Styled by Castagnero: 1975 Lancia Fulvia Coupé

Hey, Happy St Valentine's Day to all you people out there in cyberspace -- St Valentine was a 3rd century Roman saint who is commemorated on February 14th, which is a nice coincidence because we are in the middle of an Italian week over here at Daily Turismo.  Valentine's feast day became associated with "courtly love" sometime during the middle ages and today it is as much a general all purpose merchant driven holiday for everybody to spend money, in the same vein as St Patrick's Day or Christmas for that matter...ANYWAY, what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day with your sweetie than to take her (or him) on a trip to Rome, where you'd buy this 1975 Lancia Fulvia Coupé offered for € 9,000 ($10,154 at time of printing) offered for sale in Rome, Italy via autoscout24.com.  Tip from Erik202.

Classic Italian: 1964 Lancia Fulvia Berlina

The term "rare" gets tossed around in craigslist car advertisements like an old chestnut, but sometimes rare doesn't mean rare when new, but rarely seen on the road anymore.  Like this 1964 Lancia Fulvia Berlina offered for $7500 in San Francisco, CA via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.

European Style: 1972 Lancia Fulvia

Nicely preserved European classics have gotten ridiculously expensive in the past few years -- forget getting a Porsche 911 for anything less than a hipster's ransom, and even the lowly BMW 2002Tii demands some serious scratch.  What's a guy (or gal) to do?  You gotta dig deep and find something that isn't on the top of everyone's "want" list, but still looks/drives/is awesome.  Like this 1972 Lancia Fulvia offered for $22900 in Miami, FL via craigslist. Tip from FuelTruck.

The Glass Is Half Fulvia: 1970 Lancia Fulvia Berlina

Today is the day after the 4th of July -- the day when the inevitable Independence Day hangover rears its ugly face and we clean up the discarded piles of sparklers, spangles, and banners.  Around here we use it as a reminder of why you should be proud to be an American, but that you don't always need to drive an American car.  Maybe you'd be better served by an Italian car.  Find this 1970 Lancia Fulvia Berlina offered for $9,500 near Austin, TX via craigslist.  Tip from FuelTruck.

Spaghetti & Meatballs: 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S

 Rally cars are just plain cool!  Imagine the stories they could tell...the drivers who adorned the seats, the hastily-made repairs on the side of some far-off land dirt road...exciting stuff!  Alas, authentic rally cars are either pounded to a pulp, or commanding a massive premium after era-specific restorations are performed.  But what if you could have the "look" of a rally car AND keep your wallet intact?  Find this 1972 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S in rally prep look for sale near Washington, DC for $15,550 via craigslist.

Thursday Twister: Best Sub $20k Italian Car

With sad news of the recent devastating earthquake in Italy, we'd like to extend our heartfelt condolences to all affected by nature's wrath.  To support the earthquake victims in Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara del Tronto you can donate directly to the Italian Red Cross here, or via an English language site that will forward money for you, or via Italian American Relief. In the meantime, post a link to your favorite Italian built car in the comments below.

Auction Watch: 1972 Lancia Fulvia

Checkout this 1972 Lancia Fulvia here on eBay bidding for $12,500 with auction ending on Monday at 3:15PM PST.

Italian Style: 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1300S

Oh Lancia, why do you temp me so?  The Lancia Fulvia Tipo 818 is a classic Italian saloon available from 1964-1976 as a Berlina, Coupe, and Sport.  The one to get is the Coupe, which offers 2+2 seating and styling by Piero Castagnero of Centro Stile Lancia.  The Fulvia coupe prices have been surprisingly calm for the past decade, and there was a time when the Fulvia was an interesting option to the Porsche 912, but now it clearly offers a better value for the money.  Find this 1970 Lancia Fulvia 1300S offered for $21,500 in Petaluma, CA via craigslist.

10k: What's The Reserve? 1967 Lancia Fulvia Rallye Coupe

The inconvenient truth when buying a used car is that the advertisements with good pictures, thorough descriptions, and responsive sellers are also the highest priced cars.  Those sellers understand that putting in some extra time will result in more interest and typically want more for the car.  On the other end of the spectrum are folks who value their time over money and will post a few (or no) photos and just settle for whatever they can get for the car.  Personally, I'd love to pickup a classic Italian classic from one of the second type of seller, and this next one looks about perfect.  Find this 1967 Lancia Fulvia Rallye Coupe here on eBay currently bidding for $9,500 reserve-not-met with 1 day to go, located in Southampton, NY.

25k: Italian Style: 1971 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S

If you head out to the nearest Lancia (the "ci" is pronouned like "sh" in ship with a silent "i", so the name sounds like lan-sha) dealer looking for a new car wearing the lance and shield logo, you'll find that it is quite a long trip (Lancia withdrew completely from the US market in 1982) and the cars in the showroom are miserable rebadged Chrysler group rejects.  It wasn't always like this, and there was a time when you could buy a oddly complex Italian built machine like the Fulvia.  Find this 1971 Lancia Fulvia 1.3S offered for $25,000 in Alameda, CA via craigslist. Tip from Kaibeezy.

