Entries in Barchetta (2)

Thursday
Feb172011

Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta - Topless Heaven

I recently acquired a book about the Targa Florio, and discovered an unusual vehicle I hadnt really seen before. The Lancia Fulvia HF Barchetta is essentially a Fulvia HF with the top sawn off. Given the tall, spindly nature of the standard Fulvia's greenhouse, this probably didnt affect chassis stiffness much, and probably improved aerodynamics vastly. Supposedly 3 of these cars were made by the factory and 2 were made by privateer tuners, and were campaigned around Italy, most notably at the Targa Florio.  I am not sure if the dark red one at the bottom is a "real" one or not, but it is pretty darn sexy. Below is a descriptive exceprt from a 2008 Coys auction of one of these cars:

Perhaps the most highly developed Fulvias were developed for Lancia by Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Maglioli whose trio of F&M Specials were produced to race in the Sport category. Up until that point, the Sport class was the platform for Zagato-bodied Fulvias, but whilst these had proven fast, they were also fragile and unbearably hot with little in the way of cockpit ventilation. Thanks to the funds provided by Lancia, Fiorio and Maglioli developed three cut down Fulvia F&M Barchetta's that were bristling with advanced features. Each F&M Barchetta was very different and most notably, these hot rod prototypes took class victories at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km. No doubt inspired by the level of performance this trio of Lancia prototypes had displayed, two Sicilian Lancia tuners also manufactured their own Fulvia Barchetta's for competition use.

Monday
Dec132010

Intriguing eBay Alfa Mystery

I have been watching a Belgian eBay auction lately for what is described as an Alfa Romeo Barchetta Sport, from 1954.  I was quite taken with the car's lovely, voluptuous lines, but perturbed because I had never seen a car quite like this before, and was sort of shocked at the lack of detailed information in the eBay listing considering the rarity of this vehicle:

"Rare Alfa Romeo Barchetta Sport, Totally rebuild over the past 2 years, Aluminium body, Freshly rebuild 1900cc engine, 120hp, 4-speed gearbox, Renewed brown leather interior, Black wirewheels, Adjustable suspension,.. Outstanding condition!  FIA regularity passport available."

I emailed the seller for more info about the car's provenance but received no reply yet. Does anyone know what this car is, or if it is even real??  The only similar car I can find is the "flat sided" Disco Volante also known as the C52 1900.  I don't know how many were made, but one is in the Schlumpf museum (see below). If this is a sister car, wouldn't it be worth a hell of a lot?? Anyone share to shed any light on this puzzle? Replica or Real??

-UPDATE: I received this reply from the seller regarding the car's history:

This is a car that we bought it this current condition. No racing history found on this car.  We suppose this car was build somewhere in the 60’s by a private coachbuilder and never really raced in the past. We have imported this car from South America. During it’s restoration the car received some modifications regarding it’s suspension and chassis has received some modifications too to adopt this body. The complete technical aspect of this car has been rebuild or restored to new. It is really a great joy to drive. A FIA passport was also obtained for rallying the car in Europe if the  new owner would consider.