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Although not your prototypical Muscle Car, the 'lil
Lancia Fulvia Bred for Rallying Stardom definitely classifies as a "Hot
Hatchback!" (Image source: classicdriver.com)
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After All, shouldn't we All be getting Our Motors
Revved Up over Memorial Day weekend, Going round 'N round in circles for 500
miles...
Ah, thoust continuous spray 'O synchronicity
peppers thou Isle 'O Nofendersville again. Since the local Library's been
closed over two months now, nearly three with No Gory Audiobooks to Check Out;
Egads!
Meaning I've been actually utilizing my Cable
TV Service quite Heavily, which typically sits Dormant weekly until Motor
Racing arrives on the weekends; but I Digress...
Although it would
be Cool if we could have either the 2011, 2013 or 2016 Indianapolis 500 races
rebroadcasted Sunday! As we All know, those are All owned by ABC.
Yet NBC will Host
an Extended Play 4 Hours Behemoth of last year's epic Indianapolis 500 Battle
Royale of Simon Pagenaud v Alexander Rossi on the intended Date of this year's 104th running of the Indy 500,
with Rossi & Pagenaud as expert Driver Analysts beginning at 11AM Pacific.
Meanwhile ESPN2
will Host an All Day Open Wheel Racing Smorgasbord, albeit going Head-to-Head
with NBC's Indy 500 Broadcast...
Thus during the COVID 19
"Lockdown," I began watching one Reality TV Car Show in particular, albeit
not knowing they were actually re-broadcasting it.
The Show's called Graveyard Carz', since they
deal only in resurrecting Vintage Automobiles, primarily Muscle Cars, albeit
only Mopar variety - And I also somewhat
enjoy the lead Character, a Self Serving 70yr old male named Mark Worman,, whom appears to be the Shop's
Proprietor, along with the Head Cheese of said TV Show.
As the first episode I watched; Err well listened
to in earnest revolved around an ultra rare
340cid V-8 "Three On-the-Tree"
(3-Speed 1971 Plymouth Barracuda Convertible, with Mark claiming it was One of
Only Eight cars ordered with the 3 Speed manual transmission.
Then the next few weeks following, albeit
unknowingly the tail end of the current Season 10 were a retrospective upon the
1958 Christine tribute car they built for the 2019 SEMA Show, with the first
All Aluminum 426 Hemi Crate motor given to them by Mopar churning out an
Obnoxious 1,000Bhp in Supercharger guise! Which they called it Thee
Hellephant...
This was Funny to Mwah, since the name
Christine floated back up upon thoust Radar for another wonky, languishing No
Fenders story about Car Movies currently on Ye Story Rotisserie...
and then when trying to figure out who that
Mark Chap was, I was Bowled over in Bemusement upon learning that the show
originates out of their shop located in Springfield, Oregon, just a 90mins drive from Mwah, Momma Mia!
While I stumbled
across the following article chronicling 13 of Graveyard Carz' Top Mopar Muscle
Build Picks, which Y'all can check out in;
Vintage Rides
- 1977 Porsche 924
- 1969 Opel GT
- 1972 Lancia Fulvia
Another Motor Trend TV show I've been
enjoying whenever I'm able to run into it. Is called Wheeler Dealers, as I
enjoy the cast members , primarily mechanic Ant Anstead, along with the lead role played by
Mike Brewer.
Recently I decided to go on a Lazy Sunday
afternoon's binge, and gorge Thyself upon three episodes back-to-back, having
since discerned I was watching episodes from the 2018 season.
I chose to do so since I almost never indulge
Thyself - And primarily due to Thee Uber' Soft Spot I have for the Porsche 924,
specifically since 'Ol Pops', aka Tomas Senior once owned a pristine, brand new
1977 1/2 Silver 924, having previously regaled Y'all here on No Fenders with Ye
following tome...
If the Opel GT's the car I think it is, which
I believe my late Cousin owned one of? Then it's a pretty cool ride. And this
was the Funniest episode of the three, since Mike Dryly noted how it's Brakes
were Stopping in Another state! And then calmly noting he thought he'd Broken
the unique swivel Bucket Headlamps mechanical Arm inside the Cockpit,
OOPSADAISY!
Yet what I mostly enjoy about this TV Show is
their constantly Digging Up automotive Gems in the Rough I've either not heard
of before or forgotten.
Case in point was the Lancia Fulvia, which
I'd never heard of before, which returned this Italian Auto Manufacturer to
Glory with its winning pedigree in World Rallying. While I was surprised to
learn it was the first Factory Racecar following the Company's withdrawal from
Motorsports, most notably Formula 1 in 1955 - when it was Sold to FIAT.
And that immediately made me recall the long
forgotten, and presumably unknown to many Lancia D50 Formula 1 chassis, which
ultimately Il Commendatore, nee Enzo Ferrari
utilized to win the F1 World Championship with El Maestro', aka Juan Manuel Fangio
at the controls in 1956, in what became known simply as the Ferrari D50.
Also, the Fulvia was the predecessor to the
car that most easily comes to Thy lips when hearing the word Lancia, as in the
All conquering Lancia Stratos
The car featured on this recent (2018)
episode of Wheeler Dealers, which was obtained from a Sonoma, CA Wrecking Yard
for $9,500 was a 1972 Lancia Fulvia Series II with a tiny 1.3-litre V-4 lump',
which later I learned was "Laid Down" to give it a lower profile.
And apparently this "Wolf in Sheep's
Clothing" isn't new to the TV Show, since they apparently poached a
similar chassis a Decade earlier, which Y'all can check out in the
"Teaser" video below.
Or Y'all might enjoy another video I found on Youtube chronicling the
Fulvia's Rallying History, which reached its Zenith by capturing the 1972 FIA
International Championship For Manufacturers (ICFM) title, the precursor to today's
FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) which commenced in '73. Although the Italian
marque was running Thar Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupe HF in upgraded 1.6-litre guise,
and Defeated it's FIAT Sibling's 124 Sport Spyder for this series final crown
between 1970-72.
VIDEO: Lancia Fulvia Rally History
On a separate
"Rally Stage," two prominent names, albeit presumably more contested
this ICFM Series - Stand out to Mwah, with the late Ove Anderson and Gerard
Larrousse competing as Rally Drivers, but that's a whole nother Wabbithole' for
a different day...