| Lancia Artena | |
| Manufacturer: | Lancia |
| Production: | 1931–1936 1940–1942 |
| Layout: | Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive |
| Related: | Lancia Astura |
| Engine: | 1,924 cc Lancia tipo 84 V4 (petrol) |
| Transmission: | 4-speed manual |
| Weight: | 13500NaN0 |
| Predecessor: | Lancia Lambda |
| Sp: | uk |
The Lancia Artena (Tipo 228) is a passenger car produced by Italian car manufacturer Lancia from 1931 until 1936, and from 1940 until 1942 chiefly for army and government use. It was powered by a 2-litre Lancia V4 engine, while chassis and factory bodies were shared with the more luxurious 2.6-litre V8-engined Lancia Astura.Total production amounted to 5,567 examples.
Artena and her sister Astura made their début at the October 1931 Paris Motor Show.[1] Interrupting Lancia's decade-old tradition of naming its cars with Greek letters, the new model was named after Artena, an ancient town of the pre-Roman Volsci people.
The Lancia Astura was a more powerful and more luxurious version of this car based on the same platform.[2] Besides the engines, main differences between the two cars were the Artena's Michelin disc wheels instead of the Astura's Rudge-Whitworth wire wheels, and the Astura's longer wheelbase.
There were four successive versions of the car. The first series was built between autumn of 1931 through summer of 1932; during the next year the second series was produced, and the third series from Autumn 1933 until the start of 1936.
Chassis type 341 was designed for passenger cars; top speed was down to 1050NaN0. 361 of this type were built. Three body styles were made for official usage, all three 6-seaters featuring a roll-down partition between the driver and the passenger compartment:
Chassis type 441 was a modified version, to be outfitted as an ambulance. 191 were built.
Lancia offered the Artena and Astura in saloon form only, and left its other body styles to third-party coachbuilders. Coachbuilders like Stabilimenti Farina, Pinin Farina and Carrozzeria Touring built Artena cabriolets, coupés, faux cabriolets, torpedoes and sport saloons. The Dutch coachbuilder B.T. Van Rijswijk has made in 1938 one dropheadcoupe.
Other coachbuilders offered conversions into commercial vehicles, such as vans or ambulances. Viotti made two special Artena mobile studios for the Italian public service broadcaster, EIAR.
Overall the Artena reprised the layout set by the preceding Lancia Lambda, the crucial difference being the body-on-frame construction, in contrast to the Lambda's unibody. This was to provide a suitable basis for coachbuilders to work on, as at the time bespoke coachwork was common on luxury cars such as the Astura; unibody development continued on small Lancias like the Augusta.
The Artena's engine was a Tipo 84 Lancia V4 engine, with a one-piece cast iron cylinder block. A narrow angle of 17° between the cylinder banks kept the engine compact; all four cylinders' exhausts exited on the left hand side, while on the right there was a single Zenith downdraught carburettor. A chain-driven overhead camshaft operated two parallel poppet valves per cylinder.Bore and stroke measured respectively 82.55and, for a total displacement of 19241NaN1; maximum power was 55hp at 4,000 rpm. Lancia declared a top speed of 1150NaN0.Noteworthily the engine was not directly attached to the chassis, but rather suspended via two leaf springs in order to dampen vibrations.
The transmission was a 4-speed gearbox with a single-plate dry clutch; fourth speed was a direct drive.
Front suspension was independent of the "Lancia" sliding pillar type, developed from the Lambda's. At the rear there was a solid axle on semi-elliptic leaf springs and friction disk dampers.Braking was via drums, on all four corners.