Lancia Flavia

Pininfarina styled the original four-door berlina alongside rebodied coupe variants by the same house and fabric-top convertibles open to the sky. Its compact inline-four sat longitudinally and canted 15° to the right so that the combined gearbox/differential housing sat atop the engine, minimizing drivetrain intrusion and allowing the 4.6-metre saloon to carry five adults with usable boot space.

The Flavia debuted Lancia’s patented front-wheel-drive system, pairing an 1.5-litre flat-topped aluminum engine with disc brakes on all four corners—a rare specification in the early 1960s. The transaxle unit, carried on an independent front sub-frame, was rubber-insolated to reduce NVH, while the rear retained Lancia’s trademark beam axle with leaf springs.

Engine capacity grew in stages—1.8-litre from 1963, then 2.0-litre by 1967—while power climbed from 78 hp to 126 hp in the twin-carb Sport and Coupe HF versions. Borg-Warner automatic became an option in 1964; the coupé body was mildly facelifted the same year, gaining larger windows and a cleaner nose. Production wound down in 1970-71, handing the mantle to the slightly larger and restyled Lancia 2000.

Although overshadowed by the sportier Fulvia that arrived in 1963, the Flavia proved that front-wheel drive could be engineered with the same refinement and longevity that Lancia’s rear-drive saloons had delivered, influencing later Fiat-family projects through shared sub-frames and suspension concepts.