FWD Friday: Lancia edition

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 10/04/2013 at 07:56 • Filed to: None

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One of my favourite bits in Rush is Lauda's scene with the Lancia 2000. Not least because I hadn't come across it before. FWD, 2.0l injected flat 4 and 123bhp. Also, as the last car to be built under an independent Lancia, it's got old school Lancia build quality as well. Picture thread after the jump:

Interesting little thing I learnt about the Beta. They weren't actually as rusty as their reputation suggests. When the UK importer first got hold of them they noticed two big holes in the bottom of the enclosed bulkhead and thought 'those don't look right'. So they ordered up a load of rubber grommets and plugged them all. Little did they know that these were actually drain holes, so the bulkheads filled up with water and rotted from the inside out.

Might be fiction, but it's come from someone who's knowledge I trust.

They even came in a Shooting Brake variant, the HPE:

At first I thought they were ungainly, but they've rather grown on me.

Now these I will admit were a bit lemony:

They start off well, with a 2.0l or a 2.5l flat 4, but there's a fatal flaw in their design. The power steering pump is driven off the back of one of the camshafts. Not only does this cause more wear on said camshaft, if you hit a kerb sharply this belt can pop off and suddenly you've got no power steering.

No biggie, just keep your thumbs out of the way when the steering wheel spins through your hands. It's a quirk right?

The slightly more severe problem is that if you hit a kerb particularly badly, the shock sent through the power steering can sometimes snap the timing belt for that bank of cylinders. On an interference engine. Really not clever.

Fixable though. Just move the power steering pump to where it can be driven using the auxiliary belt. Simple.

Or just swap the 2.5l engine into something that doesn't need power steering.

This is, in my mind, the perfect Lancia. Brilliant engineering in the FF, narrow angle V4 layout. Drop-dead gorgeous looks and an excellent motorsports pedigree. The only thing in my mind that prevents it mixing with the big boys is the absence of a 2.0l version to fight the 2000 GTV and 2002Tii, although the 1.6HF will give a 1750 GTV a run for its money.

I wonder if that 2.0l flat 4 from a 2000 would fit in one. If not, a dinky little supercharger could bring one up to fighting strength.

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/04/2013 at 09:13

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You just posted every car I was going to post for FWD Friday. Thanks for the carporn and saving me the effort of posting them all.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS 10/04/2013 at 09:14

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Good taste sir :)

Corey CC97, MAZDA DPI IS STILL BAE JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV JOESTACTIV VISIT FLORIDA RACING LIVES FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/04/2013 at 09:19

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I do love Lancias, after all.