For Sale: 1951 Lancia Aurelia in Scotts Valley, California

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Displayed at the 1952 Paris Salon per the French Lancia Club
Eligible for numerous events, including the Mille Miglia
One of only 500 Series I B20 GTs built
Groundbreaking Aluminum-Alloy V6 Engine / 4-speed manual
Independent front and rear suspension
Right-hand drive
Coachwork by Pinin Farina

Today, Lancia is best known for its racing cars, but the Italian company actually produced some of the first road-going sports cars ever. This includes the Aurelia of the 1950s, a vehicle that was perhaps the most technically advanced in its generation. Most Lancia Aurelias were delivered as four-door sedans, but a two-door convertible and a two-door "GT" coupe were also offered. The latter two sportier versions have grown increasingly popular over time. Along with being a road-going car, they were also worthy racing competitors, finishing 2nd overall at the 1951 Mille Miglia, 1st in Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans a month later, and a 1-2-3 finish at the 1952 Targa Florio.

In all its forms, the Aurelia had a unique design. Introduced in Berlina form in 1950, Lancia's Aurelia was a landmark post-war automobile. The first production car with a V-6 engine, and the first to come standard with radial tires, the Aurelia combined Lancia's traditional uni-body construction and sliding pillar front suspension with a rear transaxle and sophisticated, multi-link rear suspension. In opposition to the norm of Italian (and American) cars, the Aurelia was made strictly as a right-hand drive vehicle up until the production of the fourth series in 1954. This vehicle is among the few surviving examples of the initial 500 first series cars.

1951 saw the introduction of the B20 Gran Turismo, with a 1,991-cubic centimeter engine on a shorter 2,660-millimetre wheelbase. Nearly all 500 of the Series I B20s received the standard Vittorio Jano-designed GT body. The car offered here, chassis number B20-1346, is a rare example of a special design by Pinin Farina on the Series I platform. Although it shares many visual characteristics of the standard production Aurelias, this car features rare leather upholstery, a dashboard layout similar to later-series B20s, and nonstandard bumpers. Its distinctive two-color paint is elegantly delineated by a narrow molding that runs along the beltline and down and around the boot and back.

The French Lancia Club states that Chassis B20-1346, which was completed and invoiced on December 14th, 1951, appeared on the Pinin Farina stand at the 1952 Paris Salon. This would explain the car's unique French fixtures, including the battery cutout switch, Marchal lighting, Jaegar gauges, and French-made Zenith Stromberg carburetors.

In 2010 the body was stripped down to its bare metal for a glass-out repaint in its original shades of black over amaranto. United Kingdom Lancia experts Omicron replaced the rear wheel bearings, refreshed the gear linkage, rebuilt the carburettors, and rebuilt the lower half of the engine, including a new cylinder liner, re-metalling the bearings, and replacing the crankshaft.

This is your chance to experience a really fun vehicle to drive, one that helped pave the way for the automotive industry for decades to come, the innovative Lancia Aurelia B20 GT.