Yes, the photo was taken in 2005 in Western Pennsylvania. The car came from northern New York, by the Canadian border. It was owned by an old friend and great Lancia nut named Andrew Ewing. He passed away of natural causes after a good long life, but this car, and a B24 Spider which had been run into a tree and were both purchased as parts cars, were left by the estate to another friend in Pennsylvania.
The Spider was quickly sold to a UK-based dealer and I believe it went to New Zealand and for a restoration.
The B20 was complete, and they had removed the axles only to fit them temporarily on a Spider they were restoring at the time, while the Spider original parts were being reconditioned.
I seriously pleaded with them to sell me this car, pointing out that it was in some sense almost as rare as B24 spider, being one of just 255 of what are considered to be most desirable closed Aurelias.
However, they insisted that the car could not be restored, and it was parted out around 2009 and most of the parts have gone all around the world.
However I bet if you put this on eBay now as a complete car, it would bring $20,000-$30,000 - so I suggest that I was correct.
For the generation for whom these were $500 as running cars and $100 as parts cars, the recent surge in interest was sort of impossible to fathom, even just a few years ago.
I really had the inclination to try to buy it, hold onto it, and see if the economics would allow for a restoration at some future point. But, it was not to be.
