A **** : ’59 Lancia Aurelia Convertible
A **** is a rating given by Sports Car Market Magazine. They rate collector cars based on the rated car’s ability to continue in a valuation trend, stay steady or even decrease in popularity. It doesn’t get any better than this rating for today’s Lancia. We know this one because it was discovered in Connecticut and we spotted it on a flatbed across from our office. Natty and tired but more important, it is all there (except the original seats. Good catch reader fiatosca!). A little background on these wonderful cars: If Princess Grace (Kelly) came back to life as a car, I think it would be this Lancia. A sad analogy since she died in a car crash but it does work here. The Lancia Aurelia Convertible, although small and unpretentious, is one of the most elegant and well-engineered cars of the period. When the Aurelia B20 Coupe was unveiled it was the most superbly engineered car ever. In fact, the B20, was third in the 1951 Mille Miglia and another was second in the 1952 event, splitting two Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupes.Later that year, the Aurelia finished 1-2-3 in the Targa Florio, a remarkable achievement for a production car. Pinin Farina styled a sleek two-seater version of the B20 and called it Spider America. Today’s find is in fact a B24S Convertible. It is easy to tell them apart by the windscreen. The Spider is low and Spidery and the Convertible is taller and has vent windows. Now an auction price for these rare convertibles is getting close to $450 thousand bucks (probably way more if 2 or more bidders want it). If it were a Spider, it would be worth more than double. Way more. Lancia built only 521 convertibles so rarity is in this car’s favor. It will take a lot of money to get this one right but it will be worth every penny. Someone who doesn’t care too much what that restoration cost is now will snap this one up fast. The ask is $325,000. It is in New York City now and you can see it by clicking here. Tell Peter you saw it here on Mint.
Yep. We’ve got a ’58 B24 convertible in the family so I know it well!
Now I’ve been informed that the original seats are included in the sale.
“Tatty, original interior”…hold the phone because those are absolutely not the original seats.
Great catch. The correct seats for a convertible are more like 2 wide buckets with a center cushion. Almost looks like a bench.