Lancia Aurelia B12
The Lancia Aurelia is regarded as one of the earliest Gran Turismo automobiles. Crafted by Vittorio Jano, it debuted in 1950 and remained in production until summer 1958.
The Aurelia featured the first production V6 engine, designed by de Virgilio, a Lancia engineer under Jano guidance. It was an all-alloy pushrod configuration and had a single camshaft mounted between the cylinder banks. It possessed a hemispherical combustion chamber and was equipped with an inline valve. This engine had a size of 1.8 L that was later upgraded to 2.5 L and was powered by a Weber 40 carburettor.
In the rear was situated an advanced combination transaxle which comprised of a gearbox, a clutch, a differential and inboard-mounted drum brakes. Whereas for the front suspension, a sliding pillar framework was used and the rear semi-trailing arms were substituted by a de Dion tube in the Fourth series.
First series
The primary Aurelias formed as B10 berlinas (sedans) and they ran on a 1754 cc version of the V6 which produced 56 hp. During the same year, the B21 was created with upgraded 1991 cc 70 hp engine and a 2-door B20 GT coupé was also released that had a reduced wheelbase and was body-built by Ghia and Pininfarina. The 1991 cc engine generated 75 hp in the B20 and the total production of the first series Aurelias arrived at 500.
Second series
The following series of the Aurelia coupé increased power to 80 hp out of the 1991 cc V6 engine with the help of a taller compression ratio and reformulated valves. Additionally, other modifications such as improved brakes and cosmetic changes such as chromed bumpers substituted the prior aluminium ones were present in the second series. A recent dashboard featuring two larger instrument gauges and was attached, along with the unchanged suspension from the first series. Additionally, the B22 sedan was introduced the following year owning to dual Webers and advanced camshaft that delivered 90 hp.
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