1965 Lancia Flavia Sport Zagato

Lot details
Registration No: FRR568C
Chassis No: 815.533.001583
Mot Expiry: Feb 2018

- One of just 539 Zagato styled 1.8 Flavia Sport's built of which even fewer left the factory in right hand drive configuration

- Believed to have been supplied new in Italy on export plates and promptly exported to Zimbabwe, where it was first registered in January 1966

- Purchased by the vendor in Zimbabwe in 1993, restored there between 1995-98, and recent £12,300 expenditure at leading UK Lancia specialist Omicron Engineering

This very rare Lancia is one of just 539 Flavias that were styled and constructed by the famous Italian carrozzeria Zagato. Just an extremely small percentage of that number that left the factory with the steering wheel installed on the right hand side of the dashboard, such as this car.

It appears from the copy of the Zimbabwean registration document that we have that the car was originally registered in Italy on EE export plates and then registered in Zimbabwe in January 1966. It was not uncommon for people working in foreign countries to purchase their Italian cars in Italy, collect them from the factory, and then drive or travel with them to their place of work, and that is possibly the exiting start in life that this Flavia had.

According to the English vendor, after spending the majority of its life at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level in the dry area of Salisbury (now Harare), Zimbabwe, he acquired the car in 1993 while living in Zimbabwe. An aircraft engineer and pilot by profession, the vendor was easily qualified to tackle the restoration on the car, and during the work between 1995 and 1998, he sensibly strengthened the apparently notoriously weak sills in the process. When the vendor and his wife returned to England in 2015 for their retirement, the Flavia tagged along and was registered with the DVLA in September of that year.

Conveniently, the UK's leading Lancia specialist was just down the road from their new home so the car was taken to Omicron Engineering for inspection and preparation for MOT and UK registration. Over the following six months more than £12,000 was spent on various jobs including overhauling the cylinder heads, steering box, water pump, brake servo and brake master cylinder, and having the fuel tank professionally cleaned inside and sealed. The vendor believes that the car is now ready to be enjoyed as Lancia intended and he describes the car as having "excellent" body and paint work, and engine and transmission.