In 1957, it was time for the enchantingly curvaceous Lancia Aurelia to make way for its successor, the Flaminia. Thanks to input from the three great Italian coachbuilders (Pininfarina, Zagato and Touring), it was built in a variety of coupé, saloon and cabriolet styles during its 14-year lifespan, spread across a total production run of fewer than 13,000 cars.

The name Flaminia came from an arterial road in Rome, leading from the Eternal City to Rimini. When the car first appeared as a four-door saloon, Lancia was highly respected as a manufacturer of luxury automobiles and the Flaminia fitted this profile well – especially the later, larger, 2.8-litre V6-engined models.

The convertible versions, and also the Zagato-styled sports coupé were among the most desirable versions of the Flaminia, but Pininfarina also offered its own take on the 2-door coupé theme. And as if this weren’t enough, Touring also offered a coupé, as well as an open-topped version of the car. Fewer than 700 Touring-styled GTs were made, but the immense variety demonstrated traditional coachbuilding principles, whereby the customer can select from a range of body shapes to adorn the underlying Lancia chassis.

The Touring design is athletic, with a thin sheet of aluminum wrapped around a tubular frame and a cabin that is pushed well forward. The back of the cabin ends in front of the rear axle – giving it fairly unusual proportions. The rear is also classically beautiful, although the relatively small steel wheels with their chrome caps appear rather strange to modern eyes. Yet the look is authentic to the era and is worth cherishing. Meanwhile, the so-called GT 3C version is particularly special, with 3C standing for Tre Carburatori – representing the three Weber carbs under the bonnet. Not only will this delight the enthusiastic driver, it also makes for a wonderful sound when pressing on hard.

Today, just as in its day, the rarity of this extravagant car drives up its value. Good examples come up for sale only rarely, but Classic Driver Dealer Scuderia Colonia Sportiva has one such car available – with deep blue paintwork and lined in patinated leather.

Text: Mathias Paulokat
Photos: Scuderia Sportiva Colonia