Description UK market RHD car with just one interesting owner from new until 1995; expertly restored in 2002; modified for fast road and track day use in 2014 at a cost of over £25k; 1,670cc engine according to V5C; vast history file; lots to love about this one! Widely regarded as the pinnacle of pre-war light car design, the Lancia Aprilia was the last car masterminded by Vincenzo Lancia and was launched two months after his untimely death in 1937.

Embodying all the engineering brilliance and technical sophistication for which Lancia had become famous in the preceding 30 years, it boasted a combination of superb handling, performance and economy that was not significantly bettered for decades.

The streamlined shape of the pioneering monocoque body was no mere styling whim, it was determined by wind tunnel experimentation, one of the very first instances of this science being applied to a production car.

It meant that despite having only 48bhp from its 1,352cc V4 engine, this aerod...