The Lancia Astura mystery we solved in Paris

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This year during Salon Rétromobile we had a beautiful Lancia Astura with a one-off body by Pourtout on display at our stand. The car was presented in Paris because the current owner is searching for more information on the early history of this impressive Lancia.

During the event, we received many compliments from the visitors about the car. Many of them told us that they read the article about "The Mystery of Salon Rétromobile 2020” in our online magazine and came to see the car in person. Among them several people who had one way or another a connection with the Lancia Astura and came to talk to the current owner, who was honoured to meet Astrid de Montaigu. She is the great-granddaughter of the first owner Hubert de Montaigu and was very proud to see the car which once belonged to the family.

It was also a great pleasure to meet Pierre Haverland again. He discovered the car in 1965 and could tell us some stories about the time he owned the Lancia. Pierre Haverland also brought along some original documents of the car. And Maximilian Cappa, who restored the car to the highest level at his restoration company KCA of Milan, showed us some pictures of the time that the car arrived in his workshop and from the restoration itself.

Fairly unexpectedly the owner also met Frédéric Pourtout, the grandson of Marcel Pourtout. He had read the article on the website and was very excited to see the car. Frédéric Pourtout confirmed that the design of the body was by George Paulin. And last but not least also the great-grandsons of Marcel Pourtout, Kévin and Brieuc Pourtout visited the stand. Brieuc is director of the Pourtout company which still exists and almost celebrates its 100th anniversary. His brother Kévin is in charge of the archives and made a tremendous job by archiving all documents. He confirmed that he has got the original order sheet of the Lancia from March 1939!

We can without a doubt say that this was a very successful search as the owner of the Lancia Astura is now able to fill in some of the blank pages and has some new documentation to add to the historic files.

Next year we will of course attend the event again and hope to see you all in Paris. If you are interested in having your PreWarCar or PostWarClassic on our stand. Please get in contact.

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