Lancia Gamma

The lack of affection for this model, which was supposed to re-launch Lancia in the category of luxury saloons by succeeding the Flaminia, can be explained by the difficult situation the manufacturer was in at the time. When the Fiat Group took over Lancia in October 1969, it was clear that the brand's previous owner, Carlo Pesenti, had left the company with an ailing balance sheet and a virtually non-existent catalogue of new projects. Gianni Agnelli declared that there were no new projects in the pipeline.

When, at the end of 1969, Sergio Camuffo was appointed by Fiat as the new head of development, the Lancia range was based around three slightly dated models: the Flaminia (1957), the Flavia (1960) and the Fulvia (1963). Camuffo's team started by taking the Fulvia 2000 saloon and the Flavia 2000 coupé to the next level, while at the same time brainstorming on the design of a completely new model, all in record time and on a shoestring budget. The result, in 1972, was the first generation Beta, a mid-range hatchback powered by the engine of the Fiat 132.

BORN IN TURMOIL 

At the same time, Lancia wanted to renew its top range, which was dominated by the Flaminia. At the time, the only thing lying in Lancia's design office was a vague 830 project, which would eventually lead to the future Gamma. Lancia thought of an efficient, rapid and economical solution for developing its new large car: the idea was to take advantage of the agreements on industrial and commercial cooperation signed in October 1968 between Fiat and Citroën.

This collaboration came to fruition in July 1970 when Pardevi SA (Participation et Développement Industriel), a holding company owned 49% by Fiat and 51% by Michelin, was set up. These two companies jointly took a 55% stake in Citroën, which meanwhile had suffered a number of setbacks following its takeover of Maserati. When Sergio Camuffo received the go-ahead in autumn 1970 to launch the Gamma, the logical thing to do was to share the projects of Citroën's Quai de Javel design office and Lancia's Borgo San Paolo design office.

As a result, the Lancia Gamma had to adopt certain elements from the new Citroën CX saloon that was then under construction, in particular its revolutionary hydropneumatic suspension system. For almost two years, Sergio Camuffo, assisted by chassis engineer Romanini and transmission manager Bertino, worked on this adaptation.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH 

All seemed to be going well until, in 1973, Michelin announced its intention to sell its stake in Pardevi to Fiat, which would consequently take control of Citroën. The French government immediately responded by vetoing the deal, which meant that everything had to be started from scratch, as the car had been designed using many Citroën components. A number of these components were to be replaced by others, mainly from the Beta, but this would take time.

The general shape of the body was entrusted to Pininfarina, whose brilliant stylist, Leonardo Fioravanti, took over the design of a previous Pininfarina prototype, the ‘Berlina Aerodinamica’ built in 1967 for BMC. The new Gamma was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1976, on the occasion of the manufacturer's seventieth anniversary, during a conference held jointly by Lancia and Pininfarina. Visitors were in for a surprise: alongside the ‘Fastback’ hatchback was an elegant coupé that Pininfarina had designed in secret. Initially, there were no plans to produce it in series, but the response was so enthusiastic that Fiat decided to include it in its catalogue the following year.

Under the bonnet of the Lancia Gamma was a flat-four cylinder made entirely of aluminium, available in two versions: a 1,999 cm3 with 120 bhp or a 2,484 cm3 with 140 bhp. This brilliant engine proved to be fragile in terms of timing and transmission, but these concerns were partly resolved with the 2nd series FL2 (Face-Lift) launched in April 1980, which featured 15-inch wheels, a Delta-inspired grille, Bosch L-Jetronic electronic fuel injection (2,500 IE version) and an optional 4-speed AP automatic gearbox. Despite its level of finishing and performance, only 22,081 units of the Lancia Gamma were produced between 1976 and 1984, of which 6,789 were coupes.