At first, the Lancia Flavia was designed as the Italy’s first front-wheel-drive saloon developed by Professor Antonion Fessia in the late 1950s.
The boxy saloon was released to fill the gap between the compact Lancia Fulvia and the more expensive Lancia Flaminia.

Mr. Fessia was a professor of mechanical engineering, passionate about front-wheel driven cars. With the Flavia, he calculates that the new model’s weight had to be distributed so that 62% needed to be placed above the front wheel for an excellent traction.

When Flavia was unveiled in 1960 at the Turin motor show, it featured a 1.5-liter boxer engine and four-wheel disc brakes. The naturally aspirated 1.5-liter 4-cylinder unit developed 90 hp and was mated with a 4-speed manual gearbox. The engine displacement grew with the next versions.

Soon after, the Flavia was offered in a variety of body styles, all designed and built by different coach builders as was the tradition back in the days.

The coupe was designed by Pininfarina, a sportier coupe by Zagato and the convertible by Vignale. Michelotti designed the convertible for Vignale and it was not very different from the saloon, with a square design and a Maserati front-style, having a pouting grille and twin headlights.

Only 49 right-hand-drive units were made for UK, however, Vignale built a total of 1,601 two-door convertibles.