Start with what the Lancia Beta-15/20HP is: a Torpedo with 3118.81 cc straight-4 34 hp, built from 1909, when a car was a rich man's adventure and every maker was a workshop. What it meant takes a little longer. 150 were built.
The story
The Lancia 15/20HP (Type 54, Beta) is an automobile which was produced by Lancia of Italy in 1909. The 15/20HP replaced the earlier 12HP-Alfa and 18/24HP Dialfa models. Basically the car was a modernized version of the 12HP with the engine displacement enlarged from 2.5 to 3.1 litres (from 28 hp to 34 hp) and the wheelbase increased from 282 cm (111.0 in) to 293.2 cm (115.4 in). 150 examples were manufactured before it was replaced by the Gamma-20HP model (type 55) in 1910.
What is underneath
The engine is 3118.81 cc straight-4 34 hp. On the scales it comes to 780 kg. Drive goes through 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. The wheelbase is 293 cm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
In the Lancia line-up the Lancia Beta-15/20HP has a clear place: it replaced the Lancia Alfa / Lancia Dialfa; it handed the line to the Lancia Gamma-20HP. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ford Model T, the GM (General Motors) Marquette, the Oldsmobile Model D. Nearby in the Lancia catalogue sit the Lancia 037 and the Lancia 2000.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lancia Beta-15/20HP 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.