Beschreibung:

Unitary body/chassis, independent front suspension and an overhead-camshaft V4 engine, the revolutionary Lambda had all these in 1921. Lancia's in-house coachwork - designed by Battista Falchetto - consisted of a low-slung Torpedo with a pair of symmetrical doors on either side, to which a full-size hardtop could be attached, thus transforming it into a saloon. However, its unitary construction made it all but impossible for independent coachbuilders to offer bespoke creations on the Lambda 'chassis'. Indeed, one has only to look at an early Lambda bereft of its external body panels to understand the difficulty of achieving anything significantly different from the original, given the foregoing constraints. By the time the 7th Series arrived for 1927, Lancia had had a partial change of heart and offered an alternative separate chassis, thus enabling independent coachbuilders to meet the demand for bespoke creations. Separate it might have been, but the new Lambda chassis was far from conventional, utilising a pair of large fabricated box-section side members, instead of the traditional side rails, in a form of 'semi-monocoque' construction. For the 8th and 9th Series Lambdas this was the only type of chassis produced, the sole fixed styling element being the bonnet. Paralleling these later series' chassis developments were increases in engine capacity (originally 2,120cc): to 2,370cc for the 7th Series and 2,570cc for the 8th and 9th. This unusual variant on the late Lambda frame was found by Lancia enthusiast Dick Buckingham in Brazil in 1970. It was subsequently brought to the U.S. and was later acquired by the former owner, from whose Estate it is now offered. A classic case of 'if only they could speak', clues to the car's earlier history are limited. It wears car club badges for the Touring Club of Brasil and curiously also of Syria. The frame is unquestionably a late series unit, distinguished by its 'egg-box' section strengthening. It seems most likely that the bodywork it wears was an updated roadster put on the car in South America, its only notable European accessories being Weymann patent door catches, which might suggest that it wore fabric saloon coachwork when new. Its hood is an original unit, as are the front fenders and radiator, but the scuttle area seems to have been widened to create the roadster design and in doing so the original dashboard and hence chassis plates have been replaced. Unfortunately it had already lost its power plant by the time it was discovered in South America and an appropriate late unit has never been added to the equation. In essence, the car certainly is something of a puzzle, which will no doubt prove a rewarding project to investigate and follows in the footsteps of another unrestored Lancia Lambda which Bonhams set a record for at our Quail Lodge auction at nearly $200,000. Offered on a Bill of Sale