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One of the
finest displays at the Goodwood International Festival of
Speed this year was held under the title of 'The Ultimate
Luxury Production Car 1945-80'. Amongst the line-up of these
luxurious limousines of the roads spanning three and a half
decades were five Italian classics: a 1953 Lancia Flaminia,
a 1967 ISO Fidia S4, a 1968 Maserati Quattoporte I, a 1973
Lamborghini Espada, and a 1976 Fiat 130 Berline.
These monoliths
of the road were splayed imposingly in a huge semi-circle
around the large recreational area at the Festival, where
the packed crowds can relax in front of a giant TV screen
and which houses a stage that provides musical
entertainment. Each of the exhibited cars was presented on
its own, basic platform, which allowed them to impose
themselves very simply on the proceedings, their sheer size
and bulk becoming immediately apparent.
The four Italian luxury saloons were joined by an impressive
array of famous models. Chronologically they started with
the Mercedes-Benz 300 Adenhaur from 1973 and finished with
another historically well-known example from the
three-pointed star, this time a 450 SEL 6.9 from 1979. In
between, the cars on show included a Bentley Type-R
Continental (1954), Lagonda Rapide (1955), Chrysler Imperial
(1956), the simply outrageous Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
(1957), Citroen DS Pallas (1959), Bristol 406 (1960), Rolls
Royce Silver Cloud II (1961), Bentley Flying Spur (1964), Jaguar XJ6 (1968), Jenson
Interceptor FF (1968), Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 (1969),
Rover P5B (1970), Daimler Double-Six VDP
(1973) and a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II (1977).
LANCIA FLAMINIA
The first
Italian model on display at Goodwood was a 1967 Lancia
Flaminia, entered by Mr Henk Slagman. Created
replace the Aurelia, Lancia developed the Flaminia, first
shown as a prototype at the 1956 Turin Motorshow. The
production car emerged the following year at the Geneva
Show. The basic chassis was an evolution of the Aurelia
unit, shortened by some 80mm, coupled with an all new
engine, still a 60º V6 but now displacing 2458cc and
producing 102bhp. Pininfarina were contracted for the
styling, which was to follow their earlier concept cars, the
Floride series, also based on an Aurelia chassis.
Significant differences from the previous model included the
front suspension which adopted unequal length wishbones with
coil springs whilst a de Dion setup was used at the rear. As
on the Aurelia, the clutch and gearbox were situated at the
rear whilst the former car's drum brakes were substituted by
discs after the first 500 Flaminias had left the production
line.
In 1961
the engine gained 8bhp thanks to a different carburettor,
but sales were poor, a situation which continued to
deteriorate, despite the arrival of an increased capacity
engine in 1962. This was a 2775cc unit which produced
125bhp, a figure still relatively modest given the weight of
the car, a generous 1490kg. Production continued until 1970,
but only 599 of the bigger engined cars were sold by then. A
total of around 3349 smaller engined saloons were built,
production ceasing in 1963.
ISO FIDIA S4
Before the second world war,
Renzo Rivolta had built up a succssful company, Isothermos,
building refrigerators. The 1940s saw him turn his hand to
scooters, keeping the well known Iso name. From this they
progressed to the Isetta, a 236cc bike engine powered bubble
car. This was built from 1953 to 55 (although licence
production in other countries continued until 1964). There
was a delay before the next car arrived, and when it did it
was a very different beast. The Rivolta was a two door, four
seat rear-wheel drive saloon, powered by a 5359cc Chevrolet
V8 ohv engine. This set the trend for future Iso's, with a
chassis design by Bizzarrini, bodywork design by Bertone and
the big Chevrolet engine.
Shortly
afterwards the Grifo emerged from Iso's Milan factory. This
used a similar engine and chassis to the Rivolta in a new
two seat coupe body. The Fidia, which was introduced in
1967, was a four door, four seat saloon, still based on a
similar combination of chassis and engine. This time the
chassis was stretched slightly, and a four door saloon body
designed by Ghia was added.
The spacious interior was well equipped with such things as
air conditioning. Around one quarter of the 192 cars
produced were fitted with a Ford 5.8 litre V8 instead of the Chevrolet unit. Production
ceased in 1975.
The last production car from Iso was the Lele, a 2+2 coupe
replacement for the Rivolta, still with basically the same
engine and chassis. In 1966 Renzo Rivolta, the man behind
the company, passed away and his son Piero took control. The
company made an ill-judged move into Formula One with Frank
Williams and at about the same time the oil crisis hit. The
combination of these events saw the closure of Iso in 1975.
