A one-off, 1960 Lancia Loraymo, styled by renowned French-American designer Raymond Loewy who also penned the classic Coca Cola glass bottle, will headline the fourth edition of the Concorso d’Eleganza Festival Car this September.
Nope, not Lake Como’s famous automotive culture event. The Concorso d’Eleganza Festival Car will actually be held in Revigliasco, a stone’s throw from Turin, between 26 and 28 September. Though only three editions of the Autoappassionati-organized celebration of Italian design have been held since 2022, last year’s event – ‘Tributo Maserati’ – nevertheless drew more than 100 cars in a rolling parade.
The Lancia Flaminia Lorayamo is set to headline the event, and is one of several Stellantis Heritage Collection models being provided for the event, as well as one of 25 “historically significant” Lancias – including the 037 Stradale, a ‘Presidential’ Flaminia limousine, the Stratos and the Delta Integrale – that will also be on display at the concours.
Raymond Loewy. ‘The Man Who Shaped America’… And Coca-Cola
French-born, and later American-nationalized, Raymond Loewy has quite an extraordinary catalog of work behind him. After his early years as a fashion designer, Loewy truly made a name for himself in the field of industrial design from 1929 onwards. So much so, tributes labeled him ‘The Father of Industrial Design’ and ‘The Man Who Shaped America’ following his passing in 1986 thanks to a ‘MAYA – Most Advanced Yet Acceptable’ design principle – i.e. make it look futuristic but don’t piss off the consumers! – he would incorporate into work with more than 200 companies. Indeed, across a 51-year career, Loewy was directly involved with the design/re-design of:
- The Lucky Strike cigarette packet
- The slenderized Coca-Cola bottle
- Frigidaire’s refrigerators, ranges, and freezers
- The international logos for Shell, Exxon, Greyhound buses, and the U.S. postal service
- The John F. Kennedy memorial postage stamp
- The interiors of the Saturn I and Saturn V rockets, and the Skylab space station (Loewy worked for NASA between 1967 and 1973)
- The 1953 Studebaker Starliner Coupé and ‘Champion, and the 1963 Avanti
And that really is just scratching the surface!
“Though distinct, the Loraymo was far from the prettiest Lancia. Put simply, it was a dog!”
By the late 1950s though, having started his American automobile association with Detroit’s Hupp Motor Company in 1930 (with whom, incidentally, he advocated slanted windshields, built-in headlights, wheel covers for automobiles, AND sleeker bodywork to improve fuel efficiency), Loewy set to work designing a car for his own personal use based on Lancia’s then flagship Flaminia Coupé.
The One-Off Lancia Loraymo Championed Aerodynamics
Made by Turin-based coachbuilder, and aluminum craftsman, Rocco Motto the ‘Flaminia Loraymo’ featured a tapering hood (accented by a gaping grille with chrome surround that also acted as the front bumper), two outrigger fog lights detached from the body, and slightly open-ended front fenders to allow cooling air to the brakes. Moreover, an aerodynamic fin tucked beneath the headlights, closed chrome wheel rims, and an aileron above the wraparound rear windshield helped assist airflow, still something of a novelty. The 2.5-liter Lancia V6 beneath the bonnet meanwhile was given an upkick from 119-horsepower to 150-horsepower.
Though distinct, it was far from the prettiest Lancia. Put simply, it was a dog! Not that this bothered Loewy though, who was so pleased with the Loraymo – LOE-wy RAYMO-nd, get it?! – that the one and only example was put on display at the Paris Motor Show in 1960, and the specially-commissioned coupé was driven regularly by its namesake both in the United States and, following his retirement in 1980, back his native France. Rediscovered by the president of the American Lancia Club after Loewy’s passing, the Loraymo was repatriated back to Lancia in the mid-90s with whom it eventually underwent a full restoration.
Despite being one of Lancia’s less ‘elegant’ models (to put it mildly), a design including the silhouette of the Flaminia Loraymo, and produced in collaboration with IED Turin, has been chosen as the official poster for the 2025 Concorso d’Eleganza Festival Car. The winning design was drawn by the aptly-named Mercedes Alazraki, who, in a touching nod to the vehicle’s creator, also included Loewy’s wife, Viola Erickson, sitting on the hood.
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