Lancia Motor Club

1924-2014, rest in peace.

That's a shame. How did he spend his life after Lancia? I believe he lived in South America? Could be wrong. He seems to have disappeared from the car world, this is only a personal view of course. It would have been of great interest to people if he had appeared at events like the Mille Miglia etc. Imagine if he'd been guest speaker at the AGM!! I'll always admire him for pushing the advanced D series of racers, even if it did lead to financial disaster. Hope Motorsport give him a decent obituary and not just a few lines tucked away in the corner.

I feel a great loss.

Gianni Lancia was responsible with his team at Lancia for so much which now embodies the Lancia marque: the Aurelia with its original 60° V6 engine, the sports cars of the fifties, culminating in the D24 and the D50 racing car.
He was the leader of that great team and of the company until 1955. With his leadership he brought work, happiness and satisfaction to a great many people in post war Italy.
Without him, and his vision, the automobile in general, and the name of Lancia in particular, would not be where they are today.

RIP

At the AGM Giovanni di Virgilio mentioned that La Stampa of Turin had published an obituary for Gianni Lancia. Here is a link to this, which includes a photograph, in the edition of 4th June 2014.

http://www.lastampa.it/2014/07/04/edizioni/vercelli/fobello-d-laddio-al-figlio-del-fondatore-della-lancia-OyMdrvIkL0Im85AXWS7lbO/pagina.html

I have taken the liberty of translating it as follows-
Vercelli 4th July 2014

Fobello bids goodbye to the son of the founder of Lancia.

Gianni, the heir to the car firm, has been buried in the family tomb.

Andrea Zanello
Fobello

Gianni Lancia, who died in Turin at the age of 89 years on 30th June, has been buried in the family mausoleum in the cemetery at Fobello. Next to his father Vincenzo, racing driver and history-making founder of the car firm that bears his name.

The last stage of the journey for Giovanni, known by everyone as Gianni, was this village in Val Matallone: accompanying him a small group of relations, almost on tiptoe in a discreet silence that has characterised the relationship between the family and Fobello. Even the Valsesia Lancia Story Club preferred not to organise any official commemoration.

The link between the Lancia family and Fobello has never been broken: the family tree on show in the museum dedicated to the car firm says that the family has had its origins in the village since 1550. Its most illustrious descendant, Vincenzo, first saw the light indeed in Fobello in 1881 and later moved to Turin. There in the Piedmontese capital in 1924 Gianni was born, second child between his sisters Anna Maria and Eleonora. In 1947 at just 23 years old, after completing an engineering degree at Pisa, Gianni Lancia took the helm of the family car business, staying in charge until 1955 before selling his shares to the family a year later and moving to Brazil where he began a tinned food business.

During his years at the wheel of the car firm however Gianni showed himself to have notable abilities, starting a renewal of the range with the help of the engineer Vittoria Jano. From this collaboration were born innovative cars such as the Lancia Aurelia, which in its B20 GT and B24 Spider versions embodies the elegance and dynamism of the firm, thanks to its V6 engine.

With the B20 also arrived the first prestigious results in competition:; the Squadra Corse Lancia was born, sports racing cars were produced and drivers like Fangio and Ascari were engaged. Then came the leap into Formula 1 in 1954, an experience that Gianni brought to an end when he left the firm. His intuitions however allowed Ferrari to win the world championship itself with Fangio the following year.

Thank you Cesare.

From Veloce Today http://www.velocetoday.com/gianni-lancia-1924-2014/

Lets try a new thing: crediting artwork where it comes from.

Veloce and VL got this from Nigel Trow, provided by Luigi De Virgilio to me from an older Italian magazine article......So it should be credited as sourced from Luigi.

A very lovely photo, however there was no indication of original copyright, so what is the best way to proceed, as I sometimes post photos as a precaution against these images being removed from ebay listings etc.

Probably contact Nigel Trow  for advice as the same picture appears in his tribute to Gianni Lancia in the August issue of VL, number 553.
Brian
8227 8)

Good idea to ask Nigel how best to handle these things. He's a good friend and we have shared much information over the years. My comments were more about how images enter the "open arena" and their origins are often lost.

The picture of Gianni is from a strange magazine called Epoca Universo, an article by Walter Bonatti, called "Nel Mondo Perduto; Il cuore del Mato Grosso". No date, no photog.

"GIANNI LANCIA WAS A BRAVE MAN, A LEADER, AN INNOVATOR"
by Jacopo Villa / 5 Mar 2015

http://www.petrolicious.com/gianni-lancia (http://www.petrolicious.com/gianni-lancia)

I suggest you read Ed Levin's comment that follows the Petrolicious article before you read the article itself, especially if you suffer from high blood pressure.

I read the comment first - glad I did and much amused.

The one bit from the article worth repeating is that it was " two frenetic years".  It struck me how young he was at that time and how I was at that age.  Of course what a shame to, in some senses, loose it all, but also what legends he gave us.

Ferrari  didn't buy the racing team it was all handed to him on a platter.
Makes you wonder where the author obtained his 'Facts' ?
He obviously didn't double check their accuracy.


Brian
8227 8)

I have been surprised at the ill grace Mr Ferrari seemed to display on the gift of such a magnificent equipe. However I read somewhere that he had been campaigning for a long time to receive government support for his racing programme as I believe Alfa Romeo had enjoyed. So I can appreciate that being fobbed off with someone else's second hand racing team wasn't at all what he had in mind.