Lancia Lambda

The Lancia Lambda is a Torpedo (S.1-S.9) / Berlina (Weymann) (S.8-S.9) from Lancia, built from 1922 to 1931, the vintage years, when coachbuilders still shaped most of what was sold. Under the bonnet: 2119&nbsp.

The background

The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing unitary body, (but without a stressed roof) and it also pioneered the use of an independent suspension (the front sliding pillar with coil springs). Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock absorber for the car and it had excellent four wheel brakes. Approximately 13,000 Lambdas were produced. Nine versions of the Lambda were built:

1st series, produced 1923, 400 built. 2nd series, produced between 1923 and 1924, 1,100 built. Minor modifications for engine. 3rd series, produced 1924, 800 built. Engine modified. 4th series, produced between 1924 and 1925, 850 built. Modified windscreen. 5th series, produced 1925, 1,050 built. 4-speed gearbox. 6th series, produced between 1925 and 1926, 1,300 built. Car is sold now with bare chassis and with two wheelbases. 7th series, produced between 1926 and 1928, 3,100 built. New bigger engine. 8th series, produced between 1928 and 1930, 3,903 built. Again bigger engine. 9th series, produced 1931, 500 built. Last series sold only bare chassis.

The engineering

Power comes from 2119  other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1200 kg-1350 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed manual (S.1-S.4) / 4-speed manual (S.5-S.9). 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 310 cm (S.1-S.9) / 342 cm (S.6-S.9). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Lancia Kappa (1919); its successor was the Lancia Artena. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Vauxhall 23-60, the Alfa Romeo RL, the Vauxhall 14-40 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Lancia stablemates include the Lancia 037 and the Lancia 2000.

What it costs now

There is no federal ownership record for the Lancia Lambda — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.