inboard headlamps and so came to be known as Fanalone (more or less “large lights”), while this kind of Fulvia has all four headlamps the same 5¾-inch size, and so it’s known as the Fanalino (“small lights”). That’s the claim, anyhow. Whether it’s real or just another bit of Sotheby’s auctioneersmanship, I have to like at least the idea of a car named for the configuration of its headlamps. They also say between 1966 and ’73 very few continental European rally championship winner circles lacked a Fulvia such as this, and now I’m done giving them oxygen.
I spotted this car on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive on my way almost home from driving errands a few days after my recent birthday, but by the time I reached the spot on foot, it had gone. Oh well, that’s all in the game. I carried on with my walking errands, and just a couple of blocks later I saw the car again, parked in a side street.
I know almost nothing about cars like this, so here are some more photos.
Looks like half a substantially nifty V4 visible through the grille…
…but no, that’s all of a substantially nifty V4 visible through the grille; Paul N informs me the cylinder bank angle was just 12°, so the four cylinders used a single/common cylinder head—like a VW VR5 or VR6. That’s why the head looks so wide end-on like this.
No bumpers—it was built without them, as it seems—but there’s a yellow tow loop to match the black one up front:
Pleasant lines and shapes here…
…and here:
Later cars are said to have got integral fender flares, but these…
…do a fine job accommodating these:
The aforementioned quad 5¾-inch headlamps appear to be original, or at least highly period-and-place correct H1 halogen ones from Italian maker Siem (as I say, I know almost nothing about this car).
Related reading:
CC Lancia Fulvia Coupe: Last Chance To Try Something Really New
An amazing find! At least on the street. I became aware of the early versions these cars at the age of perhaps 9 or 10 from European books and magazines. To my juvenile eyes, the shape and proportions looked awkward, compared to the eye candy of the time like E Type Jags or the early 911. But over the years, as the stance got beefier and I understood the technology better, not to mention the competition success, this became one of my favorite cars, never to be seen over here. Later Lancia rally cars may have had AWD and scads more power, but not the chunky elegance of these cars.
Beautiful car, if one can accept that beauty comes in different forms to different people. One of my top ten shapes that have a place in my dream garage even though I’m not actually sure that I can fit into. In person they have a sort of presence that alternates between dainty and bulldog. Either way (or both), it simply works, for me at least.
A bold move, parking that thing on the street though. But it was obviously waiting for you to come along and share it, so thanks for doing so.
In person they have a sort of presence that alternates between dainty and bulldog.
Nailed it. And it works for me too, all too well. It’s elemental, which really appeals to me.
A bold move, parking that thing on the street though.
Another Fulvia owner in Munich didn’t think so…
One of my all time favorites. Although they are fairly rare in Canada I did get a good chance to look one over when it was brought to our monthly Citroen club meeting. The engine is so compact and tidy looking. I agree that the car looks dainty, in a good way.
At that time The Italians seem to have had a thing for 4 headlights with 2 large and 2 small. My 69 Alfa Berlina had them, as did the only Ferrari I have ever had a ride in, a 1964 330 GT 2+2.
The unusual thing about the Fanalone (big lamps) model of the Fulvia was that the inboard lamps were the larger ones. Not like your Berlina or the GTVs or that Ferf 330 GT or the Mercedes W123s or the Bimmer E23-E24-E28-E30 or the Australian Ford LTD P6 Town Car or numerous other model with large outboard and small inboard lamps.
Lovely catch, Daniel. That rear end has to be one of the most elegant in all of autodom. Easier to photograph these when they’re standing still, isn’t it?
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-outtake/in-motion-outtake-1967-lancia-fulvia-coupe-hf-a-red-rocket-to-start-the-roaring-20s/
I like what I see and not at all surprised it was found on BC’s lower mainland.
The climate over there is deal for preserving old cars and trucks. The outer headlights remind me of the H4 halogen lights I had on my Vega GT. At the time such headlights were not on the radar of most consumers and certainly not on the minds of engineers at domestic auto manufacturers. Not at all familiar with this model of Lancia.
Eauvaheating in one’s prose tends to be a an affectation that affects one – and all – when espying a Larn-cha from the classic era. Indeed, I have on one occasion eauvaheated meself in one such evaluation as to become a threatened species on this ‘ere very site (a true story).
It’s right that they should. To me, the company produced some of the very greatest machines of the lot, until reality and fiat intervened in their ownership in about 1970. They have a wonderful classiness about them, not in the sense of shouty snobbery – indeed, quite the opposite – in that they all clothed superb engineering under skins of quietly-spoken beauty. With rare exceptions, I don’t think anyone ever bought a Lancia to be seen in it.
This little kite illustrates perfectly, though I prefer the fanalone original. It’s a delicate and yet solid melange, presence and absence, so to speak, and beneath that bonnet, the V4 quite literally looks like jewellry when disassembled. Its sound is strangled baritone, its performance sufficient to wins rallies despite the size.
Alas, the place never really made any money, being indebted or near-bankrupt most of its life, which I guess what happens when you take engineering so earnestly; not too much of a market, made smaller than ever by big prices that still didn’t make cover the expenses. To illustrate, this car was considerably more than an E-type Jag in most markets, and for most folk, understandably, it’s just not beautiful or fast enough for that. Except, it is.
“Eauvaheated”. May I borrow, please, Mr Stern, royalty-free? I like it a lot.
Use it all you like, and I’ll even throw in unlimited use of Raaaaaaaaaaaaaynge Reauvaaah as long as you don’t attempt to pay any royalties in Vegemite, the Australian national practical joke on the rest of the world.
