• One of only 539 1.8-litre Zagato Sports built • Delivered new in Italy • Single family ownership until 2009 • Professionally restored in the 2010s • Present ownership since 2017 • Mint condition Launched in 1961, the Flavia saloon maintained Lancia's enviable reputation for advanced and innovative automotive engineering.

Designed by Antonio Fessia and inspired by his Cemsa prototype of 1947, the Flavia was Italy's first series-production car to employ front-wheel drive.

Carried well forward of the front wheels, the engine was a 1,488cc, overhead-valve, horizontally-opposed four; suspension was independent at the front and by beam axle at the rear, and there were dual-circuit, servo-assisted disc brakes all round.

In 1962 the saloon was joined by a shorter-wheelbase Pininfarina-styled notch-back coupé, the latter providing the basis for a convertible by Vignale and the aluminium-bodied Zagato Sport coupé.

The following year the Flavia engine was enlarged to 1.8 litres, and as inst...