MASERATI
QUATTROPORTE I
The Maserati Quattroporte I
(Tipo 107), when it was introduced at the Turin Motorshow in
1963, was unique in being a four door saloon 'supercar', as
well as being the first four door Maserati. Having seen the
success of the 5000GT, effectively a built-to-order super
saloon, Maserati realised the customers for such a car were
out there.
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Another
redesign of the V8 race engine to improve its reliability
and practicality saw Maserati come up with a 4.2-litre
version, with chain drive for the four camshafts, one spark
plug per cylinder and fuelling by four Weber 38DCNL
carburettors. A front subframe, rubber mounted to the body,
carried the engine and double wishbone front suspension (by
Alford & Alder) whilst a de Dion rear susension layout was
used. Girling discs were installed all round, inboard at the
rear. For the first time, a Maserati used unitary
construction, the welded steel bodyshell replacing the
traditional tubular chassis. The relatively restrained
design was by Pietro Frua. As befits such a car, a full
leather interior was standard, and electric windows, air
conditioning and other luxuries were also available.
In 1966 (Tipo
107A) the de Dion rear suspension was replaced by a more
conventional Salisbury live axle installation and the
4.7-litre engine from the Mexico was offered as an option.
The headlights adopted twin round lenses on each side
(rather than the earlier rectangular units), the cockpit was
revised, the wheels updated and a variety of other changes
were made at the same time.
The production cars were built by Vignale, who made 259 of
the early cars and 529 of the later, the 4.7-litre engine
only being used in a small number (about a figure of 110) of the latter
part.
LAMBORGHINI
ESPADA
The Espada four seater design
saw Lamborghini reverting back to the conventional
front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout used in the Islero.
That car donated almost all the drivetrain and suspension,
whilst the chassis was a heavily modified Miura unit. The
design was taken mainly from another Bertone showcar of
1967, the Pirana (which had been based on Jaguar
mechanicals). A true four-seater, the resulting Espada was
unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow in 1968, then being the
fastest four-seater production car in the world, with a
claimed top speed of 155mph.
A true
grand tourer rather than a sports car, the Espada was
nevertheless complimented for its neutral handling and
exceptional roadholding (in the dry at least). Very little
wind noise enabled comfortable high speed cruising, but the
common Lamborghini criticisms of heavy steering, poor
driving position and chaotic cockpit design remained, at
least on the early cars. The big 4-litre V12 engine at the
front was more suited to higher engine speeds, where
throttle response and power were exceptional, rather than
the lower regimes.
The second
series, built from 1969, used the more powerful engine from
the Islero S together with ventilated disc brakes, whilst
power steering became an option. A period roadtest of this
version recorded 28.2 seconds for the standing km and 7.8
seconds for the 0-60mph dash. From about 1972 the Espada was
also offered with a three-speed automatic transmission (a
Chrysler unit), mainly aimed at the US market. That year
also saw the third series enter production, with a further
improved engine, power-assisted steering as standard,
improved air-conditioning, a modified grille and lights, a
revamped and improved interior and numerous other small
changes.
Approximately 180 examples of the first, 570 of the second
and 560 of the third series Espada were built before
production ceased in 1978.
FIAT 130
The Fiat 130 was introduced in
March 1969 to replace the
2300 lusso at the top of the Fiat range. Powered
by a completely new 2866cc 60º V6 with 140bhp in a
conventional front engine rear wheel drive layout,
it was fitted with an automatic transmission as
standard. Independent suspension on all four corners
used torsion bars at the front and coil springs at
the rear. A manual five speed transmission, bought
in from ZF, was optional. In 1970 the engine
recieved a boost of some 20bhp taking it up to
160bhp.
A new engine, this time with a capacity of 3235cc
and producing 165bhp, replaced the 2800 engine in
the 130 saloon in 1971, accompanied by a stronger
automatic transmission. A number of smaller
improvements were also made, the clearest visual
difference being the replacement of the four round
headlights with two large rectangular units. At the
same time a new Coupé, designed and built by
Pininfarina, was also released (at the Geneva
Motorshow of 1971). This used the 3200 engine,
mechanicals and floorpan from the saloon but with a
new two door body and new interior. Production of the saloon continued until 1976, by
which time 15,093 units had been built. The Coupé
survived until the following year, with a total of
4,292 units being produced.
by Edd Ellison
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