LANCIA was founded in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia. Lancia was born on 24 August, 1881 in Fobello, Italy. At the age of 17, he began training with bicycle importer Giovanni Ceirano. Lancia was a skilled and enthusiastic novice technician. In 1899 Ceirano produced his first motor car constructed by Aristide Faccioli. In the same year Ceirano and a consortium of business people from Turin founded the Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (FIAT). In 1905, Ceirano left the consortium to found a new company. Lancia was appointed test driver and chief inspector at the age of 19. The professionalism with which Lancia did his job led the company to allow him to compete in races as a test driver. Lancia was grateful for the opportunity given him by the company and had many racing successes. He was one of the best racing drivers in the world. Owing to performance limitations, Lancia often lost races due to technical problems and failed to win important international races. On November 29th 1906, Lancia together with the former Fiat test driver, Claudio Fogolin, founded his own company called LANCIA & C. FABBRICA AUTOMOBILI. Vincenzo Lancia continued driving for Fiat until 1910.

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Until the second world war, LANCIA constructed many technically advanced models ahead of their time. Cars constructed by LANCIA were built for the consumer and technical enthusiast. Little was invested in advertising in the early years as Vincenzo Lancia was convinced that the product promoted itself. In terms of development, emphasis was placed on achieving the best solution rather than the expense involved. Prices were only calculated once the cars had been perfected (because this website is mainly concerned with the Beta I cannot report on all the models and their features). The "Lambda" was introduced at the Paris car [salon]. The Lambda was the first car with a frameless load bearing body shell. The engine was a narrow angled V4. The crank shaft was triple bearing, contained in an alloy chamber. The engine also featured a shaft driven overhead camshaft. It was also the first engine in the series to be produced with an oil filter. LANCIA relied upon the compact V4 structure for many years.

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