In 1988, I bought a little 1973 Lancia Fulvia in bright blue. Man I loved that car. It was the first and last sports car I ever owned.
We had no Lancia specialists in my little backwater village, but in those days an engine was way easier for a mechanic to work on. We had a local guy who specialised in cars like the Austin A35 and old Morris Minors, so he used to look after my car.
The problem in those days was finding parts. I used to comb old scrapyards and put ads in the classified section of the newspaper when I needed something. I waited for over a year to find a side mirror once.
I was just thinking the other day how easy owning that little car would be today. There are Facebook groups, websites, and forums full of people who are only to happy to share knowledge and help source parts. The hardest part would be shipping them. There are probably meet ups and firm friends made over these gorgeous cars. I go to all the classic car meets here in Sweden and the community is amazing.
Sadly, this little beauty has probably been recycled into something else by now. But I miss her. I never took any photographs. In fact, I have very few photographs of the cars I have owned over my life. I guess film was expensive in those days and you didn’t carry your camera with you everywhere. At the most I have one or two of my cars captured in the background of a family photograph.
Photos below come from this amazing article which is well worth a read, and are the property of Rob Sass.
