Uncovering A Forgotten Supercharged Gem – The Lancia Beta Coupe Volumex

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Uncovering A Forgotten Supercharged Gem – The Lancia Beta Coupe Volumex


From the family of cars that killed Lancia, the 1984 Beta Volumex was a unique proposition at this time. Everyone else was going to turbocharging and Lancia went with a supercharger that made a paltry extra 13hp… why? The Supercharged Lancia That Nobody Talks About!

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43 Comments

  1. Thank you. I love Italian cars. I owned a bunch of rear engine fiats and loved them all. I had a friend with an HPE beta. It died quickly. Shame I could not rescue it.

  2. The coupe Spyder in red was sublime.
    Imagine if Lancia had got the rust issues sorted and put the volumex gear in a spyder body?
    We’d be looking at a genuine Italian stallion.

  3. I just returned from a 1000 mile cycle to Milan and when climbing a hill out of Salin Les Bains in France, a whole bunch of classics went passed me on a rally. Alfa Spiders, VW Beetles , Renault 4 and amongst them was a red Beta Coupe ! It wasn't a Volumex but it made my day

  4. there are absolutely exceptional cars on the road, as few of their era as the absolutely underrated LANCIA beta and Gamma. And cars that are talked about too much and absolutely overestimated compared to their road qualities that are actually no better than others (the mediocre Alfa Romeos)

  5. Jack, yes there is quite a difference between the first model, 1800 Beta coupe and last version, as in the example you drove, especially the interior. The original one had wood insets and the instrument cluster was totally different. Ditto the early cars had completely different style seats and in many ways were more attractive than the recaros as in the volumex. I have only been in/driven an 1800 and 2L car, and from memory, the 1800 revved better and seemed more powerful than the 2L. In many ways, the HPE was the pick of the Beta range, combining sportiness with practicality. I also am 6.1 and can’t say I found either headroom or the driving position an issue.The flattish setup of the steering is not an issue in my mind and actually better than for instance in that of the mini.

  6. My 2nd car I had at 17 was a Beta coupe .
    I loved that car, and it started the Affair with Italian cars , followed by 7 Alfas up to the Brera .

    I remember given it some stick from a set of lights against a 2000E cortina and my subframe snapped and the car was finished , the banging was hilarious 😂, the whole car was rotten .

    But didn’t spoil my affection for the Marque !

  7. That's a very cool car. I remember test driving a standard beta coupe 2.0 which was old and rusty and even then, it had so much character. My comment at the time was I want one, but not this particular car. I never got one because the insurance company said I was too young. As a result I missed Lancia and ended up driving fun Alfas instead.

  8. Mwah, the Golf GTI was introduced in 1976, introducing a sporty coupe, 7 year later (that is/was the lifetime of a modell range), with a mere 20 hp more was a mistake.

  9. I picked up a two year old 2.0 Beta Coupe in 1985 for peanuts, the rust scandal had crashed the values by then. Same red as this Volumex. High lift cams, K&N air filter and custom twin pipe exhaust, it was an XR3 killer 🤣 Absolutely loved that car! Sadly hitting a lamppost on the M60 slip road at Cheadle at 80 MPH brought that joy to an abrupt end 🫣

  10. Drove a Lancia Beta saloon (a 2-litre, no less) way back in my day. SO lovely to see you flogging this one 40 years later on the road in 2024! These cars had…um…personality. The front wings…almost flew off from the rust.

  11. 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 👍

  12. I love the video, but I would like to give some Audio feedback…. there's too much sibalence in your recordings. Back off the mic a little and we will hear less mouth noise.. Thanks for your content

  13. Maybe describe a Supercharger versus a Turbocharger. ( these days even electric diven turbos and ."staged" turbos – bi turbos .Superchargers are mechanically driven. Best example HAS to be the Detroit Diesel 2-Stroke. They had to have them because of the "cycle" In this case here it is "puffing" extra air pressure when it doesn't exist due to atmosphere only. ? what a unique engine..nice one. Incdentally you see "superchargers" in industrial air compressors… "screw-type" …same thing..extreme exact clearances in the rotors…

  14. I had a Lancia Beta Spyder back in the 1980's that I bought second-hand. I was on a three month holiday in the UK from New Zealand. When I returned to NZ I gave the Spyder to my brother and over the next 12 months it quite literally, rusted to dust. My poor bro, did all he could to save it but alas, it went to that car graveyard in the sky.

