Lancia has been a somewhat pathetic shadow of itself for so long now that for many it’s hard to fathom that the Turinese company once used to build some of the world’s finest cars.
The much-loved Fulvia, introduced in 1963, was one of them.
The first model to be manufactured in Lancia’s newly-opened Chivasso factory, the Fulvia was an expression of the deep-rooted engineering beliefs of Lancias’s chief engineer, Antonio Fessia.
He was a stern advocate of front-wheel-drive and, in general, a man of science, with a taste for elegant, avant-garde engineering.
Lancias back then were cars built up to a standard rather than down to a price
The Fulvia was a unibody construction, but the whole drivetrain and front suspension sat on an elaborate subframe to reduce noise and vibration transmission into the cabin.
The Fulvia’s 1100cc engine, mounted longitudinally aft of the front wheels, was a little engineering tour-de-force. It was a narrow-angle (12°53'28") V4, with two overhead camshafts. So narrow was the banks’ angle that a single cylinder head casting could be used for both banks. That cylinder head was a spectacularly complicated aluminum casting, in the best Lancia tradition for exceptional engineering. Lancias back then were cars built up…
