Upon reading of the Ardea adventures of Luc van Dobben, Australian John Pagan was prompted to tell us his own tales of purchasing an Ardea from Italy. He wrote, “The car is from 1951, I bought and imported it in 2017. The first outing was in 2018; the serious recommissioning and Castlemaine Rally were in 2019. Since then of course there’s been very little car club activity because of COVID, even here … I’m set to do Castlemaine again this coming October though!” Below is his Ardea story.
By John Pagan
One of the first things people ask me is, “Why an Ardea?” This is my fourth Lancia; like me, they’re getting older and slower. For those who don’t know, at 903cc the Ardea has the smallest-ever engine in a Lancia, developing only 30bhp or 22kW, and is flat out doing 110km/h under the most favorable conditions.
My previous Lancia, an Aurelia B10, was a very satisfactory touring car of endearing character. We did about 40,000 miles over ten years together, including trips to all the other States including Tasmania and Western Australia. Despite a deal of mechanical work done over that period to make it useable and keep it that way, however, it remained a well-used example, lacking that crispness of response that I’d loved in the Fulvias I owned before the Aurelia.