#solex

L'actrice britannique Honor Blackman à Cannes en 1965 sur un VéloSolex.

Solex, Vogue, 2016

Photo: Dieter Krehbiel

In true Lancia tradition, the Flaminia took its name from the eponymous “Via Flaminia” Roman road that stretches between Rome and the Adriatic coast. At the time of its unveiling at the Turin Auto Show in 1957, the Flaminia epitomised a suave and sophisticated 1950s Italy—not only in its name, but also in appearance, with sporting models bodied by Zagato and by Touring, both of Milan.The Flaminia Zagato Sport shared the same shortened wheelbase as its Touring GT sister model, but the youthful Ercole Spada, chief designer at Zagato, used luscious flowing lines contrasted against a sleek coupé profile for all the attributes of the finest sports cars of the era.While the “Double Bubble” roofline characterises the Flaminia Sport’s distinctive shape, its doors feature pop-out handles, and the curvaceous body includes a low, functional air scoop on the bonnet. The appealing features and sporting credentials of the model are matched by its impressive performance figures.A mere 526 examples of the Flaminia Sport and Super Sport were built between 1959 and 1967. The earliest “Pre-Series” examples wore covered headlights, but soon into the build cycle, covered headlights were outlawed in Italy, and so only 99 of these cars were made, making them highly sought after by enthusiasts today. Nearly all of these 99 cars were fitted with a single Solex carburettor which gave 119 bhp from the 2.5 litre engine , but only 5 cars, of which this is one, were fitted by Lancia by special request with a 150 bhp triple Weber engine. By 1962, coinciding with the disappearance of the covered headlights, the single Solex engine was replaced by the factory with a triple Weber engine giving 140 bhp from a less radical state of tune than the competition engine.