Lancia Motor Club

I read recently in Classic and Sportscar that the ex Braco Migle Mille/Le Mans/Carrera car had been discovered in Missouri and was now undergoing restoration. Nice to see an important car like that being 'discovered' after all these years.....however the cynic in me tells me this is too good to be true. Anyone else out there read the article, or has any views on the subject.

Oh I do hope they are in the right...

David

This is not a wild claim. There is some pretty good evidence that this may in fact be the car. A friend has seen the car - and says there is no evidence of number tampering, and that the engine and body numbers are correct. 

Some more photos can be seen here:

http://web.me.com/geoffreyg/Cars/Blog/Entries/2011/8/3_Braccos_B20.html

The engine and chassis numbers are indeed correct, although the Classic & Sportscar article incorrectly states the Chassis number as B20*1009, which is in fact the engine number. The chassis number is  B20*1010. The rear bodywork as been altered at some stage as it is not the same as when it was on the Carrera Panamericana

More photos

It seems unlikely that the body would be altered; is it possible that the fourth photograph is of one of the 1952 Cars?  In photographs it looks like all the 1951 cars carried advertising for Sinclair Oil over the rear window.
I wonder what I could raise if I were to sell two Lambdas, a house in Hackney, a wife, three daughters, a dog.........

It was the rear bodywork and chassis number that had me concerned, but nonetheless it seems to be the real deal. I wonder how long the owner knew of its history, and were they waiting for the right time to reveal it to the world.

I see that the 1952 cars didn't have any boot lid at all, so there goes that theory.  Could the fourth picture be the other 1951 (Bonetto) car?

Bit of a polish and it'll be fine...!
Just how significant is the car, after all in practically every article ever written about the B20, there is referance to this car. Is it the 'Holy Grail' of Aurelias ?

What more could any collector wish for, a car that was second on the Mille Miglia, a class winner and 12 overall at Le Mans and also competed in the Carrera Panamericana??
................ not to mention the fact that it was also a "Barn find" !!!!

Floors?  ;)

Fantastic "barn find" Do you reckon they did not know what they had ?

I've worked out what to do with it.  Strip the driveline and setup as a static display as the club did 10 or so years back.  Preserve the shell as close as possible to "as found" with a slave set of running gear to make it mobile.

...or just leave "as is".   I never thought I'd be one to say "leave alone" rather than wanting to see it driven in anger but I think this one has earned a quiet retirement.  I'd actually prefer to see replicas out on events, but those ones being absolutely thrashed.

David

I kinda agree with David here. Any restoration would almost take away the history. To see it all shiny at Pebble Beach would just not be 'right'. In a way, like any works of ancient art, this car is worthless and priceless at the same time. Like a long lost artifact, let its past deeds speak for itself.

Great post - what is the average of "worthless and priceless"?

42 !!

For the latest information on the Bracco Aurelia restoration check out the Thornley Kelham web site:
http://www.thornleykelham.com/restoration/lancia/1951-mille-miglia-lancia-aurelia-b20gt-series-1/#ad-image-1

Its really nice to see that those of us who have provided advice, parts etc for this car get some credit. Really exciting.
Chris

Indeed Chris, how far on are they with it, more chapters somewheres?

P

It's a nice touch that they painted it 3 times.

Black - '51 MM
Red - Le Mans
Black - Carrera P.

I would have liked to see pictures of the old paint being removed in layers too, no doubt these exist somewhere...

Can't help wondering about the lack of evidence of the car's Carrera crash (left front wing). There's no sign of it on the stripped body, nor of that wing having been replaced as far as I can see. The inner structure would surely have some tell tale damage?

(http://www.thornleykelham.com/assets/Uploads/Case-Studies/Bracco-Aurelia/_resampled/SetWidth900-1951-Carrera-Panamericana-3.jpg)

William, if you read the article it says "He pointed out evidence of accident damage at the front of the car which did correspond with photos we had already seen of the car on the Panamericana post-accident. Although the car seemed to have been completely stripped at some point and painted in ‘Dulux’ white paint, we eventually found traces of black paint (Mille Miglia colour) in the rear window recesses, and then red overspray in the door  jambs which fits with the story of Lurani insisting on a red finish for Le Mans."

/i]

Thanks, Ade, I should have read the detail.

I wonder what are the owner's plans for the car. Hope we're going to see it out and about a bit.