Lancia Ardea

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Lancia Ardea
Lancia Ardea
Manufacturer Lancia
Production 1939-1953
approx 32 000 vehicles
Predecessor Lancia Augusta
Successor Lancia Appia
Body style(s) 4-door saloon
truck (camioncino)
van (furgoncino)
taxi[1]
Layout FR layout
Engine(s) 903 cc Lancia V4 engine
Max. Power output 26 bhp (19 kW) at 4600 rpm
Transmission(s) 4-speed manual
5-speed manual (3rd series 1948)[1]
Wheelbase 2440 mm (96.1 in)
Length 3620 mm (142.5 in)
Width 1380 mm (54.3 in)
Curb weight 800 kg (1764 lb)
Fuel capacity 30 L (7.9 US gal/6.6 imp gal)

The Lancia Ardea was a small sedan produced by the Turin firm between 1939 and 1953. Its unusually short bonnet/hood reportedly contained the smallest V4 engine ever commercilised.

Nearly 23,000 of the Ardeas produced were standard bodied sedans. Between 1940 and 1942 approximately 500 Ardeas were manufactured with lengthened bodies and a squared off rear cabin for use in Rome as taxis. After the war more than 8,500 commercial adaptations of the Ardea known as 'furgoncini' (light van versions) and the 'camioncini' (car based light trucks) were also produced.

The third series Ardea, produced from 1948, was the first mass-produced car with a 5-speed manual transmission.[2]

Instrumentation included a centrally mounted speedometer, while directly in front of the driver smaller dials reported on the fuel level and the oil pressure. A third dial directly below the driver's sight line, unusually on this size of car, was a clock. The three floor pedals followed the by now familiar pattern still 'conventional' for a manual transmission car: to the left of the clutch pedal was a small foot operated dipper switch for the headlights. Control knobs lined up along the base of the facia included a hand throttle.

Early Italian images of Ardea interiors confirm that Lancias of the period still habitually placed the driver on the right side of the car, a position elsewhere taken to imply the habit of driving on the left side of the road: the positioning could also be justified for right hand drive regions in terms of giving the driver a better view of the edge of the road, an essentially practical consideration when driving on rough roads in mountainous districts. This did impose on drivers of cars with centrally mounted floor mounted gear changes, such as the Ardea, the need to learn left handed gear changing. During the 1920s Mussolini had extended across Italy the standardised requirement of driving on the right side of the road, but Lancia would continue, through the 1950s, to supply right hand drive cars in states viewed by other automakers as left hand drive markets.

Four versions of the Ardea were built:

  • 1st series, produced between 1939 and 1941, 2,992 built.
  • 2nd series, produced between 1941 and 1948, 4,438 built. 12 Volt electric system introduced.
  • 3rd series, produced between 1948 and 1949, 3,600 built. 5-speed gearbox introduced.
  • 4th series, produced between 1949 and 1953, 11,700 built. New cylinderhead, aluminium, higher compression ratio, more power: 30 bhp.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Lancia Ardea. carsfromitaly.net. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  2. ^ Innovation by Lancia, Performance by Abarth. classicaldrives.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.


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Type 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Family car ... Ardea Appia Fulvia
... Aprilia Beta / Trevi (828)
Executive car Flavia 2000 Gamma (830)
Coupé Fulvia Coupé / Sport
Beta Coupé / Spider / Montecarlo (828)
Aurelia Flaminia Gamma Coupé / GT (830)
Sports car Stratos
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