Lancia Aurelia B50 Cabriolet

The Lancia Aurelia B50 Cabriolet Pininfarina: Alongside the unitary construction Aurelia B10 saloon, Lancia produced a platform chassis for bodying by independent coachbuilders, designated B50 or B51 (with different gearing/tyres) and powered by the standard 1,754cc 56bhp V6 engine. With the announcement of the B20 Coupé, a 2,000cc engine was introduced, which was also made available for the platform chassis, designated B52 or B53 (depending on gearing/tyres). The first (together with Stabilimenti Farina and Carrozzeria Viotti) to use the B50 chassis, Pininfarina already exhibited its ‘cabriolet’ at the Turin Motor Show in May 1950. This beautiful and harmonious creation by the already famous coachbuilder from Turin, entered the official Lancia price list, but Pinin Farina reserved the right to make examples ‘directly’ with special finishes expressly requested by the customer. And so it will be: many of Pininfarina’s Aurelia B50 cabriolets will have different details from those on the ‘official’ version (more refined interiors, special leather, differently designed instrumentation, different headlights, additional chrome, electro-hydraulic devices for opening and closing the upholstered soft-top, more wraparound bumpers, concealed external handles). All in all, it seems that Pininfarina built just under three hundred cabriolets: 265 that could be described as ‘normal’ and around twenty with ‘special fittings’. Some of these examples (however a limited number of units) were built on the basis of the B52 chassis with a 2-litre engine released in ’52. The main technical characteristics of this version are: B10 type engine with 1755 cm³ displacement and 56 HP power, platform chassis, wheelbase 291 cm, length 475 cm, width 165 cm, height 150 cm, turning circle 10.90 m, 165×400 tyres (inflation pressure 1.50 kg/cm2, both front and rear), weight in running order 1240 kg, maximum speed around 130 km/h. Among the features of this special “almost custom-built” version are the aluminium bonnet and boot lid, lightened doors, curved windscreen, heater, aerator, cigar lighter, ashtray, radio on request: features that, however, can also be found on the standard B10 saloon. And here we come to the sore point, namely the prices: the first price list (May 1950) spoke of 2,600,000 Lire for the Lancia Aurelia B50 Cabriolet Pininfarina, rising to 2,885,000 Lire the following year. But these prices (taken from Lancia’s price list, and therefore referring to cars in ‘normal’ trim) rose to over 4 million liras for ‘cabriolets’ in ‘Lusso’ trim (in 1951, for example, a Cabriolet Lusso cost 4,189,000 liras).