| Gianni Lancia and Elio Zagato met through a mutal friend, the racing driver,
Alberto Ascari. The two men discussed a reworking on the little Appia. The car
made its first appearance at the Turin Salon in 1956. The car was duly criticised
by the press, who nicknamed it the "camel". It had three pairs of the
double bubble profiles so popular with Gianni Zagato's designs of this time. Three
was probably verging on the side of over kill, so the car was redesigned for 1957,
doing away with the original car's bonnet and boot profiles and adopting a more
conventional appearance. This was the Appia GT. A GTS version was entered in
that year's Mille Migilia. The car had a more powerful engine and the addition
of tail fins to aid aerodynamics even further. The car was driven by Luciano Mantovani
and managed a class win.
The Appia was the first car build by Zagato which adopted, what might de deemed,
semi-industrial techniques, but with the final finishing still being carried out
by hand. The car was produced over a period of seven years, going through many
transformations. In 1959 the GTE was introduced with a 60hp engine (the car normally
had a 53hp unit) and modified front end. Then followed a "short wheel base"
version in 1961, again with a revision to the front.
The cars became very popular with the "wheel heeled" amateur racing
driver who wanted to add to the family silver ware. They were virtually unopposed
around this time in the 1,100cc class.
About 720 examples (including 200 swb vesions with the 60hp engine) were made.
Due to the high import levy on foreign cars they could not have been very popular
in the UK. There can not be more than a handful in this country, most having been
exported to Japan, where they are very sort after indeed.
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