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Stairway to (Lancia) Heaven

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1912 lancia_epsilon_targa_florio_470

The COYS auction house are holding their ‘True Greats’ sale on 2 December at the Royal Horticultural Society in London’s Westminster . They start at 3pm with nearly 200 lots of film and poster art with some autographs included. Enzo Ferrari is worth £2000 whereas Hamilton & Button together are £100. (I bet it sells for more now Lewis is world champion!) Fangio is £600. The cars and motorcycles start selling at 7pm and lot 432 is a 1937 Ford Model 78 Woody and having owned a 1938 Woody for nearly 30 years, you can understand my enthusiasm. They are wonderful cars to drive and this will be a real workhorse for its new owner. It needs to be filled with friends, Beach Boys loud on the period radio and start putting some patina on that shiny new wood. Of the two Invictas offered I prefer the 1936 4½ Litre S-Type Low Chassis Tourer which is clearly described as a ‘continuation’ car with a new chassis fitted with original engine and gearbox and many other parts. Much better use them in this car than gather dust under a bench. The other model is a 1928 4½ high chassis tourer and if you like patina, this car has it having being stored from 1949 to 2004. Macklin did well to secure the services of Henry Meadows and his powerful, robust 4½ litre engine defines these fine cars with bags of torque and performance.

The Rolls Royce name is found in lots 420 and 431. I chose the LHD 1929 Phantom 1 with Newmarket coachwork. An exceptionally handsome car that exudes quality in every respect and offers the comfort and weather protection of a saloon whilst maintaining the ability to be made into a full convertible, with a very neat and compact folding top. Equally stylish is the 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Series I Ventoux, (with tempting description of impeccable provenance), and the 1930 Aston Martin International 1½ Litre Open Tourer is one of 81 Internationals ever made and has enjoyed a no-expense-spared  restoration. Somebody once told me you can tell a true aristocrat by his frayed shirt collar and as you gaze lovingly at the 1929 Alfa Romeo 1750 6C you notice the upholstery has the look of a well-used armchair in a gentleman’s club. Finished in silver grey with a contrasting dark grey top, the upright Drophead Coupé bodywork appears original and is typical of James Young design, representing a unique fusion of pre-war Italian engineering and British design. This well-preserved example has been described by the late Pat Braden, a well-respected Alfa Romeo expert, as a “finely crafted design that was decades ahead of its time.” Remarkably original and well preserved, it may very well be the most original example of its kind remaining today.

And so we come to the pièce de résistance – the 1912 Lancia 20/30 HP Tipo 58 “Epsilon” Corsa. Understood to be the world's oldest functioning Lancia motorcar, it was discovered languishing in the Lancia factory’s storage by the late Oscar Capellano and he quickly proved that it was one of the 1913 Targa Florio team cars. This didn’t help his long patient efforts to buy the car from Lancia, but his reputation as the Lancia historian and author eventually persuaded them to sell the car and Capellano set about a painstaking restoration of the only surviving Lancia racing car of this period of pioneering competition motoring. In his honour, Capellano‘s daughter has decided to part with this car in order to fund a project called “Progetto Gnekko”. It will be a nature park in Chivasso outside of Turin where handicapped children can come to interact with animals and learn to appreciate nature.

(Text Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy COYS)


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