Lancia does not build many cars like the Lancia Flavia: a 4-door sedan (car) / sedan / 2-door coupé / 2-door Cabriolet (automobile) / cabriolet with 1488 cc Lancia Flat-4 engine, built from 1961 to 1971 in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Its designer of record is Piero Castegnero (Berlina) / Pininfarina (Coupé) / Giovanni Michelotti at Vignale (Convertible) / Ercole Spada at Zagato (Sport). Production ran to 105,848 cars.
The story
The Lancia Flavia (Tipo 815/819/820) is an executive car produced by Italian automaker Lancia from 1961 to 1971. The Flavia was launched with a 1,500 cc engine at the 1960 Turin Motor Show and introduced in major European markets during the next twelve months. Coupé and convertible versions designed by Pininfarina and Vignale quickly followed, together with one or two low volume "specials" including a Zagato coupé.
Performance improved over the next ten years as the engine displacement was progressively increased to 1,991 cc. The car remained in production until 1970 when it was updated and renamed as the Lancia 2000. The Flavia was named after the Via Flavia, a Roman road leading from Trieste (Tergeste) to Dalmatia. In 2011, Fiat announced that the Chrysler 200 convertible would be sold in Europe (LHD markets only) by Lancia under the Flavia name from early 2012.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 1488 cc Lancia Flat-4 engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 1210 kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed manual transmission / manual / 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 104 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in Lancia's history is not in doubt: the Lancia 2000 followed it; it was built at Turin, Italy. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Volvo P1800, the Jaguar E-Type, the Ferrari 250 GTO. 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 Flavia 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.