Old Lancia 1920' - 1930's ?

Well, that's a Lambda 1920s. They are fantastic carsa, head of the time for sure.

 

Was it common that the cars were RHD in this time period?

 

I'm certainly not an expert on such things, but I looked in a couple of old books, and I don't see a listing for "UL" plates issued for any region in Italy. However, "UL" plates were issued for the London County Council, so perhaps this photo was taken in England, not in Italy?

 

From wiki:-

"Until 1927 the countryside was Right hand Traffic (RHT) while cities were LHT.

Rome changed to RHT in 1924 and Milan in 1926. Alfa Romeo and Lancia did not produce LHD cars until as late as 1950 and 1953 respectively, as many drivers favoured the RHD layout even in RHT as this offered the driver a clearer view of the edge of the road in mountainous regions at a time when many such roads lacked barriers or walls."

 

[QUOTE=""Until 1927 the countryside was Right hand Traffic (RHT) while cities were LHT."[/QUOTE]

Wonderful quote. Must have been quite the transition from the countryside to the city. All sorts of mayhem! Few cars I expect. Only in Italy?

 

From 1901 to 1923 the cars moved forward on the left side of the roads and the steering wheel was on the right side of the cars.
From 1923 until today the cars moved forward on the right side of the roads.
The steering wheel was on the right side for Lancia until 1955, when they proposed also a LHD on the same model.
Fiat introduced the LHD in 1928 and never changed it.
Alfa Romeo introduced the LHD in 1950 with the 1900 model.
Maserati introduced the LHD in 1947 on his first road car they produced: the A6-1500GT.
Ferrari introduced the LHD in 1952.