We complain all the time that modern cars all look alike, drive alike, share platforms and generally lack any sort of individuality, unless you opt for something bespoke and very expensive.
However, older cars are an approved third way of getting around this problem and placing yourself behind the wheel of a car with character, one which will please you every time you walk towards or away from. In the latter case, making you take that all important last glance you’d never consider doing at your car if it were a blandosaurus like the Toyota Camry.
Now, if shoddy reliability (which would require you to get your hands dirty from time to time…or every time), frequent rust problems and peculiar engineering and design decisions do not bother you, then this 1980 Lancia Gamma Coupe would definitely be right up your alley. Besides, it’s for sale on eBay, in Florida, so rust won’t be as big a problem as in some other places, and it looks very good, from any angle you choose to look at it.
It doesn’t need to be ‘shaped’ like the more modern curvy shapes we see today, in order to have aesthetic appeal, and its simple lines and masterfully executed proportions will make this car stand out immediately – even if you see one of these abandoned on the side of the road, half-eaten by rust, you’ll know it used to be something special.
The car we’re featuring looks to be in mint condition, and a very rare beast indeed (just 6,790 coupes and 15,272 sedans were ever made, and most have rusted away). Furthermore, with 140hp from its 2.5-liter four-pot engine and five-speed manual, coupled with a relatively low weight, it should prove fun to drive, in an Italian sort of way, despite not being particularly fast – it really isn’t about that that, with this car.
If you get it and like it, you do, and I think it’s definitely one of the more desirable 1980s cars made in the peninsular boot-shaped country.
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
