That looks very Italian! Should t there be a number plate on the front?

Am 17.01.25 um 18:25 schrieb Bob W PDML:

...and a front bumper. In their days and outside of race tracks, such
bumperless cars would rather identify their drivers as members of the
lower castes.

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher  -  Köln/Cologne, Germany
Blog  : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos : https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012

:) Yes, it look very Italian indeed...! One of the interesting factoids about the Lancia Fulvia Coupé was that, unlike nearly all of the other Lancia sporting models over the years, it was entirely an in-house body design.

Technically, yes: there should be a front license plate fitted. But the standard California license plate doesn't fit anywhere except on the original US bumper mounting...

I've never considered myself as someone from a 'higher caste' ... The USA is not India. ;)

I don't think that negative aspect to the bumperless aesthetic ever held in the USA.

At the American Lancia Club West Coast Reunion in 2023 (my first time attending), out of the 48 or so Lancia cars there, about 23 were Fulvia Coupés. At the final dinner gathering on Sunday, all of us "newcomers to Lancia" were invited to stand, introduce ourselves, and tell the story of our involvement with Lancia and our particular cars. When it was my turn, I did a short brief about my fascination with the marque and the Fulvia Coupé and SportGT Zagato models since I had been a child, and a brief summary of this car's history. And then I queried ... "I've looked at all the Fulvia Coupés in the parking lot. NONE of them have the original bumpers, all of them are fitted with the Fanalone-style Rally model blanking plates for the bumper mounts. Doesn't anyone value these cars in their original, factory configuration?" Virtually everyone in the dining all looked at their neighbors, and said in practically one voice: "Why put bumpers on a Fulvia Coupé? The bumpers are ugly and just excess weight! They don't protect anything!" And then laughed uproariously. :D None of the other Fulvia Coupés at the ALC gathering had front license plates either. One small note: only 20 of the 50 States in the USA require a front license plate.

(Various sold-for-daily-use Rally inspired models were bumperless from the factory. And remember that these cars were last officially imported into the USA in 1967, so NONE of them were ever outfitted to meet USA bumper requirements which started in 1968.)

The guy I bought it from had sold the bumpers to another Lancia enthusiast who was doing a restoration and wanted factory original. Sammy was building it to be a "rally replica". This car had had a small fender-bender at some point and someone had welded on the bumper mounts at the rear, so when I got it the rear was somewhat unsightly with the two bumper mounting tubes sticking out like water pipes. About a year after I got it running nicely again, and had re-done the entire interior, a bit of rust surfaced so I had it in the body shop to repair that. The guy at the shop looked at the two raw tubes sticking out the back ...

"It'd look a lot nicer without those two tubes sticking out..."
"I've got another pair of blanking plates like on the front... but rear tubes have been welded on."
"Great... 'Welded on' means nothing to me."

... and they were gone when I picked up the car, with the nice blanking plates fitted. So bumpers are no longer an option. It's now in my book an "unofficial Rally inspired replica." What to do about a front license plate is another issue. I'm thinking of having a euro-inspired custom plate made.

The next (and hopefully last) major upgrade will be fitment of the Fanalone headlamp setup, which replaces the two 6.25 inch high beam lamps with a pair of 8 inch headlight lamps, to complete the HF Rally look:

standard Fulvia headlamps: https://flic.kr/p/2qERRfk
Fanalone style headlamps: https://flic.kr/p/2qEQDbE

I have so much fun mucking about with this car. And it proves to be a true pleasure to drive as well! :D

G

:) Yes, it look very Italian indeed...! One of the interesting factoids about the Lancia Fulvia Coupé was that, unlike nearly all of the other Lancia sporting models over the years, it was entirely an in-house body design.

Technically, yes: there should be a front license plate fitted. But the standard California license plate doesn't fit anywhere except on the original US bumper mounting...

I've never considered myself as someone from a 'higher caste' ... The USA is not India. ;)

I don't think that negative aspect to the bumperless aesthetic ever held in the USA.

