The Flavia, produced by Lancia after its acquisition by the Pesenti family, is the offspring of the innovative ideas of the brand’s new technical director, the Engineer Antonio Fessia, which would go on to profoundly influence world car production in the following years. The Lancia Flavia was the first Italian car with a boxer engine and front-wheel drive.

 

In the mid-1950s, important managerial and technical changes took place in Lancia, when the Lancia family sold the reins of the company to the cement industrialist Carlo Pesenti. Simultaneously, the technical direction passed from Vittorio Jano – the technical director responsible for the company's competitive successes – to the concrete and rational Antonio Fessia, mechanical engineer and professor at the Turin Polytechnic. 

 

As technical director in Lancia, he was able to finally put his theories to good use. His first “commission” was to design a car for the "medium" segment, where Lancia had not been present for nearly a decade. Fessia’s design established that traction was provided by the front wheels and that the compact engine with four opposed horizontal cylinders (the so-called "boxer" architecture) was positioned cantilevered in front of the front axle, while the gearbox was placed just behind the differential, which was aligned with the wheel axis. 

The entire mechanical structure - engine, gearbox, differential, suspension and steering - was firmly fixed to a small frame anchored to the bodywork by elastic supports. This solution offered two advantages: one technical and one industrial. It increased comfort by isolating the passenger compartment from mechanical vibrations, on the one hand, and on the other it enabled assembly line rationalisation, reducing production times and costs. For the first time in Italy, the technical refinement of the project also introduced the presence of standard disc brakes on the four wheels, assisted by brake boosters, to provide faster and safer braking.

 

The car body was entrusted to Piero Castagnero, who had previously distinguished himself in Lancia by creating the last two Appia series. Castagnero designed a square-shaped sedan with rounded corners, with futuristic lines far removed from the standard stylistic features of the period. Eye-catching features of the front part included the trapezoid motif repeated on the grille and on the two headlight groups, which incorporated the indicators and side lights. Fessia’s innovative mechanics made it possible to keep the engine hood lower than the long fenders, which ended with a double pair of headlights.

The benefits of Fessia's technical innovation also involved the interiors, made notably more spacious and comfortable by the absence of the central transmission tunnel. The luggage boot also benefited notably from the absence of mechanical parts in the rear, providing an exceptional capacity.

The Lancia Flavia, a sober and at the same time elegant sedan, made its debut at the Turin Motor Show on November 3, 1960. The overall appearance immediately transmitted the idea of solidity, while the audacious lines – initially deemed too avant-garde and mannerist – took a little while longer to be fully appreciated.

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The composed mood of the sedan was soon joined by coupe and convertible versions: still elegant but with a sportier personality, created by the best italian coachbuilders.

The coachbuilders added just the right amount of spice to the serene Lancia sedan. Firstly came Pininfarina, who presented the Flavia Coupé in 1961: the stylistic features of the sedan were maintained but the base was shortened and the lines were lowered, more streamlined and softer, as this great Turin designer usually preferred. Thanks to the typical elegant sportiness of previous Lancia models, plus shapes that echoed the contemporary Ferrari 250 GTE – also designed by Pininfarina – the Flavia Coupé immediately met with public success.