5k: In Good Company: 1971 Lancia Fulvia Berlina 1.3

The Fulvia Berlina was a sedan built by Lancia based out of Torino, Italy from 1963 to 1976.  Lancia Automobile S.p.A. was founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and was an independent OEM (original equipment manufacturer) until 1969 when it was acquired by Fiat, but that doesn't mean you should identify it as an Alfa Romeo Other in your eBay listing.  It insulting to Italians and is the equivalent of saying that all Italians are gangsters, or that Sicilians are descendants of Italians who mated with monkeys.  Just because it has four headlights and a boxy exterior, breaks bones for a living, or is hairier than Chewbacca does not make it an Alfa, mafioso, or simian, respectively.  Find this 1971 Lancia Fulvia Berlina 1.3 here on eBay currently bidding for $4,150 reserve-not-met with a few hours to go, located in New Egypt, NJ.

15k: Small Project: 1970 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3

Lancia Automobile S.p.A. was a small automobile manufacturer from Torino, Italy founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and an independent company until 1969 when it was acquired by Fiat.  Today, cars badged with the lance and shield are mostly rebadged pieces of garbage pumped out of Fiat factories, but this wasn't always the case.  There was a time when Lancias were designed by guys named Spada and won things like the 1972 International World Rally championship. Find this 1970 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3 currently bidding for $11,211 reserve-not-met on ebay with 1 day to go, located in Dresden, Germany.

F is for Full-Monty: 1967 Lancia Fulvia

F is for DT's feature finders frothing fervently with furious fanaticism, fighting to find a Fulvia, but did you know that Fulvia was the name of a Roman politician's wife?  The woman in the badge is Fulvia, wife to several famous Roman politicians, including Marc Antony -- a Late Roman Republic era equivalent of Hillary Clinton.  Cassius Dio wrote that Fulvia pierced the tongue of freshly decapitated Cicero with her hairpins as revenge for his biting words against her.  Cicero's disembodied head was rumored to say: "what difference, at this point does it make?"...  Anyway, the Lancia Fulvia is an Italian that you'd want live with, find this 1967 Lancia Fulvia offered for $28,000 buy-it-now on ebay, located in Gervais, OR.

DTO: Fun Wheel Drive? 1972 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3

I know what you are going to say -- but the Lancia Fulvia is front wheel drive, not cool. Yes, it is true that modern front wheel drive cars are designed that way by a commission of bean counters looking for bottom line profit.  Take the rental fleet reject Chrysler 200 for instance -- front wheel drive because the buyers wouldn't notice and it saves thousands in tooling/design/parts vs a rear-drive version.  It wasn't always that way, and some older front-drive cars were designed that way as an attempt by their builders to make a better car, not a cheaper car.  Many of the early Citroën cars, Saab's 60s lineup, the Olds Toronado, and the Lancia Fulvia all fall into the category of cars that were designed with engines connected to the front wheels on purpose.  Find this 1972 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato 1.3 currently bidding for $14,600 reserve-not-met and $28,000 buy-it-now on ebay, located in Miami, FL with 3 days to go.

Unicorn Hunters: Find A Front Drive European Car For Less Than $10k

Sometimes, as authors, internet pundits, talking heads, and drunken bloggers, we at DT get a bit carried away with making fun of certain makes for being unreliable pieces of junk.  A few of our regular commenters pointed this out and in fairness to all, we felt the need to clear the air a bit about the issue.  First and foremost, if a car appears on this website, it is because it is interesting, fun, and potentially something the writers at DT would want to drive.  We get scores of tips and constantly find cars each day and would love to feature each one, but end up writing about the ones that make us want to stop writing and call the seller.  So, to make amends for the comments regarding French cars and leprosy, it is time to ask our readers to help us find the best front-drive European cars for less than $10k.  Simple.  Right?

10k: Half Empty or Half Fulvia? 1967 Lancia Fulvia Coupe

Lancia Automobile S.p.A. was a small manufacturer from Torino, Italia founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia and master of its own destiny until 1969 when it was taken over by Fiat because it was unprofitable and English speakers found it difficult to pronounce Lancia.  The "ci" is pronouned like "sh" in ship with a silent "i", so the name sounds like Lan-sha.  No hard C or E and howdoyousaythatword.com has a short audio clip if you need more help.  Lancia retained some of its character and own design/production until the 1990s when the lineup changed to use rebadged Fiats. Today most cars wearing the lance and shield logo are (gasp) rebadged Chrysler product.  Why anyone would buy a new Lancia when you can pick up a genuine old one for cheap?  Find this 1967 Lancia Fulvia Coupe for sale in Berkeley, CA for $12,500 via craigslist. Tip from Kaibeezy.

30 of 50: Rose: 1967 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato

The Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato is a goofy looking 2-seater re-body of the Fulvia Sport sedan by the Italian coachbuilding firm Zagato.  The Sport Zagato featured a lightweight aluminum shell and a 1.3 liter engine for zippy fun around town, but beware of modern freeway on-ramps and fullsize pickup trucks.  Find this 1967 Lancia Fulvia Sport Zagato for sale in Grand Rapids, MI for $12,600 via usedcarmotormallgr.com.