Lancia turns 120 this year, and one anniversary celebration will bring three elegant cars back into the spotlight. At Festival Car, the concours d’elegance taking place in Piedmont on September 26 and 27, the 1931 Artena Cabriolet, 1951 Aurelia B20 GT and 1955 Aurelia B24 Spider will appear together, revisited by iconic car designer Pininfarina, in a tribute to his collaboration with Lancia. It is a fitting way to mark the birthday of a company whose history has always depended on engineering, design and the ability to turn both into a recognizably Italian product.
The firm was founded in Turin on November 27, 1906, by Vincenzo Lancia and Claudio Fogolin, who had both worked at Fiat. Vincenzo was already well known as a racing driver, yet the company he founded built its reputation on technical experimentation, not racing: its first model, the 12 HP of 1908, used a light, low chassis and drove its wheels through a shaft instead of a chain, both unusual choices for the period.
