One of the most gifted automobile engineers of all time, Vincenzo Lancia founded his own company in 1906, having previously been FIAT’s chief test driver.

Introduced in 1907, the first Lancia car showed an independence of thought and defiance of convention that would remain associated with the marque well into the modern era.

Military vehicles, lorries, vans and aero engines followed, the latter enabling Lancia to accrue valuable expertise in the design and construction of vee-configuration engines.

Lancia’s first vee-engined model - the V8 Trikappa sportscar - appeared in 1922 and his third, the Dilambda, in 1929.

Unlike its revolutionary Lambda V4 predecessor, the Dilambda did not use a stress-bearing body but reverted to a separate chassis.

A new design, the latter possessed exceptional torsional rigidity, a virtue necessitated by its independent front suspension.

Narrow-angle vee-configuration engines were a Lancia speciality, the Dilambda’s 3,960cc overhead-valve unit having...