Build It Your Way: No Reserve 1965 Lancia Fulvia
This 1965 Lancia Fulvia is a total project, but one that looks worthy of restoration. Plus, it has the notoriety of being a right-hand drive model, indicating it was never intended for sale in the U.S. market – if that sort of thing intrigues you. The seller mentions a missing fuel cell, so perhaps it has a history as a vintage racer, but the missing engine doesn’t help fill in the blanks. The bodywork looks fair, especially for a vintage Italian car, but it has been repainted – poorly. The Alfa is listed here on eBay with no reserve, and bidding is a hair over $500 with under a day left in the auction.
The Fulvia was a significant car for both Lancia and the motorsports community. It was a gem of a race car, despite being front wheel drive, and helped Lancia blow the proverbial doors off of many of its peers on the global rally stage. We often forget beneath the weight of headlines decrying reliability woes and choppy dealer relationships that Alfa knew how to build a race car, and these vintage models are outstanding candidates for a retirement spent hopping around different tracks as a welcomed entrant to vintage events. As a restoration project, you’ll be upside down in a hurry; as a car you can use to track on weekends and still take into wine country, the Fulvia is hard to beat.
The right hand drive steering is a good indication that the Alfa originated in an overseas market and came stateside with a member of the military or an executive working in Europe. Whatever the story may be, a right hooker Alfa is a rare car to find stateside, and I wonder if there’s more than one bidder in the UK or anywhere else that RHD is standard eyeing this car and weighing its cheap bidding at the moment against the cost of overseas transport. Despite missing loads of important pieces, the car isn’t hacked up. The dash looks reasonably straight, right down to the wood applique. As the seller notes, the transmission is missing in addition to the engine.
The Alfa was originally a unique shade of green paint, one I can’t recall seeing all that often on a Fulvia (most of them are red, and if they weren’t originally, they were repainted like this one was.) The paint quality is fairly low, with green poking through in multiple spots and the respray obviously not going too deeply. If this was used as a track car at some point in the past, it’s hardly surprising, and yanking the drivetrain when its track days were done is a very plausible scenario. Regardless, the seller notes it to be “very solid” so there’s plenty of justification for bringing this dirt cheap Fulvia back in some form. How would you restore it?
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Comments
It’s a shame this car has so many strikes against it. The Fulvia is one of those cars I would like to own. It has a narrow angle V4 engine and with the right tuning they sound and drive beautifully. With no title and no powertrain this becomes a parts donor for one that the tin worm got a hold of.
This would make sense to turn into a race/track day car, there is also a good chance of winds up in a country with RHD.
The missing title probably won’t be a big deal. Minnesota’s DMV clearly spells out it’s procedure to register a car that’s missing one. The seller is upfront and seems willing to work with potential buyers, which is unusual. If they agree to make the finalization the sale contingent on the ability to get a new title someone will find this car to be worth perusing.
Steve R
You keep saying “Alfa”. It’s a Lancia – no relation until very recently when virtually all Italian cars became “Fiats”.
Thank you. Came down to say just that.
fact check, “all Italian cars and Dodge became Fiat”
The Alfa Romeo Guilia electric. Looks like a direct knock off of this Lancia.
Alfa schmalfa …
bite your tongue. That’s like saying Ford, Chevy, what’s the difference.
I wonder if one could do an engine/trans swap just to make this live again? Finding Lancia units might be pretty hard in the US?
So I know its a Lancia but after the first paragraph it’s referred to as an Alfa? I guess all those Italian cars look alike anway.
NOTHING else looks like a Lancia. Lancia were marking to a different drummer. How hard is it to edit this posting?
Everything is available to put this back together, but the parts prices make Alfa’s look cheap.
This would probably make a decent vintage racer as a good Fulvia can be had for 15 to 20k and it will cost you way more to bring this to that level
Looks like it could be an Alfa :)
It´s not 1965 either. The S2 RHD cars with the eyebrow wings are post Fiat. The listing says car sold for $811, which is OK if someone has a plan.
I´ve had a couple of Fulvias and quite a few Alfas and from experience, Kevin L Harper is quite correct to say that building and keeping a Fulvia is quite a lot more expensive than a classic twin cam Alfa. More bucks, fewer bangs, lots of special tools needed, but some people like them a lot.
A small Mazda V6 might be a swap for this car.
Martin is right. British market S2 RHD car. How did it get here and wind up like this? If only it could talk. Lancia had to raise the main headlamps to meet British regulations, thus the weird fenders on the Brit-only cars. I recall seeing them around London back then.
Ended:Dec 16, 2020 , 8:22AM
Winning bid:US $811.00[ 12 bids ]
Item location:Lindstrom, Minnesota