Here’s one that I just had to look into. A 1964 Lancia Jolly van, which used the drivetrain of the Lancia Appia saloon, built from 1953 to 1963. Just over 3000 Jollys were built, so the chances of finding one in the UK are slim, to say the least.
Lancia is not a name we readily associate with commercial vehicles, but the company has a long history of trucks and buses, as well as military vehicles.
The Appia was a conventional saloon but had a few Lancia twists. Of note, are the sliding pillar independent front suspension and the V4 engine, mounted in-line and driving the rear wheels. The Appia was the last rear wheel drive Lancia in this class. The Jolly’s successor, the Super Jolly (who said the Japanese had a monopoly of strange Anglophone names?), was front wheel drive, based on the Flavia.
That V4 was just 1090cc, had 36bhp and the van could reach around 60mph, given time one suspects. The gearbox is recorded as being a five speed unit, and the dash has a graceful simplicity to it, with the dials set into elegantly folded metal.
This example was on UK Ebay recently, being sold as a part complete restoration project. The seller has a history pack showing a previous life as a Lancia service van. The UK registration can be confirmed as 1964, with left hand drive. Sales would have been a challenge, surely, with tariffs, left hand drive, novelty and a very wide range of local competition against it. Indeed, records suggest Lancia only brought two into the UK.
It spent many years as a camper, taking advantage of the high roof, after having originally been a mobile workshop for Lancia themselves.
So if you fancy something little different from a VW Type 2 and a route less well frequently taken than a Ford, BMC or Rootes van, then maybe this is one for you.
Until I find an Alfa Romeo van….
A jolly good find, Roger! I think I’d bid on that loose grille, it’d look great on the wall, not sure that I have the space for the whole van. Maybe if I move down toward the river…
Wow, a van with pontoon fenders. They were already going out of style when this van was first released in 1953.
Jolly Roger! Just what I need!
For some reason it sort of reminds me of a UAZ-452 or
It appears that with that huge grille removed, that one has unfettered access to that “you know, that thing”. What is that? I tried to rectify the shape and position with that of the interior, but I’m drawing a blank. Ventilation system?
I did the same, also to no avail. If it’s the heater fan, it’s unusual to have one bigger than one’s (1-litre) engine.
Perhaps the Torinese had a perception that England was so permanently damp and cold that they fitted a heater from one of their buses.
Very, very cool. Just look at those Lancia-esque details in the cabin (no, not including the rust). Peculiar to think of a brand that was so very rare and expensive in most places making a mere van, albeit one with alloy V4 and five speeds. Like seeing, say, a Maserati panel van today.
We should put compile a list of all the vans that have been based on small car mechanicals. While the Chrysler minivans were the right product at the right time, it always struck me as ridiculous that they were greeted as a new idea when only twenty years earlier Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge had vans based on their compact cars. There are a few well known European example, and in Japan it was even done with Kei-class cars. Was the VW Type 2 actually based on the VW Type 1?
The first prototype of the Type 2, ready in March 1949, was based on the underpinnings of the Type 1. After a month of testing, it was clear that it was not strong enough for hauling cargo. So the engineers developed a new, stronger platform for the second prototype. Test results were good this time and that platform was used for what would become the Type 2, with its series-production starting in March 1950.
…well, that is my translation, in a summarized form, of what I found here:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_T1