Few marques have contributed more to the development of the sophisticated Italian GT than Lancia. Founded in Turin in 1906, the marque established an extraordinary reputation for advanced engineering and competition success, from the D50 Grand Prix car and D24 sports racer to the dominant Group B rally cars of the 1980s, making Lancia one of the most successful manufacturers in the history of the World Rally Championship.

However, Lancia's position was perhaps at its most distinguished during the 1950s, when it established itself as one of Europe's foremost manufacturers of technically advanced GT cars. The abilities of these cars were equally appreciated by the great drivers of the period, with five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio himself choosing an Aurelia B20 GT for travelling between races across Europe.

Introduced in 1957 as the Aurelia's successor and Lancia's new flagship, the Flaminia carried this engineering philosophy into a new generation. For its sporting interpretation, Lancia entrusted the bodywork to Carrozzeria Zagato, the Milanese coachbuilder renowned for lightweight, aerodynamic and competition-inspired designs, creating a compact and highly sporting GT from Lancia's sophisticated flagship. The collaboration is instantly recognisable by Zagato's defining design signature, the now-iconic double-bubble roof. The design allowed additional headroom beneath an exceptionally low roofline while contributing to the distinctive proportions of the car. The subsequent 3C specification further enhanced the model's performance, employing three twin-choke Weber carburettors to extract greater output from the 2.5-litre V6.

One of only 152 examples produced, this exceptional early Flaminia Sport 3C Zagato was completed in 1962 and delivered new to Paris, where it would spend much of its early life with two French owners. Following this chapter, the car returned to Italy, where its first recorded Italian owner was Manlio Perrotta of Arezzo. Charmingly, the Flaminia name itself follows Lancia's tradition of drawing inspiration from the great roads of ancient Rome, deriving from the Via Flaminia, which connected Rome with the Adriatic coast. An extension of this route, the Via Flaminia Minor, crossed the Apennines between Bologna and Arezzo, providing an especially fitting connection to this example and its first Italian custodian. Perrotta retained the car for more than three years before it passed to another Italian owner, Federico Bianchi. During this ownership, the car underwent a comprehensive three-year restoration, carried out by Italian specialists. The restoration is extensively documented, with the car retaining its original chassis, body and differential. Although Lancia did not record engine numbers, according to our research, the engine fitted is believed to be the original unit delivered in the car.

Shortly after its restoration, the car was acquired by a Dutch collector who presented the car at the 2014 Salon Privé Concours d'Élégance, where it finished as class runner-up to an Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato and further received the Most Exciting Design award.

The result is particularly significant given the connection between the two cars. Both were designed by the same man, Ercole Spada, and represent the same remarkable philosophy of the period: sophisticated GT engineering combined with lightweight aluminium coachwork and Zagato's competition-bred approach to design. That this Flaminia Sport Zagato was judged immediately behind a DB4 GT Zagato provides a fitting contemporary reflection of its position among the great coachbuilt GTs of the early 1960s and stands as a testament to the quality of the restoration carried out. This underlines its status as something of a scaled-down counterpart to the celebrated DB4 GT Zagato.

Combining Lancia's celebrated engineering, Zagato's lightweight coachwork, the unmistakable double-bubble roof and the sporting 2.5-litre 3C specification, this Flaminia Sport Zagato represents a particularly distinguished example of Lancia's golden post-war era.

Presented in exceptional condition throughout and accompanied by a well-documented history file containing Lancia production documentation, period photographs, a FIVA identity card, an ASI identity card and an Automobile Club d'Italia certificate.