Lancia

1965 Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato – “What on Earth?”

Casey Annis
2007 SEMA Show-6

Joe Ballengee was driving his ’65 Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato through the Santa Fe Arts District, during the Santa Fe Concorso’s Mountain Tour, when a woman at the curb, shouted, “WHAT ON EARTH?” A more knowledgeable car person, upon seeing a photo of the Lancia, commented that it was “rare as rocking horse poo.” Many cars that were touched by the Italian coachbuilder Zagato produce exclamations and pronouncements such as these, but the Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato was just that bit more unusual than most other Zagato-bodied automobiles.

In the Beginning

Vicenzo Lancia's father wanted his son to be an accountant, but Vicenzo loved playing with tools and cars.
Vicenzo Lancia’s father wanted his son to be an accountant, but Vicenzo loved playing with tools and cars.

Many parents are sure that they know what is best for their children, but their plans don’t always work out the way they hoped. Giuseppe Lancia had a very successful business canning soups near his family home in Fobello, in the Italian mountains. In his son, Vincenzo, he detected a talent for numbers, so he planned for his son to go to school in Turin to become the accountant for the family business.

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