Later this month, Lancia will officially celebrate the 115th anniversary of car production. Some people may be surprised that this once legendary brand is indeed still producing cars, but in fact, the small Ypsilon city car has been in service since 2015, and this is the only product that still wears the unique shield badge.

Well, it seems that after many facelifts, Ypsilon will soon be replaced as a whole. A new model will be launched in 2024, and two new stable partners will join before the end of the decade. One of them is even rumored to be the new Delta Air Lines. But when Lancia, Alfa Romeo and DS resurrect Lancia as one of its high-end brands, what inspiration should the owner Stellatis look for? Well, we think we will explore Lancia's conceptual background catalog to get some hints.

Not only are famous American designers like Harley Earl and Virgil Exner exploring the theme of the Jet Age in their designs, European styling companies also hope to join this movement. Lancia produced a limited number of chassis for its pioneering Aurelia for bodybuilders to create one-off and limited-edition designs, while the PF200 was created on one of these B52 platforms.

In the year when the first jetliner De Havilland Comet was put into service, the convertible PF200 was undoubtedly a hymn to the dawn of jet engines. The PF200, which debuted at the Turin Motor Show in 1952, has the same large and prominent circular air intake as the F-86 Sabre fighter, wide floating bridge fenders, smoothly curved sides and muzzle-like rows on both sides of the tail. Trachea-there are six of them.

The transition from the jet age to the space race was commissioned by former Lancia engineer and racer Enrico Nardi, although it was a few years before the launch of the artificial satellite. Azzurro or "Blue Ray" is another Aurelia-based product built by Vignale to showcase Nardi's new prototype and tuning equipment business products.

The tubular steel chassis designed by Nardi supports the alloy panels, while the Aurelias V6 benefits from Mardi camshafts, pistons, manifolds and air intakes, which greatly improves power. The swooping two-tone body with grille-mounted headlights, protruding spoons and fins is eye-catching in itself, but the blue plexiglass canopy on top raises it to stratospheric level. The canopy with integrated fresh air shovel also includes side windows that open upward toward the center of the roof.

Yes, beauty is true in the eyes of the beholder, and yes, some elements of Loraymo are undoubtedly visually pleasing, but the overall result, especially in the front, is stupid rather than gorgeous. So why does it appear on our list? Because of its author, the legendary American industrial designer Raymond Loewy. Loewy is known for his designs, from TWA logos to Greyhound buses, Air Force One uniforms and the interior of the Skylab space station, he also has the form of cars. Loewy not only designed a logo for Studebaker, he also created the famous Starliner and Starlight coupe of this American company.

Loewy is a streamlined student. Loraymo based on the Lancia Flaminia Coupe explored this theme. It has a long nose, a chrome frame that doubles as a bumper, fog lights mounted on aerodynamic fins, a wrap-around rear screen, and a roof-mounted disturbance. Flow plate and flush taillights. Loewy was satisfied with the result, so he showed it at the Paris Motor Show in 1960 and dubbed it with a nickname composed of the letters of his own name.

According to legend, the Competizione designed by Tom Tjaarda was created at the request of Alejandro De Tomaso as a honeypot to induce Ford to acquire Lancia in the late 1960s. De Tomaso hopes that by positioning Lancia as a potential Ferrari competitor in the future, Ford CEO Lee Iacocca will acquire the company and place him at the top. History clearly records other circumstances, but Tjaarda called this car one of his best when he reunited with it a few years ago.

Based on the Fulvia chassis, Competizione focuses on lightweight and aerodynamic design to create a GT-certified car that can also be driven on the track. Fulvia’s V4 is installed at a height of 30 mm, making the hood line more stylish, with retractable headlights, and the rear wing can be deployed and adjusted by the driver. The internal roll cage, rear wishbones instead of solid axles, aluminum fuel tanks and thinner windshields polished its so-called race certificate so much that the concept was later evaluated as a potential Le Mans contestant.

We just decided to call it the product of the "wedge war" between Bertone and Pininfarina in the 1970s-Italdesign fought some skirmishes. This period gave us Lamborghini Marzal, Alfa Romeo Carabo, Bizzarinni Manta and extreme Ferrari modulus. The latter is only 93.5 cm tall, and when it appeared at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970, it seemed to be the limit of design trends. It wasn't until the Turin Auto Show that same year that the 84 cm tall Zero made its debut.

Based on the existing Lancia Fulvia machinery, at least in part because Bertone is selling Lancia’s work, Zero is the work of Marcello Gandini, and hardly makes any concessions to practicality. It is the pinnacle of car design as architecture. The headlights consist of 10 small bulbs, while the rear is illuminated by 84 lights around it. The occupants enter through the flip-up windshield, the green plexiglass instrument panel is tilted to one side, and the smallest side window is retracted into the rear body. Legend has it that when Bertone brought the car to the Lancia factory to show it to the board of directors, he just drove under an entrance barrier.

After repeated oil shocks in the late 1970s, car designers changed their strategy and began to show their aerodynamic expertise, instead of creating wild wedges, but creating reasonable cars. Italdesign entered the Pantheon of Efficiency to create the most aerodynamic car in the world.

Therefore, it is based on Lancia Monte Carlo, and its mid-engine configuration can provide a very low and smooth hood line for a four-door sedan. The doors themselves are not gull wings as implied by their shape, but are wrapped in the roof for a cleaner shape. The streamlined door handle, single small side-view mirror and small side window opening make its resistance coefficient 0.263Cx, which achieves Italdesign's goal.

Riding in a sedan and creating a coupe version is a common practice. This is exactly what Lancia did for its Gamma in 1978, which is the brand's first prestigious end of the four-door market since Flaminia. Despite the fast-back design, the four-door sedan is still a traditional sedan, and despite the quirky all-aluminum four-cylinder engine, it is not outstanding. The coupe, which is also a work by Pininfarina, is another matter. It is a very beautiful proposal.

Therefore, Pininfarina decided to re-examine its two-door design in various forms in the next few years. The first is the Gamma Spider with a targa roof, which matches its steeply inclined C-pillar. Scala in 1980 completely adopted a two-door shape, stretched it and added a pair of rear doors, and the final result was undoubtedly more handsome than a production car. However, our favorite may be Olgiata, which is a shooting brake based on a coupe. For a car that has never been produced, it is definitely the top of the "if" list.

To be fair, Lancia fans were very excited when the Fulvia concept car appeared at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. Especially considering that this car is the work of the internal Lancia Centro Stile team and appeared on the brand's booth, it looks almost ready for production. Indeed, this is an era when car companies searched their past product catalogs and reinvented some classic designs, with mixed results. But Fulvia's appearance and appearance are very good, thanks to the imitating the original wooden dashboard.

The two two-door coupes are located on the Punto front-wheel drive platform and are equipped with a 1.8-liter 140PS (103kW) inline four-cylinder engine. Since the curb weight is less than one ton, its speed can be increased to 62mph in a little over eight. And half a second, then reach 132 mph. Sadly, Fiat's financial situation at the time ruled out the possibility of a production model, despite rumors five years later that it might make a comeback on the Alfa Romeo Mito platform.

Images of PF200, Fulvia HF Competizione and Stratos Zero are provided by RM Sothebys, and images of Nardi Raggio Azzurro I are provided by Kobak.

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