Aurelian way

Connolly Leather’s Jonathan Connolly has enjoyed his Lancia Aurelia B20 GT for over 40 years

OUR FAMILY BUSINESS began on the Euston Road, London, in 1878 repairing harnesses and saddlery, and then moved on to supplying leather to hood-makers and coachbuilders. We started with Rolls-Royce in 1904 and since then have supplied all the British marques including Aston, Bentley, Jaguar and Rover, so I suppose I should drive a very British classic car. But we supplied Ferrari with leather from the late 1940s – Enzo wanted the Rolls-Royce leather in his cars – as well as Maserati, so an Italian car seems appropriate.

My cousin, Anthony Hussey, who was MD of Connolly at the time, bought a Lancia Aurelia Spider from Chequered Flag in the late 1970s and together we drove it on the Coronation Rally in ’82. A good car but not really a rally weapon, although I was impressed by its balance and agility. Inspired, we began searching for a rally-proven coupé and found this 1953 Third Series B20 GT fitted with an MG Magnette engine in Lancia specialist Nigel Trow’s barn, so bought it for £350.

Cobbling it together – it was known as the Isopon Special because large parts of it were just filler – I found a correct 2.5-litre V6 engine and, with a lot of help from Lancia specialist Tim Burrett, we got it running well. I remember him adjusting the negative camber on the front axle with a welding torch and crowbar and he made me up some wider wheels so I could fit bigger tyres for racing. I did some circuit racing with it, where it always did best in the wet due to its handling and predictability, but it’s not really a circuit racing car.

In the 1980s we did the first Pirelli Classic Marathons plus a couple more, a few Circuits of Ireland, as well as LeJog, which was tough. When the company closed in 2002 [Jonathan revived the company as Connolly Brothers in 2013] I stopped using it and left it in the garage. I had it MoT’d every year, but it got to the point about ten years ago when it finally failed, so I realised I had to restore it, otherwise I’d lose it.

So I took the Aurelia to Italy, to specialist Gilberto Clerici near Lake Como, for a total restoration. He subbed the bodywork out to a local carrozzeria, where it went down to bare metal and was repainted Amaranto Montebello, while Gilberto rebuilt the engine to original spec and now it runs really well. With the Lancia back in the UK, I had to get Thornley Kelham to do some extra enhancements to the brakes, to make them work!

I removed the wider rims and refitted originals shod with skinny, correct-size Michelin X tyres, which make the car so much sweeter to drive. A car of the early 1950s has a certain way about it and you have to have a certain skill to drive it. You know, brakes are sort of optional, but a correctly set-up B20 on original tyres, you can drive with your fingertips and you can drive it bloody fast on tricky Aand B-roads. Did the Coupe des Alpes in it recently and a great big AMG tried following the Aurelia down a mountain, but he couldn’t keep up because his car was so big and heavy.

I drive the Aurelia often and quite spiritedly, so I had Rob O’Rourke build me a set of Ferrari 275 GTB/4 seats, which are very comfortable; they look period and hold me in place. Trimmed in Connolly Vaumol leather, obviously. Because I do a good deal of bespoke work with ‘Tailor Made’ Ferrari and Aston Works, I get to drive some special cars, but I will never get rid of my Aurelia. We have a road trip to Spain coming up with a few chums and I’m looking forward to testing the Lancia’s drum brakes and bucket seats to the full!