Perhaps the most highly developed Fulvia's were developed for Lancia by Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Maglioli whose trio of F&M Specials were produced to race in the Sport category. Up until that point, the Sport class was the platform for Zagato-bodied Fulvia's, but whilst these had proven fast, they were also fragile and unbearably hot with little in the way of cockpit ventilation. Thanks to the funds provided by Lancia, Fiorio and Maglioli developed three cut down Fulvia F&M Barchetta's that were bristling with advanced features. Each F&M Barchetta was very different and most notably, these hot rod prototypes took class victories at the Targa Florio and Nurburgring 1000km.

No doubt inspired by the level of performance this trio of Lancia prototypes had displayed, two Sicilian Lancia tuners also manufactured their own Fulvia Barchetta's for competition use. One was Matteo Sgarlata whilst the other is the car offered here today, built by noted preparation expert, Franco Petrola who ran Autofficina Petrola in Palermo. Petrola was a very successful tuner whose cars competed throughout Italy but most notably in the Targa Florio where, in 1976, Petrola's own Fulvia finished first in the 1.3-litre Group 4 category. Autofficina Petrola also ran customer cars, nearly all of which were finished in the same distinctive light blue livery.

Chassis 818.630.072900 is one of those Fulvia's prepared in period for competition by Autofficina Petrola and it is understood, the only example completed as a Barchetta. Starting with a new entry level 1.3 S, 072900 was extensively modified in 1975 to make it an extremely potent entry for the 1.3-litre class. Most obviously the roof and all glass got completely removed, the car being suitably reinforced with a bespoke welded cage. Other external items that were junked included the bumpers, side-mounted chrome trim and windscreen wipers. The intensive weight-saving programme continued to the interior where the centre console, heater / ventilation system, rear seat section and all the carpeting and sound insulation were discarded. Left with a superlight basis on which all the best high performance parts could be fitted, 072900 was then equipped with a mixture of custom parts fabricated in-house and Lancia's own HF components. Upgrades sourced from the official list of factory tuning parts included wider 6x14 HF wheels (up from 4.5x14 as standard), fixed position HF seats, an HF-liveried cam cover and an oil temperature guage. In order to accomodate the wider 6x14 rims, flared wheelarches were installed, other bodywork additions including an enlarged hood-mounted engine cooling scoop, a cut-down plexiglas windscreen, retaining straps for the bonnet and a fibreglass rear cockpit cover with streamlined headrests. There was a quick fuel-filler cap. The cockpit was suitably modified as well, Petrola fitting four-point harnesses, a Fusina three-spoke steering wheel, a turned aluminium dash, simplified door trim and drilled aluminium pedals. The indicator stalks were removed and replaced with a dash-mounted switch whilst the normal key-operated ignition was ditched in favour of a straightforward start button that worked in conjunction with the new electronic fuel pump. To finish, the original engine (still fitted) came suitably enhanced and by removing the stock air filters in favour of open carbs with meshed covers and fitting a free-flow side-exiting exhaust system, output rose considerably over the standard variant.

072900 was used extensively for competition during the latter half of the 1970's and into the 1980's and in September 1975 it was also registered for road use. Accompanying the history file are the original registration certificate, CSAI and ACI paperwork and a certificate issued by the late Franco Petrola confirming the date of conversion as 1975. At some stage the colour was changed from blue to red but in 2001 the car was completely restored by Autofficina Petrola back to its original specification and having covered a mere 74,832km from new, it remains in very good condition. On the button and ready to race.