Lancia Lambda

The Lancia Lambda is an innovative automobile produced from 1922 through 1931. It was the first car to feature a load-bearing unitary body, though without a stressed roof, and it pioneered an independent front suspension of the sliding pillar type with coil springs. Vincenzo Lancia even invented a shock absorber for the car, and it had excellent four wheel brakes. Its narrow-angle aluminium V4 engine was also notable, with a single overhead camshaft serving both banks of cylinders and three displacements sharing a 120 mm stroke. Nine series were built, from 400 cars in 1923 to a last series of 500 in 1931 sold only as bare chassis, and approximately 13,000 Lambdas were produced in all.