1962 Lancia Flaminia Sport 3C £334,950
Gorgeous to look at, great to drive – and even at this price it’s cheaper than it was back in 2015, reveals Paul Hardiman
This is one of only 344 Zagato Sports produced, and being the early type has faired headlights. There’s an interesting letter on file from Dottore Elio Zagato, written in 1993, confirming that Carrozzeria Zagato would retrofit faired lights to later cars even after they had left the factory. There’s also factory documentation confirming its specification, though the V5C is wrong, showing it as a 2.8.
This is an older restoration, carried out 1990-93 by KCA in Italy, apparently costing €180,000, though there’s no paperwork to confirm this. Twenty-five years later it presents well, though up close there are a few small cracks in the paint around the grille, and a few swirl/scratch marks in the paint. It is incredibly straight when you sight down the sides, with good door fit. The chrome window trims are all nice, with a couple of small scratches under the windscreen. The bumpers are good apart from few slight scratches, with fresh gaiters on the mounts. The lovely Carello lights are complemented by removable Marchal spotlights. The unique tail-lights are perfect, and all the chrome fittings such as bootlid numberplate lights and Zagato ‘Z’ badges are present and correct.
Resident in Monaco for 20 years postrestoration and first registered in the UK in 2015, it’s recently been through the hands of Thornley Kelham, which prepared the car for sale and fitted a new master cylinder and reservoir at a cost of £1416, plus an earlier bill for £3626 for work that included new exhausts and five new tubetype Michelin Xs, which now show hardly any wear. In the nicely trimmed boot is a matching 165R400 X radial on the spare, plus a car cover.
Inside, the dash top, carpets, headlining and instruments are all excellent, the seat leather now just starting to settle in with some light creasing. All the dashboard knobs and switches are intact. There’s no rear seat but there is a hatch in the rear bulkhead to facilitate carrying skis.
The motor is clean with fresh Nyloc nuts and gaskets to the rocker covers. Oil is still golden, the coolant purple. There are no leaks underneath but there is evidence of recent lubrication of the wishbone pivots, with fresh grease around the nipples. The fuel tank is well protected from rust.
It starts easily with a deep burble, and no perceptible tappet noise. Once warmed, the V6 settles to 88-90 deg C, with oil pressure showing 3.5 bar at tickover and up to 6 bar at higher revs.
Brakes are very firm, the ride taut and well controlled with no play in the steering, though the last MOT did note an advisory for slight play in the front suspension on both sides. The gearchange is really nice, with a solid, mechanical feel – always a mystery how Lancia manages this with a transaxle car – with good synchromesh. Even the up/down indicator stalk feels engineered, in true Lancia style.
The MOT runs until June. Given that it cost €464,880 at Artcurial in Paris in 2015 (then £340,000), it looks better value now.