Lancia Aurelia B52 Coupe by Vignale
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Automobilhersteller : |
Lancia |
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Modell: |
Aurelia B52 Coupe by Vignale |
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Jahr: |
1952-1953 |
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Art: |
Coupe |
The second series Aurelia coupé pushed power up to 80hp (60 kW) from the 1991 cc V6 with a higher compression ratio and repositioned valves. Other changes included better brakes and minor styling tweaks, such as chromed bumpers instead of the aluminium ones used in the earlier car. A new dashboard featured two larger instrument gauges. The suspension was unchanged from the first series. A new B22 sedan was released in 1952 with dual Webers and a hotter camshaft for 90hp (67 kW).
At the Turin Motor Show in the spring of 1952, Pinin Farina debuted a new concept car built on a Lancia B52 Aurelia chassis alongside their freshly redesigned Nash-Healey. The B52 chassis is notable in that only 98 examples were constructed, and all were sent to bespoke coachbuilders for one-off or limited-run production. Pinin Farina’s new Aurelia was abundant with Jet Age styling cues and featured a protruding circular nose with a large chromed bezel, reminiscent of the intake of an F-86 Sabre fighter plane. A raked windshield, pontoon-style fenders, and uninterrupted beltlines led to a finned tail that had six individual exhaust tips emerging immediately above the rear bumper.
PF200 first of a short run of similarly styled cars that Pinin Farina built over the next four years, which all featured the signature gaping nose and general proportions of the first Turin car. This run principally consisted of two more open-top cars and three to four coupes.
Each PF200 varied slightly from the last, with only the prototype featuring the circular nose. Succeeding versions were constructed with more elliptic noses, while some had standard tailpipes, and others featured the bumper-through exhausts of the original Turin car. Even the three open cars varied from one another, as one had a removable top and side curtains (in true spider fashion) and the others featured wind-up windows and a more permanent soft-top.
The PF200’s styling did not go unnoticed by the public, and it spurred the build of at least two more similarly styled cars on American chassis. Jazz impresario Norman Granz saw the prototype PF200 Roadster at Turin in 1952 and ordered similar bodywork on a Cadillac 62 chassis, while Pinin Farina took their design a step further with the Palm Beach Special of 1956, which was built on a Nash Rambler chassis.
