Founded in 1906, Lancia is one of the foremost Italian automobile manufacturers and a world leader in engineering. Over the past 100+ years, they have continually delivered innovation and superlative engineering. Always ahead of the competition with advanced suspensions, clever engine designs, and distinctive body designs, Lancia pioneered numerous concepts, many of which continue to be featured in modern cars today.
Among the most advanced of their post-war offerings, was the compact and agile LanciaFulvia. The last of the pre-FIAT era cars, the unibody front-drive Fulviacoupe was designed with a front mounted dual overhead-cam narrow-angle common cylinder head V4 engine and front wheel drive. Dunlop disc brakes on all four corners provided stopping power, along with a host of further technical features. In 1967, Road and Track magazine described the Fulvia as “a precision motorcar, an engineering tour de force”. In addition to the lightweight package and agile suspension, the Fulvia was surprisingly quick given its small displacement, proving to be formidable in both rally and circuit racing as it became the first of many Lancias to dominate the rally scene.
Recognizing a more sporting market for the Fulvia Coupe, Lancia engaged coachbuilders at Zagato to create a coupe design with a more sporting flare. The result was the Sport Zagato, penned by design genius Ercole Spada. Not competing against the standard Fulvia, the Sport Zagato was available in limited quantities meeting the market seeking a sports car profile. The Sport Zagatoprovided excellent visibility and a surprising amount of space for larger drivers. Originally offered with a smaller displacement engine, by 1967 the 1.3L 87 hp engine and later 1.6L, 115 hp engine coupled with lightweight steel and alloy body construction made for enjoyable sports car handling and performance in a very compact package.
With its clean, compact lines, and modern profile, it’s hard to believe this design is more than half a century old. Pure and devoid of excess trim or unnecessary chrome, the overall body lines are radically different from the upright and more formal Fulvia coupe. Most notably, the roofline in the standard Fulvia is separated from the lower portion of the body while the Sport Zagato has a more integrated upper, blending into the lower body enhanced by the trailing fastback roof line. The windshield is angled back, and the header is moved more towards the rear of the car, giving the Sport Zagato a distinctly lower stance but also using more dramatically angled B post and upswung rear quarter window line to further enhance the sportier look. Cleverly, the midsection body crease line is lowered and softened on the Sport Zagato as the body gently curves under resulting in a more coachbuilt or custom shape compared with the more production/sedan architecture of the Fulvia coupe.
Although the Sport Zagato was built with front and rear bumpers, many owners have removed these features to emulate the rally examples. With the bumpers removed, the front end is very purposeful with a pugnacious presence and muscular feel to the entire front area. Lancia rally cars eventually adopted the elephant to depict the power and determination of these rally cars as a Lancia engineer quoted “once an elephant gets going you are not going to stop it”. This spirit can be seen in the front view of the Sport Zagato, leading with confident front presence, as the high-revving front drive engine resting over the front axle, charges into corners and emerges victoriously.
With rally lights, stripes, and bumpers removed, the clean lines are even more appropriate as the expansive glass, low roofline, and fastback rear window bring the themes together in a singular envelope that has since been emulated in nearly every sport compact, hot hatch, or fastback sports car particularly so in Japanese cars of the early 1970s and into the 1980s. Ercole Spada’s ideas were so forward thinking, they created an entirely new genre of cars.
As if the front view were not already unique enough, the rear view is even more surprising in that it contains numerous unique features collectively presented in a compact and distinctive shape. The lower body crease line raises up from the front of the car, carefully intersecting the front wheel arch (a difficult transition as it cuts through the elliptical section without making an awkward crease) and gently rises up to form the top of the rear wheel arch. The rear wheel arch is a rounded rectangular opening echoing the softened body character. Remarkably, the rear quarter glass lays back and inward to crown the rear of the roofline, once again, a design theme that could easily appear awkward, but here too Spada and Zagato complete the lines beautifully along a creased roof line into the fastback rear window. The rear window can be opened via electric motor to relieve warm cabin air or fully hinged to store items in the rear shelf. The spare tire is also cleverly concealed with access via a small door behind the rear license plate.
In any design analysis, it is easy to point out features and treatments that might draw the eye into functional elements or emphasize design details. The Sport Zagato uses none of the typical scoops, fins, dramatic undulations, or shocking visual treatments to capture your attention. It is one of the most fully realized conceptually pure automotive shapes ever put into production. While these were largely handmade, Zagato managed to build several thousand of these, selling each one at a premium price for nearly seven years.
Captivating, compelling, and unique, the Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato remains one of the most dynamic examples of compact sports car design. Impressive for its many engineering traits, the Zagato design could very well be revived today as a modern iteration with just a few updates – a tribute to the visionary combination of Ercole Spada, Zagato Coachworks, and Lancia engineering.
