James May makes biased press and exaggerates to add interest to a boring blog!
I think we all know the shortfall of the Gamma, but he forgot to mention, it was corrected, and no longer an issue, the Gamma generally was not that bad on rust compared to other cars of the time, there are many well kept examples with little or no rust at all after 45 years, as for the mention about the Beta servo problem, I experienced this on my Thema whilst braking at 100 mph the brake went on but never came off because of something coming adrift inside the servo, by the time I had stopped the disc's were cherry red and the pads were on fire, apart from this it was fast handled well and was one of my favorite cars to drive,
My Gamma Coupe is one of my favourite cars, not just for it's looks but for it's handling, steering precision and turbine smooth, torquey motor, in every way, so much better than an Alfa GTV of the same age. I don't have the GTV anymore but I kept the Lancia and I'll never sell it. My wipers failed once on a five year old Corolla, but not on the Lancia which is an odd mix of Fiat Uno and Mercedes Benz build quality.
Comments (10)
I just don't like them. Lancia made so many much more interesting cars!
They did! You're right.
The Delta Integrale, the Monte Carlo... the 037...
James May makes biased press and exaggerates to add interest to a boring blog!
I think we all know the shortfall of the Gamma, but he forgot to mention, it was corrected, and no longer an issue, the Gamma generally was not that bad on rust compared to other cars of the time, there are many well kept examples with little or no rust at all after 45 years, as for the mention about the Beta servo problem, I experienced this on my Thema whilst braking at 100 mph the brake went on but never came off because of something coming adrift inside the servo, by the time I had stopped the disc's were cherry red and the pads were on fire, apart from this it was fast handled well and was one of my favorite cars to drive,
It was a disaster!
www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/classic-cars/a27785243/vintage-lancia-gamma-for-sale/
My Gamma Coupe is one of my favourite cars, not just for it's looks but for it's handling, steering precision and turbine smooth, torquey motor, in every way, so much better than an Alfa GTV of the same age. I don't have the GTV anymore but I kept the Lancia and I'll never sell it. My wipers failed once on a five year old Corolla, but not on the Lancia which is an odd mix of Fiat Uno and Mercedes Benz build quality.
Was it the Beta Coupe that the brakes would fail if you slammed on them
They decided on the beta that the brake servos caused the issue. So they logically got rid of them rather than update them.