Aurelia Workshop Manual

An aurelia workshop manual for all models edited by paul mayo
Photo by Paul Mayo of his late 4th Series B20 near the top of the Moncenisio (Mont Cénis) Pass, France, August 1975

Editor's Note

My father, Joseph L Mayo (1920-2014), bought a 1937 Lancia Aprilia in 1953, selling a Riley Imp which really was not suitable for a family of five people. He had admired Aprilias through World War 2 and afterwards during the times of UK fuel and car import restrictions.


 In 1960, he sold the Aprilia to Dan Margulies for UK £17 and bought a beautiful late 4th Series Aurelia B20, which had just been imported from Lancia Saicar, in Milano & was being sold by Anthony Crook Motors (later the man behind Bristol cars).


In this period it was an exciting road car, as it was so much faster than most traffic.


It was our family car for several years & again not really perfect for five persons!

A black and white photo of a man standing next to a white car

In 1974 the Aurelia was passed to me and I used it daily in Scotland & then the south of England. I drove it to Italy and back in 1975 and now it is under restoration & awaiting return to the road.

 

If this manual has more on the 4th Series B20 it is because I have the most experience of this model. My apologies - please contribute to the content!


Paul Mayo, 2025

Introductory Note

Lancia Aurelia technical data obtained by the UK Lancia Motor Club was made available to members in the 1960s with Roland Grazebrook & Nigel Trow being especially active. Whilst the late John Savage was Librarian in the 1970s he put the data together into an "Aurelia Workshop Manual" & started selling copies. In particular he contributed useful notes on the electrical system. From 1977 when Paul Mayo became Librarian, the manual has been reorganised, expanded & become a digital publication.



Further historical details & a print history can be found in Section 11.

 

Members of the Lancia Motor Club, the late Anthony Smallhorn, the late John Savage, Nigel Trow and others have assisted in the creation of this manual & especially those who have published technical & restoration articles. The late Harry Manning [long-term UK Lancia specialist near Farnham, Hampshire] along we those already mentioned taught me about the Aurelia and have given constant advice, encouragement and friendship. In more recent years the contributions of Tim Burrett, the late John Cundy & Geoff Goldberg [USA] should be noted.

 

The contents are a mix of official Lancia C. data & publications with contributions almost entirely from enthusiasts for the Aurelia, many very experienced with the cars. Understandably, the experience of those in the professional business of servicing & restoring Lancia Aurelias is a very limited part of the manual, although it is always welcome.


Notes & Abbreviations

1 SERIES . The B20 coupe was produced in 6 series and Lancia C. referred to these as such at the time of production. In the text of this manual these series are described as "Series 1, 2, 3 etc. or S1, S2 etc." The other models did not appear in such well-defined series. The B24 spider/convertible was produced in series equivalent to the B20 4th, 5th& 6th series cars.
SERIES I & SERIES II This manual also uses the terms Series I and II. This follows Lancia C. in using Series II to describe the B12 and by implication all the De Dion, leaf-sprung rear suspension models that followed: Series 4, 5, and 6 B20 cars & B24 models. I have used Series I to describe those cars with independent rear suspension: Series 1, 2 and 3 B20 cars, B10, B21 etc. This derives from the two types of Spare Parts Catalogues dealing with these groups.
2 Variations Many Aurelia cars do not conform to 'standard' as evident from parts books and elsewhere. Such differences may be due to changes since the car was new or to genuine variations from standard at the time of manufacture. These essentially hand-built cars could be ordered to a customer's specification and so some cars will have appeared new with tuning modifications (e.g. Nardi's), factory conversions (e.g. floor gear-change), non-standard colours and trim & even changes in the body shape.
3 Abbreviations Chassis numbers are written as B20-1001 to distinguish from Engine and Parts numbers, which are written as B20.1001.
4 ASC-UK Aurelia Spares Consortium, UK
5 LPC-USA Lancia Parts Consortium, USA
6 LMC Lancia Motor Club, UK
7 Tav. Tavola, refers to the Tables in the Spare Parts Catalogues
8 Units of measurement The manual was started so long ago that in the UK it was usual to use so-called "Imperial" measurements. Lancia's literature published for the UK & USA markets also used "Imperial" units. These are now largely obsolete & confusing for most people that buy the manual, except perhaps in the UK & USA, so I am attempting to make sure that SI – metric units are included. Torque measurements. The usual term in the UK is the pound-foot or foot-pound force (lb.ft. or ft.lb sometimes written lbs. /ft). This is equivalent to the metric torque term 1.356 Newton-metre (N.m – dimensionally m2.kg.s-2). 1 N.m is 0.7376 lb.ft. Torque is also given the metric term kilogram-force metre or m.kg or even m/kg, which is equivalent to 9.801 N.m.

Text References

Ref. :  Description

  1. Lancia Fancier (USA), January 1975
  2. Lancia Fancier (USA), February 1975
  3. Lanciana (USA), No. 4, 1973
  4. Lanciana (USA), No. 5, 1973
  5. Australian Lancia Register Newsletter, No. 22, 3/77
  6. Aurelia 2nd Series & GT 2500 Spare Parts Catalogue, SAT Stampato No. 8798512 (ex. 004.111)(VIII-1959-700), Lancia & C., Torino S.p.A
  7. Aurelia Spare Parts Catalogue, SAT Stampato No. 004.102) (I-1954-1000), Lancia & C., Torino S.p.A
  8. Aurelia Driver's Instruction Book, for all series. SAT Stampato No. 8798071, 1st edition (II-1960-1000) 81 pp, in Italian
  9. The Lancia Rear End Assembly, by Clive Beattie. Two articles in the LMC Journal Nos. 25 (September 1965) & 26 (February 1966)
  10. American Lancia Club, Lanciana, 1971, Aurelia Special Issue
  11. Aurelia Rear Brakes & Oil Seals, by Mike Day, LMC Journal, No. 34, pp 20-21, Spring 1969
  12. Repair Tool Catalogue for Repair Workshops, Lancia & C., Torino, SAT Stampato 8798851 - Quarta edizione (I-1961-2000)
  13. The Adventures of Tintin - The Calculus Affair, by Hergé. Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1960
  14. Aurelia GT 2500 Instruction Book, Letter Press No. 001188 1st Edition (X-1958-500), 56 pp A5, in English, From B20-3817, B20S-1436, (6th Series) and B24-1001 & B24S-1001
  15. Aurelia B10 Instruction Book
  16. Aurelia B12 Instruction Book