Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th?Oct – LANCIA RALLY, CASTLEMAINE
It was the inaugural run for me as a lot of work had been done on the car in my two years of ownership and I had been staying close to base for my test runs prior to Castlemaine.? However I can report that the little Fulvia ran well and completed the run to and from the rally without incident. ?We battled with heat and cross winds and the Tullamarine and West gate bridges, and came through with flying colours.? It was good to be in the company of other Lancia owners and their cars for two days or so. At least a couple of hundred people and over a hundred cars. People from all over the world attended and the furthest local driver came from Queensland in a 1937 Aprilia., one Joe Wilson.
Where Julia and I were staying there was a B24 Aurelia, a B20 Aurelia coupe, which I was taken for a run in, and a magnificent 1924 Tri kappa.? I mentioned that as a young man when working in Flinders Lane I used to wander up to Shields Motors at the top end of the Lane and ask permission to come and look at their tow truck which was a kappa.? The owner of the tri Kappa informed me that they have the engine of the car that I used to look at. Incidentally they towed the Tri Kappa to Albury, from Queensland, and then drove it to Castlemaine. The owner could be seen each morning lying under the car greasing suspension and generally fettling.? I was parked in a lane behind our B and B in company with a Zagato Fulvia which had come over from Tasmania.
On the Saturday morning cars assembled at the local football ground for an aerial photograph and then made their way to a local winery for lunch. The guest of honour, Mike Robinson, spoke about his time as head of Lancia Centro Stile.
It was an exciting weekend and when I went for my early morning walks it was a delight to encounter Lancias parked all over the place and later driving off in all directions.
In all there were over a dozen Fulvias present and as the event was celebrating 50 years of the Fulvia it was a great shared experience. Roll on the next one.
Words by John Crawford, pictures by ?Julia Crawford
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