Lancia Aurelia

Lancia does not build many cars like the Lancia Aurelia: a 4-door saloon / 2-door coupé / 2-door spider / 2-door convertible with 1.8 L Lancia V6 engine#Aurelia, built from 1950 to 1958 at the height of the post-war boom. Its designer of record is Felice Mario Boano at Ghia (B20 coupé) / Pinin Farina (B24 convertible). Production ran to 18,201 cars.

Where it came from

The Lancia Aurelia is a car manufactured and marketed by the Italian company, Lancia, from 1950 to the summer of 1958 — over a course of six series. Configurations included a 4-door saloon/sedan, 2-door cabriolet (B50/B52), 2-door GT coupé (B20), 2-door spider/convertible (B24), and as a rolling chassis for coachbuilders.

The Aurelia is noted for using one of the first series-production V6 engines. Establishing a post-war Lancia tradition, the car was named after a Roman road: the Via Aurelia, leading from Rome to Pisa.

Under the skin

Under the skin sits 1.8 L Lancia V6 engine#Aurelia; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 1070-1215 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Where it sits in Lancia's history is not in doubt: the Lancia Aprilia came before it; the Lancia Flaminia followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Toyota Land Cruiser, the Chevrolet Bel Air, the Porsche 356. Nearby in the Lancia catalogue sit the Lancia 037 and the Lancia 2000.

The money

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lancia Aurelia has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.