If I were to ask you to name an innovative, Italian sports car manufacturer, chances are good you would instinctively reply, Ferrari. If I were to then ask you to name one of the oldest Italian automobile manufacturers in continuous production, you very well might answer either Fiat or Alfa Romeo. And while all these answers would be technically correct, the vast majority of enthusiast would overlook the one Italian manufacturer that ticks all these boxes—Lancia.
The founding father of this most venerable Turninese manufacturer was Vicenzo Lancia, born on August 24, 1881, the son of a Piedmont region soup canner. Raised in Fobello, just 100 kilometers northeast of Turin, the young Lancia showed an early facility with both numbers and things mechanical. While trained in accountancy, in 1898, Vicenzo took up a position with the bicycle manufacturer/importer Ceirano, in Turin. However, the arc of Lancia’s life would be forever altered when, in 1899, a small group of investors took over Ceirano to form a new company dedicated to manufacturing automobiles. This new automotive concern would call itself FIAT.
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