1938 Lancia Astura 4th Series Cabriolet

1938 Lancia Astura 4th Series Cabriolet

Having established itself in the front rank of the world’s finest cars with the Dilambda, Lancia further enhanced its exalted position with a succession of fabulous coachbuilt models on the Astura chassis in the 1930s.

One of the most gifted automobile engineers of all time, Vincenzo Lancia founded his own company in 1906, having previously been in FIAT’s employ as chief test driver. Introduced in 1907, the first Lancia car showed an independence of thought and defiance of convention that would remain associated with the marque well into the modern era. Military vehicles, lorries, vans and aero engines followed, the latter enabling Lancia to accrue valuable expertise in the design and construction of ‘V’-configuration powerplants. Lancia’s first V-engined model - the V8 Trikappa sports car - appeared in 1922 but it was the Lambda, launched soon after, that would prove to be of even greater significance. A milestone in automotive history, the revolutionary Lambda was the world’s first car to have a stress-bearing body and the first to be powered by a V4 engine. The absence of a separate chassis meant the driver could sit lower, enabling a low aerodynamic body line to be achieved, while Lancia’s patented sliding-pillar independent front suspension endowed the Lambda with ride and handling qualities unmatched by anything in its class.

Unlike its revolutionary Lambda predecessor, the Dilambda did not use a stress-bearing body but reverted to a separate chassis, a factor that facilitated the manufacture of special coachbuilt variants. A new design, the Dilambda chassis possessed exceptional torsional rigidity, a virtue necessitated by its independent front suspension. Narrow-angle V-configuration engines were by now a Lancia speciality, the Dilambda’s 3,960cc unit having cylinder banks disposed at 24 degrees.

The introduction of the Astura and Artena in 1931 marked a switch from a system of model designation that used letters of the Greek alphabet in favour of one using Italian place names, a move in keeping with the nationalistic spirit of the age. One of Lancia’s most important models, the Astura was powered by a new version of the familiar narrow-angle V8. The latter was enlarged from 2.6 to 3.0 litres on the Astura Series III in 1934, when the model also gained hydraulic brakes and became available in both short and long-chassis forms. The Series IV featured a platform chassis of longer wheelbase, attracting some of the finest coachwork of the period, and was used extensively as official transportation by Italian government departments.

One of the final Asturas built, this Series IV Cabriolet comes with a letter from noted authority and collector, Hervé Charbonneaux, himself a one-time owner of this car, to previous owner Marco Gastaldi, outlining its unusual history. Ordered by Count Ciano, chassis number ‘413195’ was completed on 17th November 1938 and despatched to Carrozzeria Pinin Farina (later Pininfarina) for bodying. However, because of the war’s intervention, the car was never delivered to the Count and not finally completed until 1947 when it appeared on the Lancia stand at the Turin Motor Show.

Descriptions &b Pictures by bonhams & hymanltd