1963 Lancia Flaminia 3C 2.8 Coupe Speciale
The Lancia Flaminia is a luxury car produced by Italian automaker Lancia from 1957 until 1970. It was Lancia’s flagship model at that time, replacing the Aurelia. It was available throughout its lifetime as saloon, coupé and cabriolet. The Flaminia coupé and convertible were coachbuilt cars with bodies from several prestigious Italian coachbuilders. Four “presidential” stretched limousine Flaminias were produced by Pininfarina for use on state occasions.
Pinin Farina had been involved with the development of the Lancia Flaminia, which was based on the coachbuilder’s pair of iconic ‘Florida’ show cars. When the Italian manufacturer’s new GT entered production in 1957, both the coupe and sedan were styled by Pinin Farina.
Unlike the Aurelia on which the Florida I and II were based, the Flaminia featured a unitary chassis design, and was not available as a rolling chassis for specialist coachbuilders like Pininfarina to body. Accordingly there are only very few custom Flaminias built even though the model was in production for over a decade. One of the very rare exceptions is a Coupe shown by Pininfarina at the 1963 Turin Motor Show.
Responsible for the elegant lines of the Pininfarina show car was American-born designer Tom Tjaarda. The nose featured twin headlights and a sizeable grille, while the rear boasted more futuristic flush-mounted, trapezoidal taillights. Greatly adding the svelte lines were the very slim A- and C-pillars, and the absence of a B-pillar. The unique machine was painted pearl-white and fitted with chrome sill plates.
Underneath the custom coach-work, the short wheelbase chassis and latest running gear was found. It was powered by the recently enlarged, 2.8 litre V6, which, breathing through three carburettors, produced around 150 bhp. Like the production car, the ‘Coupe Speciale’ was equipped with sophisticated deDion rear suspension and a four-speed transaxle. Disc brakes were found on all four corners.
Following its debut at the Turin Motor Show in 1963, the striking Flaminia returned in 1964 with a fresh coat of ‘metallic sand’ paint and a revised engine cover design. Further modifications were subsequently carried out to make the show car road legal. The biggest of these changes was the adoption of Lancia Flavia sourced taillights. It was also repainted again, this time silver was the colour of choice.
The force behind the second series of changes was Battista Pininfarina, who wanted to use the show car as his daily driver, replacing the Florida II he had driven during the previous seven years. In addition to driving the Coupe Speciale in all sorts of weather, he also regularly showed the car at concours d’elegance, winning at Alassio and Cortina d’Ampezzo. At the time of his death in 1966, Pininfarina had covered 9,100 km in the car.
The Pininfarina family held onto the car until 1972 when it was sold to Dr. Richard Buckingham, who was the President of the American Lancia Club for 15 years. He owned the unique machine for nearly two decades and right before selling it on, he showed it at Pebble Beach in 1989. The subsequent owner was Japanese collector Yoshiho Matsuda, who repainted the car pearl-white.
Between 2003 and 2008, the Flaminia was part of the stable of Canadian David Cohen. The current and fourth owner is an Italian collector specialising in one-off Italian coach-built machines. He carefully restored the very original machine to its 1963 configuration, removing the additional taillights. In this guise, it is seen here during the 2012 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este.
