1963 Lancia Flavia Coupe 

This car was purchased by me about 20 years ago. I have loved Lancias since I was a small boy.

This car was my first taste of the pre-Fiat models, and I wasn’t disappointed. The trouble was that it was starting to become scruffy, as opposed to oily rag.

I knew that one day I would have to spend some serious time and money on the car. But, before the old girl was taken off the road, she had spent two years as only transport, did two trips to Italy, and one to County Cork, Ireland, not to mention being abused and laden to the gunwales during our move from Dorset to Rutland. During this time, she was an absolute dream to own and run, faultless to a T. In total, we managed 10,000 miles annually in Dorset running as everyday transport, and about 3,000 a year once we were in Rutland. By the end of that time, I had become very proficient at servicing Dunlop disc brakes and setting up twin, twin choke down draft Solex carburetors.

The time came to strip the car and tidy the body. It had rotted in all the usual places.

These shots are just the tip of the iceberg. The boot floor needed a substantial amount of work, including the repositioning of some of the spring mounts which had been replaced badly, thus pulling its respective spring out of line. My understanding of the bodyshop’s interpretation of my brief was that I would have returned to me a body that was right in every way and that would see me to the grave. Oh, how foolish I was back then.

The metalwork done, she was ready for paint. I wasn’t, though, due to my industry taking an unprecedented downturn. There but for the grace of God I survived this recession, but the Flavia was recalled home to suffer in limbo for however long it took me to resume work on her. Eventually, I was in a position where I could continue. The brief to the body shop we use was, “I want this car to sell AJL Classic Engineering Ltd.” We both set to work. Some areas for remedial attention, both to the repairs carried out by the previous body shop as well as areas they hadn’t touched, had been identified on this survey.

At a quick glance it looks OK, but the profile at the back of that sill tells another story. 

We had her dipped and E Primed. 

I’d been told this had been repaired. Looking at the photo on the right, one could argue that it had… Sort of. I’m afraid that it was the same story for the other door, Bonnet and Boot Lid. 

Thankfully things are now moving in a positive direction. 

Anyone that knows Flavia Coupes knows that the previous repairs that have been carried out to the front wheel arches are wrong. This all needs to be rectified by our Body specialist.