model’sfourthRallyeMonte-Carloin 1979,and
the To ur de Corseas late as 1981.In all, it won
82 internationalrallies.
As a roadcar, though,the Stratoswas a
commercialfailure– it didn’t complywith
Americanregulations,so couldn’t be sold there
or evenin certainEuropeanmarkets.In Italy,
it was offeredat roughlythe samepriceas the
Dino,but to a certainextentLanciadidn’t care
aboutthat.It was concernedonlywithrally
success– creatinga money-spinningroadcar
wasn’t high on its agendabeyondhelpingwith
homologation.Now, of course,all variantshave
becomehugelydesirable.
“As witha lot of cars,peoplewantcorrect,
originalexamplesthat haven’t beenmessed
aroundwith,”says specialistWilliamI’Anson.
“Lotsweresimplytartedup whenthey weren’t
worththe money. TheyhoveredaroundDino
values– or perhapsjust aheadof that – for a long
time,but this is a properhomologationspecial
and one of the mosticonicrally cars.
“TheStratosreallymarkedthe start of profes-
sionalstagerallying– it launchedLanciain that
worldand the companywenton to dominateit.
Theyshouldbe worthmore,in my opinion.
They’remuchrarerthan a Dino,for a start,and
I thinkthat they’restill undervalued.
“Whenyou driveone, you can see why it was
so successful.It’s a real enthusiast’s car, and you
have to concentrateto get the best out of it.”
The rewardson offerjustifythat concentra-
tion,that involvement.To be honest,it is hard
to thinkof drivingaStratosgently.Eachstraight
bit of roadbecomesan excuseto listento that
gloriousexhaustnote one moretime.
Let’s hopethat the recentincreasein values- a Stradalesold for £308,000at RM Sotheby’s
recentLondonsale – doesn’t leadto more
examplesbeingstoredawayin collections.If
ever therewas acar that is begging to be used
and enjoyed,it is the LanciaStratos.
ThankstoWilliamI’Anson,whois sellingthe
featuredcar:http://williamianson.com;
01285 831488;PaulLawrence;JaneHoughtonDecember 2015 Classic&SportsCar 109“The Stratos was asmall-volumecar that
was neverdevelopedin the way that, for
example,aFord would havebeen,” says
MartinCliffeof LanciaspecialistOmicron
(www.omicron.uk.com; 01508 570351),
himselfaStratos owner since1984.“In
manyways,theywere designedas cheaply
and quicklyas possibleso Lanciacould
go rallying,and whilethat meansthat the
reliabilityoftendoesn’tcompareto that
of amass-market car, it does meanthey’re
relatively simple–acompetentamateur
couldlook after it at home.Everything’s
quiteaccessible,with the exceptionof the
alternator, whichis hiddenawaybeneath
the front bank of exhaustsand is an
absoluteso-and-soto get to.
“The brakes are aweak pointon
Stradales.The competitioncars had 15in
wheelsrather than 14in, so theycouldhave
properLockheedbrakes rather than the
ATE ones.In termsof theV6 engine,it’s
prettymuchall Ferrari Dino apartfrom the
carburettorsand waterhoses–just detail
differences,really.
“Even so, somecomponentsare getting
moreand moredifficultto find, and
companieshavebegunto remanufacture
them.The problemis, thereare so few cars
around–and so few that are actually
covering any sort of mileagethesedays
becauseof their value–that it rarely makes
economicsenseto makenew partsor for us
to carryalarge stockof them.”THE SPECIALIST
Martin Cliffe
‘EACHSTRAIGHTBITOF ROAD
BECOMESAN EXCUSETO HEAR
THATGLORIOUSEXHAUSTNOTE’
Clamshellpanelsoffer
goodaccesstomechanical
components.Below,l-r:
secondownerhadthecar
paintedtwo-tone;original
toolkitnestlesinspare