Lancia's reputation for outside-the-box thinking dates back to 1905, when Vincenzo Lancia first began building cars at his Turin workshop. In 1963, the company introduced a new seden called the Fulvia featuring an unusual 1091-cc V-4 engine driving the front wheels and canted 45 degrees to lower the hood line. Unlike most vee-configuration engines, the cylinders of Lancia's V-4 shared a common iron block and were separated by a narrow 13-degree bank angle.
The Fulvia coupe designed in-house by Pierro Castagnero debuted in 1965. Lancia competition director Ceasar Fiorio immediately began racing it under the company's HF (high fidelity) motorsport logo, eventually developing a 1584-cc engine making 160 hp. The Lancia Fulvia, dubbed the "fanalone" or "big headlight" because of its oversized highbeams, became the car to beat in rally, hill climb, and road racing through the late 60's and early 70's. Just 1280 1.6 HFs were built for the road to homologate the car for international rallying.
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