Lancia Aurelia
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Picture
B50 cabriolet from the 1950 introductory brochure
Picture
B50 chassis for coach builders, from the 1950 introductory brochure

Specials, One offs, and the B50’s


Early Lancias (from the beginning of the company’s history in 1906) were always available to customization upon request. This was simply how the high-end market worked at the time: if you wanted something unique (bonnet scoop, leather interior, special trim), they would make it for you. The Aurelia continued this practice: the factory made the sedans, and provided a chassis to custom coach builders. This chassis, the B50, was shown on the earliest Aurelia publicity sheets and was available for one-off production. And it was heartily used. There were a vast number of one-off Aurelias made by the various carrozerias at the time, probably about  500 or so. Like all one-off’s on Lancia chassis, from the 1920’s on, they provided elegance and beauty, but with modest performance. The one-off bodies simply could not compete with the low weight  of the production berlinas. 

And in this lineup was a broad range - there were special sedans, coupes, estates, and unique show cars – such as the PF 200. Each unique, many shown at the Auto Shows of the time. There were also some “series” B-50’s, as Pininfarina made a 4 seater cabriolets that were quite popular and many survive today. The last “B50” platforms  as development chassis for the Farina prototypes of the Flaminia, the Florida 1 and 2. 

With about 850 Aurelias as specials (about 5% of the total production), the number is worth comparing to other companies. Neither Ferrari or Maserati made this many in the 1950’s – their total production was much less overall, so Lancia’s position as a producer of cars in series and in specials was secure. By the end of the Aurelia run, B20’s and B24’s were essentially made by Pininfarina as standardized coachbuilt variants, an approach used by Lancia more fully throughout the 1960’s in their next models, the Flaminias, Flavias, and Fulvias.  

Picture
B15 6 light limousine was built by Bertone and listed in Lancia's catalog
Picture
Another B15 view
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  • Home
    • About
    • map of differences
    • Advertisements
    • Character
    • Original Cars
    • Fangio on the Aurelia
  • Models
    • Berlinas
    • Coupes >
      • Why the series?
      • Series in detail
    • Specials
    • Spiders, Convertibles
    • Nardi
  • Competition
    • Aurelias in Competition
    • Other Racing
    • Special Races
  • Engineering
    • Engines
    • Evolution
    • Crankshafts
    • Camshafts
    • Carburetors
    • Chassis >
      • Front Suspension
      • Rear Suspension - IRS
      • Rear Suspension - de Dion
      • Transaxle
    • Build Quality
    • Drawings
    • Unusual
  • Outgoing
    • Reference >
      • Parts books
      • Web info
      • AST (data sketches)
      • Service Information
      • Parts
      • Color
      • Prices
    • Events >
      • Sliding Pillar
      • Castlemaine
      • Registro Aurelia
      • Other Events
      • B10 photo essay
    • Tech Tips >
      • Carburetors
      • What cam to use?
    • B20 Restoration
    • B20 road test
  • Books
    • Three books for sale
    • Lancia's First V Engines
    • Balancing, for sale
    • At the Center, for sale
    • At the Center, in detail
    • Other Publications
    • Articles
    • Lancia Materials FS
    • Library
    • Errata
  • Other Lancias
    • Appia
    • Aprilia
    • Flaminia Super Sport
    • Flavia 2000 >
      • Kugelfischer injection
  • Contact
  • Blog