IS THERE STILL A CAR UNDER THE FILLER
AURELIA’S, FLAMINIA’S, FISSORES AND ABARTHS RUST THE SAME
Lancias, as true Italians, come in two construction types: the all steel factory build cars – like that B20 Aurelia above – and the aluminum skinned special versions build by constructors like Zagato and Touring. Cars of that era were never intended to be used over many years but probably because of their beauty some of them survived. Still, we have been test-running cars our age that needed only minor repairs. But let’s be honest: most of them at least need their lower sections to be renewed.
At VERE LANCIA it is becoming normal practice to cut out complete floors and sills – and to reach them in the aluminum cars one first has to take the skin off. The steel support structure and the alu skin can then be cleaned in their own different ways. The alu parts can be soda or glass bead blasted and carefully repaired and protected on the inside before being mounted back. The steel sections take sand blasting or even acid baths – followed by a KTL treatement – to be cleaned inside the box sections. With an as-new end result that lasts a second more intense lifetime.
This all steel 1948 Lancia Furgoncino tipo 800 (pictured below) was completely covered by rust after she was pulled out the flooded Po river near Mantova. But after a lot of repairs she went swimming in an acid bath and came out like new. She can do another 70 years with great gusto. The aluminimum skinned FIAT Abarth though had to be carefully undressed: she lost over 25 kilo’s of filler and steel patchwork in the process.
Other cars though come in pieces. An original RHD Fanalone with interesting history was rescued out of a fellow restoration company before she went broke. Every part in front of the bulkhead was gone, the trunk was cut off just behind the rear seats. Luckily the original wings, bonnets and front and rear panels were in stock. On our sturdy frame we were able to complete the car and stiffen her in the process. All steel parts were sandblasted and primed before the reassembly started. The doors and bonnets were Ice blasted to a refreshing nakedness.
