A very nice shot of the 1923 Lancia Lambda currently on offer by Christoph Grohe. He will bring the car to AutoRetro Barcelona three weeks from now. Christoph asked us to bring up a little mystery connected with the car which he has not been able to solve so far. Opposed to all other Lambdas, this specific car has no alloy engine block but a cast iron block. Not numbered; only marked CGC (probably the foundry logo of..?). Fact is that this engine is with the car as long as previous owners can remember. When the original engine #71 was exchanged for this unit is not known. As far as known Lancia never made something like this. So the theory is that this engine block was made at great cost in or near Barcelona. Very strange, as in the thirties, forties, fifties and even in the sixties it was not very hard to find a used Lambda unit. So why? Why would somebody take the trouble to make a new block on his own?
The photo above was kindly made available by Autodrómo. Please take note of the refined handpainted (?) registration plate. Autódromo will present a special issue 'Spanish Streets' featuring photos made by Nick Georgano in the fifties-sixties.