Did anyone ever see Lancia’s offroader?

A while ago we received a message from enthusiastic reader Lance Milne from Australia, questioning the existence of an intriguing Lancia. Lance wrote: “I am always fascinated when you display photos of oddities and cannot imagine what your stock of early car photos looks like. As a Lancia enthusiast, I have always been fascinated by the story that Giacomo Puccini commissioned Vincenzo Lancia to construct the first automotive offroader with, among other things, ‘clawed wheels’. I was wondering if you have a photo of it that you could publish as I have never seen one.”

Unfortunately, we had to disappoint Lance since we never saw any evidence of the Lancia in question. As a matter of fact, we hadn’t even heard of the motor car mentioned. But it was enough to make us wonder why. First stop: the worldwide web, which told us that the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) must have been a real motoring enthusiast indeed, with all the dangers of that. From his Wikipedia entry: “On 25 February 1903, Puccini was seriously injured in a car crash during a nighttime journey on the road from Lucca to Torre del Lago. The car was driven by Puccini's chauffeur and was carrying Puccini, his future wife Elvira, and their son Antonio. It went off the road, fell several metres, and flipped over”. Puccini survived, but the crash didn’t do him good.

From another page: “A motor enthusiast, Puccini began his automotive career in 1901 by purchasing a 5 hp De Dion-Bouton that he had seen at the Milan Exhibition of that year; in 1903 he replaced it with a Clément-Bayard.” More flashy four-wheelers followed: An Isotta Fraschini and several FIAT's, “all good for trips with family and friends, but unsuitable for his beloved hunting sessions.” Or so they say. For this reason, Puccini asked Vincenzo Lancia to make a car capable of moving on rough terrain. Reputedly, it took Lancia only a few months to come up with what is sometimes referred to as ‘the first off-road vehicle’. The car used a reinforced frame and 'clawed' wheels as mentioned by Lance and came at an astronomical sales figure of 35,000 liras. Puccini supposedly loved it and later bought a Trikappa and also a Lambda. We found the picture above of the man behind the wheel of his Lambda in the 1920s, but wonder if anyone ever saw a photograph of the Lancia offroader?

Words by Jeroen Booij. Picture from Pinterest.

Originally published: Monday December 2nd, 2019

Published:

Tuesday May 24th, 2022

Dexter

22 May 2022, 15:50

My dad's dad had one in Athens.

Charles Brennan

11 September 2021, 02:46

Yes, the photo is most definitely taken in Australia. the forest (or it's scientific classification: "Woodland") in the background is unmistakeable.

C.Gillingham

05 December 2019, 02:13

Lance, this photo was taken a bit closer to home, it's a NSW (Australian) number plate. There are details of this car and the driver on this web page:
https://www.svvs.org/help06.shtml
It says the photo was taken in the Blue Mountains.

I've seen these type of small disks behind the hub caps before, mostly on other Italian cars of this period. I assumed they were purely decorative.

Steve Diggins

05 December 2019, 00:38

I think David is correct about those small discs. The large wheel discs were called dust covers and were meant to keep your wire wheels clean. but they also gave a sleek look perhaps hinting of land speed cars of the day.

David GREEN

04 December 2019, 17:55

First up, I am not at all persuaded that the driver is Puccini. Second, it seems highly likely, to me, that the discs behind the spinners are the permanent fittings for a set of painted aluminium wheel discs. Unlike wheels with solid centres, these aluminium discs carried no weight. They were for adornment. They were usually painted and lined-out and they conveyed a sense of smoothness and calm. They were frequently found on Rolls-Royce's of the period, but also Bentley's and other top-end marques. I have a set myself that came from a vintage Bentley. They were easy to fit (at least, the outer discs were). The discs you can see in the photograph would have had a screw thread on their margins, with a cast brass annulus, also threaded, that was tightened with a large radius C-spanner. One took off the annulus, placed the aluminium disc to sit over the outer wheel rim, and then tightened the annulus over them. Why bother to take them off? Well, if one is going to do a bit of off roading, then the discs are easy to damage, and once the aluminium has been stretched, they are difficult to panel-beat back to the state of near perfection they need for their effect in town.

Lance Milne

03 December 2019, 21:23

Does the numberplate 61-216 or the forest in the background give any indication of the location of this picture ?

Hugo Modderman

03 December 2019, 18:24

I am not sure about the usefulness of the discs but could imagine they would facilitate the fitting of snow chains and protect the wheels.

Iain Simpson

03 December 2019, 01:06

I have to wonder if, in fact this is Puccini at the wheel of this Lambda. Timeline seems a bit tight given this appears to be a fifth series car which started production in October of 1924• and yet Puccini Died in November of 1924. Can anyone identify Puccini in this pic?
As for the discs behind the knock ons: I would view this as some sort of stylish embellishment Leo... something you might see on an American car.

Nigel Simeone

28 August 2021, 18:03

You're right: that's certainly not Puccini behind the wheel. He did own a Lamba, but it was purchased in May 1924, which must have been a slightly earlier version (we know the date from a letter he sent a friend on 18 May 1924 saying that he'd taken delivery and that it was 'very good, the best car for me'. It was a successor to the Lancia Trikappa Torpedo which Puccini bought in 1922.

Leo Schildkamp

02 December 2019, 12:04

Clawed wheels or "ruote artigliate" are wheels or tires with nails or blocks that provide more grip.
The tires in the photo also have a rough running surface.
What is the use of the disc behind the central wheel nut?

Did anyone ever see Lancia’s offroader?

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