Despite the fact that today Lancia barely exists and its market presence is irrelevant, it once was one of the most prominent Italian brands. It was the company that incorporated technological advancements, innovation, luxury, and style all in one package. It wasn’t a pure sporty car like Alfa Romeo or simple and affordable as Fiat. It had the elegance of a Jaguar, the extravagance of Citroen, the luxury of a Mercedes, and the style of a tailor-made Brioni suit. The Lancia Aurelia, introduced just after the war, was a perfect personification of its ethos, and the Aurelia B24 Spider, probably the most sought-after version which, symbolized this brand. Here is the story of this fantastic roadster.
Although Lancia was amongst the most luxurious Italian brands before the war, the liberation brought a new reality for this brand. The luxury market was gone, and Italy could barely afford to buy Fiat 500s. Lancia wasn’t even a part of the Marshall Plan and never received any financial help after the war, as other Italian car companies did. Gianni Lancia was in a pretty tricky situation. The current product lineup was outdated, the domestic market was weak, and there wasn’t enough money to develop all-new models. However, due to his friendship with Vittorio Jano (later of Ferrari fame), Lancia started working on a new model with exciting features. Lancia was one of the most innovative companies in those days, with each model introducing something new and revolutionary. The new car wasn’t going to be any different.
During the war, Vittorio Jano worked on an innovative engine configuration – V6, which was totally unheard of at the time. The V6 that he created was pretty advanced, even by current standards. With aluminum block and heads, it had a 60-degree angle between the cylinder banks, single camshaft, and Hemi combustion chambers which helped achieve more power and higher revs. The engine development was over by the late ‘40s, just in time to be put in a new Lancia model.
The Lancia Aurelia debuted in 1950 and immediately stunned the global car audience. Not only was it very modernly designed and the first in the world to feature a V6 engine, but it also had a few more surprises up its sleeve. It had a semi-independent rear suspension with a rear-mounted transaxle gearbox and inboard drum brakes to reduce the unsprung weight. This layout ensured the ideal weight distribution, neutral handling, great driving dynamics, and radial tires as a standard feature (another first in the world). The early models were called B10, and they were all sedans (Berlinas) with a 1.8-liter V6 engine and 75 hp. The market responded enthusiastically, and Lancia’s gamble paid off with lots of orders all over the world. 1951 saw the introduction of the gorgeous Lancia Aurelia B20 Coupe, which was called the first accurate Grand Turismo model ever made. It used a 2.0-liter engine with 80 hp, a lower roofline, and two doors. Compared to the rest of the 1951 models, Aurelia was incredibly advanced in any way. Over the years, Lancia made six distinctive model series which all differ from each other by details, body styles, and mechanical improvements. When production stopped in 1958, over 18,000 cars (all versions) were sold, which was an enormous success for the company that was on the brink of bankruptcy just a few years before.
However, although the Aurelia saloon, coupes, and even a few coach-built wagons were the majority of sales in 1954, Lancia presented the most sought-after version of this model – the Aurelia Spider B24. As you can expect, this was a roadster variant but with a finely sculpted body and the largest engine ever offered – a 2.5-liter V6. In those days, Lancia was a very small company and didn’t have the capacity to produce its own bodies, so each body style was actually produced by different carrozzeria. In the case of Spider B24, that carrozzeria was famous Pininfarina which gave it a timeless shape with exquisite chrome bumpers and a wraparound windshield.
With a weight of just over 1000 kg and 120 hp from the high-revving V6 engine, Aurelia B24 Spider was a pretty convincing sports car for its time. Unfortunately, it was very expensive due to innovative technology and Pininfarina’s bodywork. When it was released, Aurelia B24 Spider retailed for $5,840 on the American market. In comparison, it was more expensive than Chevrolet Corvette or Jaguar XK120 but a few dollars cheaper than Aston Martin DB2. Despite the rave reviews by the magazine testers of the period, Lancia decided to shut down the production of this model after just a year and a half on the market and 241 cars made. It was probably done in order to concentrate on more profitable models and save the resource for volume production.
However, this doesn’t mean that story of open-top Aurelia is over. Although Lancia killed the B24 Spider due to cost concerns, it left the customers with another option in the form of the Lancia B24 Convertible, a more conventional but as elegant and gorgeous roadster. The difference between the B24 Spider and B24 Convertible are mostly cosmetical, and the Convertible has different bumpers and formal windshield. It was somewhat cheaper and sold more copies, but it wasn’t the bestseller Lancia hoped it would be. The B24 Convertible stayed in production from 1956 to 1958, and 521 cars were made. If we add the B24 Spider production to that number, the final number of open-top Aurelias is just 761 vehicles built in four years.
Today, both the Spider and Convertible are cherished classic car icons and valuable investment vehicles. However, there is a significant price difference in favor of rare and more beautiful Spiders. It is entirely understandable, and the B24 Spider is one of those Dolce Vita cars that show us just how innovative and artistic Italian companies once were.
