To celebrate their centenary, Lancia will exhibit four extraordinary historical cars at the Geneva Motor Show, recalling four important moments in the brand’s long and glorious history: the Beta Torpedo 15 HP, Aurelia GT B24 Spider, Fulvia Coupé 1.2 (first series) and Delta HF integrale EVO Martini gr.4. These cars were immortalised by Fulvio Bonavia, one of the best-known Italian photographers, in the calendar ‘1906-2006: Once upon a time …’ with which Lancia inaugurated the celebrations for its centenary year.

Designed by the Armando Testa agency, the calendar considers one hundred years of Lancia automotive creations, combining them with ‘fairy-tale inventions’. The result is an extraordinary gallery of pictures in which the attractive Beta Torpedo challenges the beauty of Snow White, the Aurelia GT tells the story of Cinderella’s dream, the Aurelia Spider dispatches Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf, and the Fulvia flies with Hook and Peter Pan. Then there is the Delta Rally that receives the kiss of victory like the Frog Prince, and the Ypsilon that enters Alice’s Wonderland. On every page the magical styling of the Lancia cars combines with the fairy-tale characters and atmosphere, and the enchanted landscapes of the poetic narrative is interwoven with a legendary history of cars and designers, races and engines that have been milestones in technical progress and racing throughout the 20th century.

It was 1906 when Vincenzo Lancia wrote the first page of the amazing adventure that would involve thousands of people over the years – technicians, workers, managers – in the plants, offices and the racing world. And with them, the many Lancia customers: passionate, demanding, in love with beauty, but also well informed about the most sophisticated technologies. Here we find the roots of the inimitable personality that enables us to immediately distinguish a Lancia car from all the others on the road. And today, the fantasy world of the fairy-tale and the real world of Lancia meet in Fulvio Bonavia’s photographs, which highlight the ways that both have brought the dreams of whole generations to life with great artistic sensitivity.

The Beta Torpedo 15 HP of 1909.

The car was a success on the market and 150 were built in 1909 alone; it was used in races and took outright third place in the Targa Florio in 1909. That same year, driven by W.L. Stewart, it set a speed of 106.22 km/h at the British circuit of Brooklands. The car on show in Geneva is powered by a straight-4, 3117 cc monobloc engine that delivers a maximum power output of 34 bhp at 1850 rpm and has a top speed of 95 km/h.

The Aurelia Gran Turismo 2500 Spider of 1955.

A total of 761 were manufactured between 1954 and 1958; the car was the result of one of Pinin Farina’s most classical and attractive designs, and the designer himself described it as the prototype Italian convertible, commonly known as the B 24. It had its preview in a pre-production version in June 1954, and made its official debut on the international stage at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1955. The Aurelia Gran Turismo 2500 Spider was destined primarily for the American market, but with a few small changes it was a success on all markets. We should remember that the Spider was the original version, whereas the second series was known as the Convertible ‘tipo America’, because of the success it enjoyed on that market. Equipped with a 2451 cc 6-cylinder engine in a 60° Vee that delivered a maximum of 118 bhp at 5300 rpm, the Aurelia Gran Turismo 2500 Spider had a top speed of 180 km/h.
 

The Fulvia Coupé 1st series (1967).

The coupé version of the Fulvia was presented in 1965. The styling by Piero Castagnero was extremely modern: a slender, sleek car with generous glazing and a Cd of 0.39. It was initially equipped with a 1216 cc 4-cylinder engine in a narrow 13° Vee delivering 79 bhp at 6000 rpm, with a top speed of 160 km/h (and subsequently by the more powerful 1300 and 1600 engines), and guaranteed agility and handling that the saloon could not match, partly because the wheelbase was 15 centimetres shorter and the weight was considerably lower.

The more powerful, but lighter HF and Sport Zagato versions were developed to compete in rallies, and they won thousands of victories, the most famous being the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally, and the outright victory that same year in the F.I.A. Cup, which later became the World Rally Championship. The revamped second series was presented in 1969 with the engine capacity increased to 1298 cc, the wheelbase extended by 20 mm and more harmonious lines and volumes; the engine delivered 85 bhp and the car had a top speed of 168 km/h. By the time production terminated in 1976 with the Coupé 3, a total of about 140,000 had been built in eleven years.

The Delta HF integrale EVO Martini gr.4 (1992).

A car that needs no introduction. Its story began in the Autumn of 1979 when the Lancia Delta was launched with huge success (voted Car of the Year 1980). The merit went to its beautiful line, compact and highly innovative, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, combined with the quality of the engineering and the materials adopted, and the excellent technical structure. But the public had its first glimpse of what was to become the most important version of this model at the 1982 Turin Motor Show, when a prototype four-wheel drive Delta was presented; this version anticipated the definitive version of 1986 known as the Delta HF 4WD, which had permanent four-wheel drive, and would remain in production until 1994, evolving over the years. It made its racing debut in the 1987 World Rally Championship and won the world title for six consecutive years, from 1987 to 1992, a record that is still unbeaten. The Delta HF integrale EVO Martini gr.4 (1992) was equipped with a straight-4, 16-valve engine with a turboblower (and a capacity of 1995 cc), which delivered an amazing 300 bhp, taking it to a top speed of over 215 km/h (depending on the ratios).