A rare first generation Zagato with covered headlamps
1959 Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato 2.5
Chassis no. 824.00 1077 Engine no. 1366

• One of only 99 first-series, covered-headlamp cars
• From an important Italian collection
• Beautifully presented in as-delivered Grigio
• Matching numbers
• Italian registered

“The car should be unexcelled for high-speed, long-distance touring in comfort… the quality is of a kind only possible in handmade cars, and to get it you have to be willing to pay. For those who are willing, it offers transportation that is, beyond doubt, in the fabled grand manner.” Road & Track magazine tries a new Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato in November 1960

Few marques generate as much loyalty and sheer enthusiasm as Lancia. Highly advanced in their day, a Lancia Gran Turismo of the 1950s and early 1960s was, without question, a ‘thinking man’s GT’, a car for true connoisseurs.

It was also the choice of champions. The great Argentine, Juan-Manual Fangio, winner of five World Championships and the 1953 Carrera Panamericana at the wheel of a Lancia D24, chose an Aurelia B20 GT for the long journeys from Modena or Maranello to races across the length and breadth of Europe.

Light, always powerful enough and so effortless to drive, Gianni Lancia’s creations were the ‘brain’ to Enzo Ferrari’s ‘brawn’. In Mexico 1953, Fangio’s D24 gave away some 15mph flat out to Maglioli’s big Ferrari 375 MM yet he led home a comfortable Lancia 1-2-3. The first car from Maranello finished some 1½ hours behind.

So in 1958, when Carrozzeria Zagato, the masters of race-bred lightweight construction and aerodynamics, worked their magic on the new Flaminia GT, a legend was born.

Undoubtedly a Lancia, indisputably a Zagato: the new car was destined for greatness.

The Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato

Zagato’s take on Lancia’s new Flaminia first appeared at the 1958 Turin Motor Show and was based on the floorpan, running gear and shorter, 2,520mm wheelbase of the Flaminia GT. Clothed entirely in handcrafted aluminium, it was a typical design from the Milanese coachbuilder: low, aerodynamic and functional. Under the bonnet sat a production – 119bhp, 2.5-litre, single-carb V6 – Flaminia GT engine, but thanks to Zagato’s wind-cheating design top speed was now 112mph.

In limited-series production the following year, the new Flaminia Sport Zagato was built on bare chassis supplied by Lancia. Inevitably, with both houses having such a fine competition record, some were raced and rallied, but the elegant coupé came into its own as a favourite of discrete businessman and more discerning figures in public life. Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was one.

The first 99 cars bore streamlined, faired-in headlamps. In 1960, to meet new Italian regulations, the balance of the first series carried open headlamps in the style of the Ferrari 250 GT SWB. The famous ‘double bubble’ roof was a feature found on all Flaminia Zagatos.

In total, specialist sources suggest that, when production finished in 1967, some 599 Flaminia Sport Zagatos had been produced. Later cars had variations in engines and carburettors while, from 1964, the final Super Sport was a heavily restyled version with an abrupt ‘Kamm’ tail.

The purest and most delicate early cars, though, best represent the collaboration between the styling master of Milan with the engineering titan from Turin.

This Motor Car

According to research conducted by the present owner, a respected Italian collector with a passion for Zagato-bodied Lancias and Alfa Romeos, chassis 824.00 1077 was completed on 22 September 1959. A month later, on 23 October 1959, it was ready for dispatch finished in the classic and subtle combination of Grigio (metallic grey) with Pelle Chiara (beige leather). This is confirmed by a copy of the Lancia production records.

The car was the 77th in the series of chassis numbers Lancia allocated to the Flaminia GT and Sport; some went to Touring, some to Zagato depending on the client’s preference. Also, the stamping ‘77’ of the body can clearly be found on the car, and the engine (‘1366’) and other numbers match those recorded on the relevant page for the Flaminia.

The early history of this car is not known, however, a December 1975 Florida police sticker on the windscreen suggests the car was in North America by then, and probably had been in the US for some time before that date.

Flaminia Sport Zagato ‘1077’ was subsequently imported to Europe, finding its way to Germany. In 1993, it was finally registered in Milan, returning to the city of its birth, and has stayed in Italy ever since.

Our client bought the car in 2003, over the years spending over €10,000 with Lancia specialist Gilberto Clerici of Como. Works carried out included overhauling the fuel and water pumps, renewing the electrical system, replacing carpets and mats and fitting a new clutch.

Since purchase, the car has been carefully looked after by a true connoisseur, and was chosen to be part of a Zagato exhibition at the Basel Pantheon in Switzerland in 2017.

This stunning Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato is presented in one of the most elegant colour combinations, has ‘matching numbers’ and is totally ready for summer adventures: impromptu trips to the countryside, touring holidays or simply driving on the open road in the spirit of Fangio, Taruffi and Castellotti.