LANCIA SPECIAL AURELIA B21
Current owner: Dominic Hentall
It is a unique singleseater
Hentall said: “It was built in the late 1950s by an Italian called Francesco Paronzini from Modena who was passionate about Lancias. He was inspired by the rear-engined Coopers and wanted to design the first ever rear-engined Italian single-seater and this was before Ferrari did the sharknose. In some ways he was ahead of his time, but we’re not sure if it ever raced in period and it seems that it never left Italy.”
It runs a Lancia engine and box
“He built it on Lancia Aurelia B21 components, with the front suspension from an Alfa 2600 and a self-built chassis and aluminium body. He finished it in 1958 just after the F2 regulations changed to 1500cc. Paronzini had used the V6 two-litre engine from the Aurelia.”
It is completely original
“It’s got the high-lift cams, so it is quite throaty and it sounds beautiful. It is a unique piece of history as he only built one car.
It is beautifully designed and the detailing on it is incredible. The transaxle gearbox hangs off the back of the engine and the chassis is made of many small tubes. It is a time warp car because it’s just been sitting in storage.”
It was stored for nearly 50 years
“The car then disappeared but I’ve got some photos of it in 1971 with race numbers on the side outside a workshop in Italy and I’m trying to trace the history. I discovered it in an underground car park in Monaco. I heard about it through word of mouth and flew over to look at it and persuaded the owner to sell it. It was complete but we’ve re-commissioned it. It had been brought out of storage several years ago and tidied up. We’ve brought it back to life but it is a work in progress and there is a lot to do.”
It ran at Prescott
“Prescott in early September was its first competitive run for probably 50 years. We know it’s certainly not run since the 1970s. My dad competed at Prescott 60 years ago, so this was the place we wanted to run the car first. There is a long list of things to do, but we plan to use it and it would be lovely to take it to Goodwood.”