Taking the Aurelian way to Heveningham
ANYONE WHO saw my Octane
Cars report last issue will be aware that I was probably a bit overoptimistic in thinking my Jensen would be back on the road in time for the Heveningham Hall Concours in June. So, having been asked to be a judge and to again take part in the invitation-only tour that precedes Jon and Lois Hunt’s superb event, I needed something else suitably classic to rock up in.
Tom Cribb was to accompany me again, but his Giulia Super was also in dry dock and he had a few concerns about the reliability (and photogenic properties) of his rare Giulia Super Estate known as The Banana. Personally I love it, with its full-length glassfibre roof and tailgate (with massive hinges), and of course its wonderfully striking livery, but…
Anyway, one of my colleagues on the steering committee of the London Concours is Simon Thornley of Thornley Kelham (and
Gearbox) fame. Thornley Kelham deals with all classics, but is renowned for its leaning towards Lancia and especially my number one classic of choice, the Aurelia B20 Coupé, of which Simon owns chassis 1501. It is also the company behind the breathtaking Aurelia ‘Outlaw’ (Octane 165).
While Simon and I were chatting at the London Concours (well, it was more me whining and him listening patiently), I mentioned my lack of suitable wheels and he responded immediately that he could probably find me a car. And a few days later he did, sending me a link to a beautiful B20GT that one of TK’s clients was thinking of selling. Obviously I wasn’t going to turn it down, but what was in it for him? ‘Well, it’s going to be a lot of miles so if there’s anything at all wrong with it, you’ll find out and tell me and we can sort it out prior to sale, and if not, well what better testament to its reliability and condition?’ Fair enough.
Tom racked up the first 100 miles just collecting the car from South Cerney before we headed up in convoy very early next morning, his distrust of The Banana proving well founded when he lost the clutch at the Dartford Crossing.
We had added another 150 miles to the Lancia’s odometer just
getting to the Suffolk estate, where a very nice lady came running up and pronounced that, even though she had no idea what it was, it was the most beautiful car she had ever seen. Hard to disagree with that; I have always thought its proportions to be perfect, whether in real life or
The Adventures of Tintin. Even so, it was quite a compliment among such illustrious company where the likes of Bugattis and D-types flanked the luscious Lancia.
The car that Simon and incredibly generous and trusting owner Domien Loosveldt had loaned us did seem to charm everyone. It was a 1953 Series 2 B20 with the wonderful Belgian numberplate of B20 GT. The reasons I love Aurelias are myriad but can be summed up by the looks, the technical advancement and the company’s catastrophically uncommercial over-engineering of the model.
When the sophisticated Series 1 monocoque came out, it was the first production car to pack a V6 and radial tyres, semi-trailing arm rear suspension and a rear-mounted transaxle. In 1950-51 this was cutting-edge stuff that it took other manufacturers years, even decades, to catch up with. When the Series 2 came along with chassis #1501 in 1952, it squeezed another 5km/h out of the twin-Weber-fed 1991cc engine and added five horsepower, bringing the total to 80 at 4700rpm.
What astonishes is how usable it is today, particularly with this car’s Nardi performance kit including a floor-mounted shift for the four gears. There’s synchro on all but first, making it a doddle to drive, though a fifth wouldn’t go amiss.
The worm-and-sector steering is light and direct, hydraulic brakes pull it up well (as well as pulling it slightly to the left), and even the smaller engine (later series had 2.5 litres) offers plenty to allow it to barrel along with modern traffic, all-independent suspension (sliding pillars at the front) giving a suitably absorbent ride and natty handling. No wonder this was the car of choice of F1 drivers in period.
This particular car is better than most, having been prepped and kitted out for endurance rallies. It spent most of its life in Mexico, to where it was delivered on Giovanni Bracco’s recommendation to take part in the Carrera Panamericana. Due to a change of plans it didn’t, at least not until subsequent owner Ignacio Rodriguez took it on the revival event in 2001. With TK having rebuilt it after import to Europe, it successfully completed the Mille Miglia in 2015.
The Heveningham tour is a lovely gentle tour around the Suffolk coast with a brilliant selection of cars and characters. Highlight was a lunch stop at the former RAF Bentwaters, where Cold War gun-toting ‘soldiers’ stood on look-out posts as we explored the base and a Vladimir Putin lookalike (or was it the real deal?) flew in by helicopter to take stock of the cars and a Russianthemed picnic.
The Lancia performed perfectly, ferrying us around the various events of the weekend, always much admired, then home to London and finally back down to South Cerney, where I handed back the keys with a heavy heart. All told we must have put 400-plus faultless miles on it and were surprised at how civilised and untiring it all was.
The last time I fell seriously in love with the Aurelia coupé, I was offered one out of a Welsh barn that just needed the braking system overhauled, for ten grand. This time around I would need to find an extra £250,000-odd on top of that.
Still, worth every penny, I reckon.