  15. I had a red 2 litre two cam, then a dark blue one, second hand, I absolutely loved them, I sold my fiat supermirafirori sport for one. I later had Alfa Romeo 156 V6 3.2litre, what an engine.

  16. These are cool cars, and not many left of them… I was a bit mad of Top Gear when they basically destroyed one in the Botswana special. Okay, that wasn't a very good example to begin with, but still, a rarity gone, even if it wasn't a Volumex.

    Anyway, what would be cool to see here is a Trevi. I always wanted to have a closer look at that mad dashboard that looked like Swiss cheese… and there was a Bimotore version, too, that was even more insane. But I guess those are more rare then hen's teeth nowadays…

  17. I always passed on the Beta since I had owned its cousin, a Fiat 128 … I really wanted the Scorpion because it was like an X19 which I could comfortably fit into at 6'3" … until I actually drove one after driving my friend's MK1 Jetta GLI to the car park to meet the Lancia's owners. At mile-high altitude, the Jetta 1.8 w/K-jetronic injection was still amazing, while the carbureted Scorpion I drove felt asthmatic. A Scorpion with the Volumex setup would have made it quite a bit more interesting at this altitude.

  18. We never got the VX in the states. By 1983, Lancia and Fiat were gone from our shores, with only Malcolm Bricklin importing the 124 Spider and X1/9 under their builder's names. Having owned quite a bit of italian steel, I did own one of the last HPEs imported to the US. It was a sweet car, but very underpowered with only about 86 hp squeezed from it's EPA choked engine. It was a sweet car, but living only a few short minutes walk from the Atlantic Ocean, rust took it's toll.

  19. Weight was 1000kg.
    When the VX and 2000ie were launched, rust was no longer an issue because of a collaboration with SAAB.
    The VX had a carb because of cost-cutting, but then Lancia spent a small fortune on the Recaro seats, which had carbonfibre frames – in the early-80s carbonfibre was very expensive. Crazy!
    Don’t complain about the headroom / cabin space, it was a spacious limo designed for giraffes compared to the rival Scirocco.

  20. As soon as I saw it I was reminded of the trips with my girlfriend around Europe in the late 80s.
    She wanted to buy a small car, I convinced her to get a 1.6 Beta Coupé, haha!
    A blast to drive, beautiful fast travel, elegance; Even though it was a few years old, it attracted attention

  21. in the 80's i had all these cars and series 1 car with 2 litre carb engine fitted with series 2 gearbox is best combination by far. the volumex and ie coupe are not as much fun as series 1 cars.

  22. The price of steel massively increased. Most car makers used thinner steel, monocoques. Road salting massively increased, ironically, from Sicily. Then every UK farquar, was on strike. Successful Italian immigrants working hard, became the new target of racial abuse, and the cars, no worse for rust than others, became a perfect punch bag

  23. I am more for the HPE version, it looks better and more innovative to me. The first two series Beta Coupé and HPE had lovely interiors, the third (the one you drove) and fourth were inside unfortunately pretty 80s with a lot of plastic. PS: When I was 4-6 years old my dad used to have a HPE (before a 2nd series 1600 and after it a 3th 2000). He loved them. Then he bought a Gamma 2.0 limousine.

  24. Having just nipped over to the UK last weekend to buy a 650 quid Merc clk200 coupe kompressor to go with my 3.8 brabus clk convertible w208s, I totally get this. I drove it back to sw france having bought unseen. A bit of a risque. But I have to say , for the first supercharged car I've ever driven, and a 23 year old ecobanger at that, that supercharged 2ltr pulls like a steam train. So linear from low down, like a big capacity naturally aspirated. So much nicer to drive than a turbo.