LITTLE JOHNNY’S JEWEL

‘The Lancia won the Concorso di Eleganza di Viareggio in the name of Countess Lurani’

The history of almost every car manufacturer seems to include one particular model that has become legendary. In the case of Lancia, despite a lengthy heritage that’s rich in contenders, there is little doubt that it would be the Astura. Launched in October 1931, at the 25th Paris Salon de l’Automobile, this model instantly captured the public’s attention and its imagination. The Astura took its name from an islet in a small river that has a fortified maritime tower known today as Torre Astura, a place that dates back more than 2000 years – a place with the kind of dignity and gravitas that seems appropriate for the top-of-the-range Lancia.

The Astura was developed to replace the wonderful but by-then aged (at ten years old!) Lambda – another key pillar of Lancia’s history – and the Dilambda, and, like the latter of those, was powered by a V8 engine. Unlike its revolutionary monocoque predecessors, however, the Astura was built on a separate chassis, the better to attract coachbuilders, which was an important sales tool for such an important