Many prewar Lancia Aprilias were bodied or rebodied as sports cars just after the war by leading coachbuilders such as Pinin Farina, Touring and Zagato. This custom-bodied barchetta corsa was built by the Italian Riva company on a prewar Aprilia sedan chassis. Milanese engine tuner Luigi Pagani prepared the engine for racing, installing a special aluminum cylinder head design and dual Weber carburetors, and the car was raced regularly by its owner, Luigi Beretta, throughout the early postwar years. This car has recently been driven by its owner in the Colorado Grand and the Mille Miglia.

This Lancia Pagani was built by Luigi Pagani with coachwork by Riva di Merate. It is powered by a Lancia Aprilia V4 engine that produced around 50 horsepower. Pagani was a Milano based Lancia automobile dealer who found time to build a few racers based on Lancia and Fiat automobiles. The engines were modified by Pagani using his own patented methods and technology.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2008