At the American Lancia Club West Coast Reunion in 2023 (my first time attending), out of the 48 or so Lancia cars there, about 23 were Fulvia Coupés. At the final dinner gathering on Sunday, all of us "newcomers to Lancia" were invited to stand, introduce ourselves, and tell the story of our involvement with Lancia and our particular cars. When it was my turn, I did a short brief about my fascination with the marque and the Fulvia Coupé and SportGT Zagato models since I had been a child, and a brief summary of this car's history. And then I queried ... "I've looked at all the Fulvia Coupés in the parking lot. NONE of them have the original bumpers, all of them are fitted with the Fanalone-style Rally model blanking plates for the bumper mounts. Doesn't anyone value these cars in their original, factory configuration?" Virtually everyone in the dining all looked at their neighbors, and said in practically one voice: "Why put bumpers on a Fulvia Coupé? The bumpers are ugly and just excess weight! They don't protect anything!" And then laughed uproariously. :D None of the other Fulvia Coupés at the ALC gathering had front license plates either. One small note: only 20 of the 50 States in the USA require a front license plate.

(Various sold-for-daily-use Rally inspired models were bumperless from the factory. And remember that these cars were last officially imported into the USA in 1967, so NONE of them were ever outfitted to meet USA bumper requirements which started in 1968.)

The guy I bought it from had sold the bumpers to another Lancia enthusiast who was doing a restoration and wanted factory original. Sammy was building it to be a "rally replica". This car had had a small fender-bender at some point and someone had welded on the bumper mounts at the rear, so when I got it the rear was somewhat unsightly with the two bumper mounting tubes sticking out like water pipes. About a year after I got it running nicely again, and had re-done the entire interior, a bit of rust surfaced so I had it in the body shop to repair that. The guy at the shop looked at the two raw tubes sticking out the back ...

"It'd look a lot nicer without those two tubes sticking out..."
"I've got another pair of blanking plates like on the front... but rear tubes have been welded on."
"Great... 'Welded on' means nothing to me."

... and they were gone when I picked up the car, with the nice blanking plates fitted. So bumpers are no longer an option. It's now in my book an "unofficial Rally inspired replica." What to do about a front license plate is another issue. I'm thinking of having a euro-inspired custom plate made.

The next (and hopefully last) major upgrade will be fitment of the Fanalone headlamp setup, which replaces the two 6.25 inch high beam lamps with a pair of 8 inch headlight lamps, to complete the HF Rally look:

standard Fulvia headlamps: https://flic.kr/p/2qERRfk
Fanalone style headlamps: https://flic.kr/p/2qEQDbE

I have so much fun mucking about with this car. And it proves to be a true pleasure to drive as well! :D

G

Do be careful driving in Palo Alto, I know people who have gotten
tickets for not having front plates there.

On 2025-01-17 14:24, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote:

--
Larry Colen  LRC@red4est.com http://red4est.com/lrc

A common (but still, strictly, illegal) route travelled here in the UK is to use vinyl letters stuck directly to whatever part of the bodywork is best suited.  Usually, this means that the "plate" is less than flat and often way off the vertical (hence the illegality) but if it is legible there seems to be little issue.

I don't know how that would work with USA style plates but a vinyl specialist might be a first port of call.

The correct Italian way is to have numbers so small that you can only read them from about 1ft away.

Am 18.01.25 um 13:24 schrieb Bob W PDML:

Or the Belgian way, to have different numbers front and rear. Most
Belgian speed cams only flash cars from the front while the only
official numberplate is the one at the rear. It's the one you get from
the authorities and then you have the front one made at the local Mister
Minit.

This only became obvious after they'd installed new speed cams flashing
both the front and the rear. Yet, there is no law in Belgium saying that
the front and rear plates have to be indentical what with the front one
being 'unofficial' anyway. Another task for the next federal government,
whenever there'll be one...

Ralf

--
Ralf R. Radermacher  -  Köln/Cologne, Germany
Blog  : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos : https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012

That sort of thing would be the most likely to have me pulled over, car impounded, and huge fines and/or imprisonment levied. Far far moreso than having only a rear plate, which is just a regulatory infraction and has a US$195.00 penalty ticket imposed in California... IF any policeman actually felt like fussing about it!

Most ignore this minor infraction unless you're pissing them off for some other reason. ;)

G