We like our cars, but the Lancista gets really excited about their parts books. There, in full detail, Lancia told the story of the car in illustrated wonder. All the parts to the car are shown there, but there is more, lots more.

Where to get one of these wonders? Sometimes they show up on Ebay, but are not cheap. The easiest way is to get the CD from Huib, at CD with Aurelia documentation. I believe it has the early 1951 B10 parts book, and then the 1959 series II parts book.

So what do your get in your parts book? First, the parts book actually shows how the cars go together. All the little bits, and even sometimes you can get a sense of sequence for all the parts. This helps in repair work - to see how things were put together.

Second, the parts books for Lancias (up to the Appia) have very nice exploded isometrics. These illustrations were done by U. Ciompi and are lovely drawings. Was there a story in Viva Lancia about him years ago? Anyone have a copy?

Parts books indicated how the factory organized their thinking - they are divided for Motor, Transmission, Brakes, Steering/Suspension/Wheels, Electrical, Body Outside, Body Interior. We glimpse how work was divided.

The books were divided into sections, for each model, starting with the Berlina, then special sedans or chassis, the B20, and finally open cars. After the Berlina, the later sections typically has only text pages noting the changed elements, unless the change was significant enough to warrant a new illustration. Hunting between text changes on the B20 (for example) and the illustration of the application on a Berlina can be a workout at times!

The details on each Tav (sheet) of the parts book tell when the part was replaced or changed - typically by serial number, and sometimes by engine number. These records were quite meticulous, and help the Aurelia owner in winter pass the time, pondering what changes happened for what reason. Those of you in warmer climes are driving instead.

The parts books give an origin number indicating when the part came into being - typically 800 for B10, and 803 for B20, but there are some surprises - some parts come from Appias, Ardeas or Aprilias, or even trucks.

There are other wonderful bits to be found - sometimes, Lancia would give information on the part - with an assembly number, a separate part number, and even a casting number as well for some of the major pieces. Careful scrutiny can lead to more understandings on how they made what they did - for example, the Aurelia engine block evolved  over 7 different castings. Some differences are trivial, some are major. A good Aurelia owner gets lost in this, just like the cars.