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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012 at 11:40AM ;)