“Eauvaheated” came to me in 2003 when I saw a decent-looking early Plymouth Barracuda through the floor-to-ceiling plate glass of Gentry Lane (of course it was called Gentry Lane), a Toronto stealership specialising in classic, antique, exotic, and special-interest cars; they had the Lotus franchise for the area. That ’65 Baccaruda was about a 15-footer. It had a not-very-clean 1977ish 318 indifferently tossed into the engine bay, which was painted black (wrong!) on this light turquoise car. The interior had problems. The wheels were wrong. The car was more or less straight, but in no way original. As I was walking around it, the salesman with his highly practiced accent came up and started committing faux posh: “It’s a veddy fine original exxahhhhmple of its type, and we’ve gott itt on offah rat uhyeeteen thysand doluhs”. I said “Eighteen grand, eh? Despite the non-original engine?” Salesman said “Well, back then no records were kept, and the factory did seau many different things, it’s rayully nott possible to say just whott’s original and whott tisn’t.”
Hehehe!
My late, republican Irish-descended mum was no fan of pretensions to pretension, always describing such a person thus: “Him? Oh, he was a ‘SO pleezed to meet yor’ type”. (Full of piss and wind, in other words). So I’m always on the lookout for new expressions to adopt for them, or the terms they might use.
Sothebys Motor Awk-chons – Where the Word-Count Is Remembered Long After The Value Has Been Exceeded.
Hah! Truer words.
It’s a decent-ish approximation of the type 1016 1.6HF (the blue and yellow head under hood is the tell), which it most certainly is not. They were the all-out HF; tuned 1.6 good for 132hp, only produced in 1969-1970 (series one), and are extremely rare. This car is not a series one body, so we can rule out it being a 1016. I’m hesitant to actually even declare this a series two for the fact that grill is some weird non-factory design replacement effort, and makes more sense if it replaced a series three plastic piece, not so much the series two stainless piece. The flares are incorrect; series two HFs had a different design integrated with the body panels, and that makes me suspect this isn’t a genuine HF, along with the bright outlined air intakes under the grill absent on the series two HF cars. Other little things too, but those are the big issues going on. Still a legitimately cool car, and one of my favorite “obtainable” European cars of the 1960’s.
Now, I say, look here, you club-bore type!
But, yeah, there’s a bunch of stuff that even an amatuer non-knower like me thought wasn’t quite pukka here.
Whatever, I agree entirely with the first five words of your last line, though personally, I like best the look of the original and would hop that up rather than add (or delete) stuff to a later car for some faux effect.
HF vs. garden variety Fulvia is like Shelby Mustang vs. Ford Mustang. Same basic thing, but the first one of each pair is a bit spicier, automotively speaking. Many Fulvias and Mustangs get the badges and stuff for the upgrades, and there are likely more clones than originals of each running around. The determining clue for the “real” HF is the larger inboard headlight, including the integrated surround and bezel. See the attached photo.
That is not accurate; the large inboards were found on series one 1.6HFs, but there are also 1.2 and 1.3 series one HFs (the final 1.3s being concurrent with 1.6 production) that do not have these, not to mention the series two 1.6HFs with the redesigned front end. As you say, fakes abound, so the presence of a fanalone front really doesn’t guarantee anything (missing triangular vent cutouts between the inboard fanalone lamps and the grill do tell you it’s not original, however. All other series one coupes did without).
I came across this on a London street a year ago – 1971/2 according to the registration, but looking distinctly the worse for wear
Hi everyone, I have loved this car since I was a child. I’ve had three. To date I consider myself an expert, I have restored two of these and I keep them in the garage. In the glorious years of the Lancia Fulvia, many world-famous drivers tried their hand at the wheel during rally races, it was a very expensive and avant-garde car for that era. it had 4 Dunlop disc brakes, no brake booster, aluminum head, two camshafts. twin carburettors, aluminum bonnets and doors. A lightened and enhanced fulvia model called “HF” was also sold for competitions.
In the Picture: Stirling Moss before the race with a fulvia hf
The first series was built in the Lancia factories, the first engine was 1200cc, then it was increased to 1300cc, then it was redesigned to become 1600cc. The HF 1300 racing version had 130 hp 7600 rpm and a weight of 780 kg. The 1600 HF racing cars could reach 160 hp. There were many victories for the Lancia Fulvia, the most important being the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally driven by Sandro Munari 14
This car was quite expensive, it was produced in a few thousand copies, those destined for HF competitions are rare today to find them. A real fulvia HF would be worth at least $ 130,000, there are still very few.
This is a fulvia 1.3 Montecarlo from 1972, it is a rare original two-tone version, it commemorated the victory of the Rallye in Montecarlo where Lancia beat the Porche, saab, minicooper, renault, etc .. only 4 colors, red Italy / black, blue france / black, england green / black, holland yellow and black, just over 4000 units produced.
Named fulvia montecarlo, it was identical to the fulvia 1.6 HF second series, The only difference was the engine displacement.
This is a 1970 Fulvia Rallye S 1.3
aluminum bonnets and doors, montebello red color,
My latest restoration.
You can see the differences between the first series and the second, they are similar but on the second series the steel of the chrome was replaced with the chromed plastic.
Wow. There is such a strong resemblance to the Datsun RL411… a car I once had.
“Fanalino” is a great-little sport car, fun to drive, probably the best sport front wheel drive of his time and his sophisticated V4 engine (if in well hands) can run like no other at any rpm: performances of the car with 0-100/kph in 8,8sec are an example.
But please.. keep open the eyes.. there are many many scams around, many 1.6HF now that its value has increased so much, they are actually fakes rebuilt on the chassis of the normal 1.3cc. And unfortunately for some bodywork details that I see in this example .. unfortunately .. I guess this is not a real 1.6HF …. (or at least it had a big accident and was rebuilt with 1.3 parts )