Experimental 1951 Lancia Aurelia restoration took 4,000 hours

Launched in 1950, the revolutionary Aurelia is a single of the most sought-after Lancia models manufactured after Entire world War II. Collectors spend a quality for vehicles with a documented racing history, and a single-offs created as in-house experiments are interesting, so it is no ponder a 1951 coupe that ticked equally boxes deserved a 4,000-hour restoration.

United Kingdom-centered shop Thornley Kelham described a rich privateer racer named Giovanni Bracco bought this 1951 Aurelia new in Italy and took it racing almost instantly. It concluded next general in that year’s Mille Miglia, 1st at the Caracalla Evening Race, and it attained 1st in its course (and 12th general) in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. These had been extraordinary benefits for the Aurelia, whose primary claim to fame was getting the 1st frequent-creation automobile geared up with a V6 motor, but Lancia was no stranger to podium finishes.

Its story took an intriguing turn when it showed up at the 1951 version of the Carrera Panamericana with a markedly reduce roof line. Bracco realized the Lancia household properly, and he organized to have its top rated chopped at the factory to make it a lot more aerodynamic. He crashed on the fourth day of racing, sold it to a Mexican architect, and returned dwelling. It re-appeared at the pursuing year’s Carrera Panamericana and concluded ninth just before disappearing. Some speculated it was hidden in The us some others assumed it had been crushed and recycled.

The 1st hypothesis was proper, but proving it was a lot easier said than finished. The automobile had acquired a redesigned rear conclude Thornley Kelham explained as hump-backed and Volkswagen Beetle-like. Some of the authentic sections had been slash out and discarded, which manufactured the restoration course of action exponentially a lot more complicated.

The shop fabricated a new, period-proper rear conclude utilizing 3D scans and fiberglass molds. It then painted it black, its authentic color, just before providing it a coat of red, the color it wore when it was entered in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and at last spraying a next coat of black, the color it was painted in when it raced in the Carrera Panamericana. It was equipped with seats from an Ardea — Lancia’s V4-powered entry-level product — when it raced, so Thornley Kelham sourced a pair and re-trimmed it. Time period-proper lettering included a ending contact to the restoration.

The V6 motor and the 4-speed manual transmission had been completely rebuilt. All instructed, resurrecting this a single-of-a-form Aurelia needed 4,000 several hours of get the job done unfold out about a three-year period.

“Many years of modifications and misuse manufactured this potentially a single of the most hard restorations we’ve ever finished,” described Simon Thornley, co-founder of Thornley Kelham, in a assertion. The shop is currently performing on a job that seems to be even a lot more ambitions than reviving the Lancia. It can be in the course of action of bringing a 1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 bought new and raced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini back again to daily life after decades of neglect.