It’s fully one week after writing the analysis on the Broad Arrow Villa d’Este Auction and I’m still daydreaming of sumptuous Italian coachwork wrapped around thunderous 12-cylinder engines. While I didn’t highlight them, the auction included a couple of beautiful cars from my favorite brand, Lancia. The two cars on offer had primo prices to go along with their superior engineering and style, but there are Lancia models for the rest of us. It’s a rare day that a vintage Lancia pops up for sale near me, but today’s feature car is right around the corner. Hat tip to my good friend Joe for sending today’s feature car my way: a 1976 Lancia Fulvia 1.3s Series 2 Coupe.

The Lancia Fulvia was a compact Italian automobile produced by Lancia from 1963 to 1976. It was introduced as a front-wheel-drive vehicle with a narrow-angle V4 engine, an uncommon configuration at the time. Lancia is well-known for having pioneered the narrow-angle V4 with the Lambda way back in 1922. The Fulvia was available in multiple body styles, including a four-door Berlina sedan, a two-door Coupe, and later the Sport variant, which featured a fastback body designed and built by Zagato. The car used independent front suspension and disc brakes on all four wheels, contributing to its engineering sophistication.

The Coupe variant of the Fulvia gained particular attention for its role in motorsport. The HF (High Fidelity) versions were developed for rally competition and were successful in the late 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in Lancia winning the International Championship for Manufacturers in 1972.

Throughout its production run, the Fulvia underwent several updates, with displacement increases and design changes to improve performance and comfort. The Fulvia was eventually replaced by the Lancia Beta, but it remains noted for its engineering and competition performance.

This Series 2 coupe is listed on Facebook Marketplace and offered for sale by owner in Mechanicsville, Virginia with an asking price of $26,750. The exterior color appears to be Marrone Pariole with an interior of beige leatherette.

The exterior of the S2 Fulvia is very similar in overall look to the S1, with a well defined three-box coupe shape featuring a tall greenhouse with low hood and boot. Changes for the Series 2 cars included a front grill that extended to the headlights, turn signals in the bumpers instead of the fenders, a clean hood with no central spear, and rub strips in the tightly-fitted bumpers. The body of the car is said to be rust-free and the paint refreshed in its original color in 2017.

The Series 2 1.3s Fulvia Coupe 3 introduced in 1974 was essentially the same on the exterior, but the front grill color was now black instead of chrome. No photos of the rear of the car are shown, but the Series 2 basically had the same rear as the S1 cars.

Of interest is that the Series 2 Fulvias featured an all-steel body in contrast to their predecessors, which had moving panels formed from aluminum. In fact the first Fulvias featured an all-alloy chassis and are exceptionally rare today.

Covered in beige vinyl, the interior on this Fulvia looks rather good with clean carpets, no tears in the seats, and an uncracked dash. The Coupe 3 added gauges in white, which add a sporty touch to the car. While the seats appear to be a little too flat for aggressive cornering, Lancia seats are said to be some of the most comfortable seats around. One of my favorite aspects of Italian interior design is the ergonomic placement of the shift lever – high on the center console with a knob that is just inches from your right hand.

The engine on the Fulvia was a very novel affair, with a longitudinally-mounted narrow angle 1.3-liter V4 engine pumping out a whopping 89 horsepower at 6,000rpm. Air and fuel mixing duties were carried out by dual Solex 35 PHHE carburetors. The Series 2 Fulvia Coupe 3 introduced smog control to the fuel system. The engine is quite visibly canted to the left of the car, allowing for a much lower hood and excellent forward visibility and a lower center of gravity.

Connected to the powerplant was a new (for the Series 2) 5-speed gearbox sending power to the front wheels. Speaking of wheels, this car has had its steel wheels replaced for a rather fetching set of gold-painted Campagnolo alloys. The original steel wheels are said to be included with the sale, along with a set of service manuals in English, spare parts, and a car cover.

The market does not seem to have been kind to the values of Lancia Fulvia Series 2 Coupes over the last 5 years. As can be expected, the pandemic resulted in a rather large spike in values for the Lancia Fulvia overall, but prices have softened pretty significantly from their highs in 2022.

One helpful view is to compare the values of the Lancia Fulvia Coupe in base spec to its HF rally-spec and Zagato Sport variants. The Series 1 HF Fulvia Coupes are far and away the most desirable spec, followed by the Series 2 HF coupes. The early Zagato Sports are fairly prized as well, though values for those have declined quite a bit since the Covid-fueld buying fever.

Today’s car has a public sales history, which is helpful to a potential buyer. The car was sold to its current owner back in 2019 after failing to meet reserve on Bring a Trailer. The high bid was $16,000, but it looks like $19,000 took the car home, as the sale was recorded a month later by the Virginia DMV. The car was offered for sale on Hemmings back in April of this year, but failed to sell there.

I don’t fault the owner for attempting to earn a profit on this car, especially if they have put more work into this beauty since purchase almost 6 years ago. The new wheels certainly cost a pretty penny, but it’d be good to find out how the car has been otherwise improved. There’s a small tear in the driver’s seat visible in the BAT listing, but that area is not shown in the Facebook photos.

Fulvias are amazing cars, and it looks like previous owners have enjoyed driving this one as intended. The asking price of $26,750 could be achievable if the car is in very good condition. One challenge is the color, however. Brown is not particularly popular, with the average price of brown (Marrone Pariole) Lancias hovering around $16,000 based on recent data. It must be noted that most of those are bid-to values and do not represent actual sales, however.

Best of luck to the seller, and to the eventual buyer: congratulations!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!