Uncovering A Forgotten Supercharged Gem - The Lancia Beta Coupe Volumex

I worked in a Lancia dealership in the late 70s and early 80s (David Miller Lancia in Lytham St.Annes). I was still in my teens and did various odd jobs including working in the parts department. I loved going into the showroom to see the cars, partic when a Stratos was on show, which happened occasionally for promotional purposes even though they had stopped selling them in the late 70's. Although I wasn't real smart back then, I did quickly understand that while Lancia's looked great and drove great, the ownership experience was woeful. We often had customers who had bought new cars bring them back with a whole host of issues. And of course there was the rust - it just killed Lancias more than a few years old. I now live in the States where Lancias are a very rare sight on the road, but I fondly remember my time spent working around them all those years ago.

These cars are terribly underrated by most people. I had a Beta coupe and a Monte Carlo, and they were the favorite cars of my life.

You’re quite right , Jack . The engines dropping out never happened. The rust stigma was started by The Daily Mirror who wanted a big stab at foreign imports as the tax import levy had been lifted on imported goods since we joined the Common Market in 1973/4 , therefore not protecting our home produced goods so much. Lancia sold more cars in 1977 in the UK than BMW. A couple of motoring scribes labelled the Beta as the best Lancia yet , and that included John Bolster of Autosport magazine. The Beta range was so clever in its suspension design , that both Ford and Toyota looked to the Beta for their new respective Mondeo and Carina models in the 1990s , nearly 20 years on ! And what a clever design. The saloon was capaciously designed for passengers and their luggage , despite being of modest size, and the HPE , although slightly lower in roofline , still seated 4 occupants, with excellent luggage capacity, yet it’s exotic coupe looks captivated its buyers. Wonderful cars . Loved the video

In 1983 I lived in Swansea, south wales. I worked a for a first division footballer. He was approached By the local Suzuki & Lancia dealer, to drive around in one of there cars. A VX in red, identical to this model, he had it 24 hour, he asked me to take it back. I only drove 20 miles, but the clutch was awful, got stuck in traffic, could not hand it back quick enough. A few weeks later, a black Delta turned up, what a thing, best gearbox, I’ve ever used. Hard to believe they came for the same stable.

One of the upsides of the rust issue was that 2nd hand cars were really cheap at the time. I went to University in 1983 with a 5 year old 2 litre HPE and then a 2 litre Spyder. Great memories and had a LOT of fun in those cars……..thanks for taking me back 😂😂

I just finished restoring my Lancia Beta VX .. it looks identical to this..im in Auckland NZ..i love it

I've got a HPE Volumex and I love it ^^

That's a fantastic example of the Volumex Coupe. I owned the earlier series 2.0 coupe and absolutely loved it as a 21 year old. Heck, I still love it now that I have turned 60. It was stylish, fun to drive and fast enough (without being recklessly quick). With familiarity of the front drive set up it was possible to shuffle these cars down a country B-road at a serious rate of knots.

I had an HPE VX for 13 years as my everyday driver. One of the last, registered in 1985. The later models had the bonus of galvanised shells so no rust issues. A great reliable car. Made a good tow car with lots of torque in the mid range. Its happy range was 1800-4000rpm. The secret of the gear change is to get the right oil. Took it on track days at Ruapuna. Curiously for a FWD car it breaks in to oversteer on the limit. The way to counter this is to put the foot flat. A lot of fun. Brake hard, provoke a little oversteer and drift out of the corner under power. The car had 320,000km on it and was still going strong. The car is still on the road with the new owner. I sold it as my wife wanted a more practical 5 door car. I got a FIAT Stilo Abarth. Looking at selling that after 12 years. It has been a solid reliable car too. Track day next week.... Its replacement is an older car. A Rover Tomcat. Less practical and the wife doesn't like it but she lets me have my toys.🥰 Had a cool plate on it too "HPE VX"

I am fortunate to have had a great many Betas in my teens, twenties and early thirties. Culminating in a Volumex coupe the same (well, in my mind at least!) red one as that you drove Jack. They are in quite a low state of tune, but a change of supercharger pulley, inlet camshaft and a DCNF carb (on the standard manifold) brings easy power and a very useable 150-ish bhp at the wheels. The handling was excellent and compliant, perfect for the Scottish Highland A and B roads I drove on. That easy torque made it a fantastic long range mile muncher too, I recall driving back from South of Bristol to Aberdeenshire in a 'quick time' and it was never stressed and even returned near to 40mpg cruising at the speed limit, officer. Fantastic memories - thanks for that Jack! 😎

My all time favourite car. I was lucky enough to have owend three Lancia Beta's HPE in my lifetime when I was younger. Lancia will always be close to my heart ❤️

Aesthetically I think the Beta Coupe is one of the most beautiful designs of the era. It's proportions are just right. Then again I think the pre-facelift Chevrolet Vega is beautiful to look at, too, so what do I know?

We ran a rallye team in Michigan's Press On Regardless rallye when the brought one Stratos, and two rallye-prepped Beta Coupés. The Stratos had just won Rideau Lakes in Canada. On our event, the Stratos has electrical problems and dropped out. One Beta failed--and the team hired a tow truck, and towed it from service point to service point THE ENTIRE REST OF THE RALLYE. All 1200 miles. I loved seeing the Italian team all the way over here, and the Stratos was a spaceship, barely up to the window sill of our Datsun 510. Thank you, Jack, for the memories.

God I love the Beta coupe - I'd have one today in a heartbeat if only I could find one in roadgoing condition. I remember drooling over one in a local shopping centre that was a competition prize when I was a kid. It looked so cool - the individual bucket rear seats totally blew my schoolboy mind...

Another beutiful Beta is the HPE; a sort of shooting brake. One of the more interesting dashboards belong to the car initially called the Lancia Beta Trevi: That must be seen to be believed!

Aah! talking about my brother again, he's got a Beta Volumex coupe. He bought it in auction maybe 25 years ago when a car museum (Haynes?) was having a change around. He bought the low miles car and then put it to one side on the 'to do' list. It's still on the side. As mentioned, Italian cars had a bad rep' back then so this one was given a rust proofing when it was to be exported and then another when it was imported. Rust can't get near this Italian car. It's more of a recommission than a project but one day it'll be back on the road.

I had 2000ie, in that colour. I loved it. All these years later it still occasionally appears in dreams. 🙃

So many memories... my daily ride to the beach for a whole italian summer. By the way, it's such a pleasure to hear Italian names pronounced perfectly!! Congrats!

This brought back childhood memories of my dad's NA coupe. He loved it when it was working which, from recollection, was intermittently. On one occasion heading south on the M6 my mum was horrified to discover she was cruising at 110. The Beta was so much more refined than the Cortina it replaced

I have fond memories of Lancia's. I started out as a sales apprentice at my local Fiat / Lancia dealer in early 1980, weeks later the Daily Mirror Beta rust scandle broke! I remember that Lancia UK were quite honourable and offered generous Part ex allowances on older Beta's. It was such a shame as Beta range drove way better than the majority of competitors at the time and the bad reputation really put a damper on sales. We had a light blue metallic Beta Spider in the showroom which looked amazing! I'm looking forward to an update on the Pantera 👍