It Was Not A Flaminia . . .

[gmcnp@domain.elided]

Now that I have caught up on back Digests, the truth can be told.  The
car that went over the cliff in lieu of Michael Caine's Aston Martin DHC
was not a Flaminia "disguised" as an Aston.  It was a Lancia Flavia
Pininfarina Convertible.  If you freeze frame the film, you can see the
distinctive front end of the Flavia PF quite clearly.  The car was not
"disguised" beyond being painted silver and shoved over the cliff
quickly enough that its hard to see the details without freezing the
frame.  

The differences between the Flaminia and Flavia were massive.  The
Flaminia was an extensively restyled but only moderately improved and
modernized Aurelia and was built in much the same way as the Aurelia
(largely by hand).  How you feel about this car depends on whether you
think (as I do) that it is cool to have a car that is the product of
this process regardless of when it was built or whether you think Lancia
should have abandoned its traditional approach from the 50s in light of
technical advances in the 60s and released a range topper that was as
modern in concept as the Flaminia pretended to be in styling (and as the
Aurelia was when it was introduced in 1950).

The Flavia was designed for mass production and was far more modern in
concept than the Flaminia, but also more modest in terms of the result
sought. As most Alfa owners know, there is a big difference between a
1600 cc car with front wheel drive (of which the world is full albeit
few as nice as the Fulvia, Flavia or Sud/33) and a 2.5 to 2.8 liter V-6
engined, rear wheel drive car with a full transaxle and de Dion rear
suspension.  There are a lot more Flavias out there than Flaminias.

George Pond

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