Whatever happed to Greta Garbo’s Lancia Lambda?

The second “Lancia” image shown here is the correct way round according to the original publicity photograph “MPGP 8873” (maybe “9873”) from which it must have been chopped, which confirms the car is left hand drive.

Sequentially numbered MPGP (“Metro Pictures Goldwyn Pictures”) studio publicity shots were issued from 1924 and the sequence reached “9999” in 1926 after which an “MGM” prefix was used. Garbo, said to be training in 1926, was “MPGP 9784”; so, although they were numbered when used not when taken, this second “unlikely Lancia” photo was issued c.1925-6.

Notwithstanding the LHD issue, the curve in the door front edge above the hinge, rounded door top and lack of a foot well vent, also seem to rule out a standard Lambda. The original photo shows more of that spare wheel cover on the left.

Correction: I inadvertently reversed the conversion rate below. It should have read £1 British was equal to $5 U.S.

The information provided, though accurate regarding the value of Great Garbo's car, is not from the original source. The material was originally in an article titled "Chaplin Still Leader of Screen Capitalists; Garbo Most Mysterious". This is what was printed in the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, September 4, 1934 Page 2.

"Greta Garbo has an $80 automobile compared with Joan Crawford's $2010 one." . . . . "The rolls show two things listed for the [re]clusive Swede who is reported to be getting a weekly salary of $10,000. If that's her salary, where it goes the tax collector does not know. The two items listed as her property are an $80 auto and $55,100 in bonds. The vigilant tax collector did learn that she has purchased another auto, and it soon will be on the rolls."

The 1934 conversion rate of £5 British to $1 U.S. is why the value of her automobile seems so low. The Australian pound was essentially equal in value to the British pound at the time. The earliest Australian source I found was the Mackay Daily Mercury of November 14, 1934, in Mackay, Queensland. Stories about the value of her car, and its refurbishment, appeared in newspapers as late as August 1935.

The following story from 1933 regarding another of her cars is from The Sunday Mail, Brisbane, September 10, 1933, Page 24.

"CRAWFORD, GARBO

"At times outside one of Hollywood's studios can be seen a magnificent 16-cylinder car, resplendent with shining paint and a blue-uniformed chauffeur. It is so magnificent that people just stand around and stare (writes our Hollywood correspondent.

"And sometimes an ancient four-cylinder car battered, wheezy, and of doubtful lineage, will chug-chug-chug past the first car. Nobody takes the trouble to look twice at it.

"The big car is the property of Joan Crawford. In the other rides Greta Garbo. Hollywood's highest-paid actress. She has been using the same car ever since she came to Hollywood. It does not attract attention she finds."

Since the car identified in this article has four-cylinders, this vehicle cannot be the Lincoln Town Car. The Lincoln was powered by a flathead V-8 engine.

LHD Lancias of that era are rare. Lancia, like Alfa Romeo only produced RHD cars until the 1950s, although there was the odd exception. I would suggest therefore that the second photo has been 'flipped.'

Garbo was a fan of an old car but hardly this one; it’s said she owned a Duesenberg (disputedly) and a Rolls (possibly, late 1930s) but she was supposedly photographed in Hollywood with her “little 1926 Lincoln” and in 1931 was said to be still chauffeured about in a comfortable old town car. Later long-term car ownership is evidenced by a report in September 1934: “Greta Garbo’s £16 Car... Greta Garbo with a salary of £2000 a week economizes on her car. Its value is £16.”

And a follow-up, February 1935: “Greta Garbo's famous £16 motor car has been fitted with new wheels and a new top. Garbo has owned the motor car for more than seven years and she has had several parts replaced during that time. Now almost all that is left of the original equipment is the horn. It was the Los Angeles tax collector who valued the motor car at £16 last year.” Was this the 1926 Lincoln town car?

Whatever, newspapers reported it eleven years old and owned by her for at least nine, when on returning to Hollywood Garbo caused quite a sensation appearing in a new car in June 1936.

The dark background colour indicates it is an dealer's plate. In this case surely belongin to Rickard Björkman, the Swedish general agent for the Italian manufacturer.

The number plate is a Swedish red dealership plate. Otherwise it would have been possible to order copies of the old registration papers for that Lambda.

The registration plate A473 is definitely Swedish. The letter A would have meant a Stockholm registration under the old numbering system used in the Garbo days. A new six-digit system was introduced in 1973 starting with AAA001.