Once one of Italy’s finest brands, Lancia now only makes one car, the Ypsilon, which is sold exclusively in Italy and, between us, it’s not that good either.
However, over three decades ago, this iconic Italian automaker was fighting against the big boys in the ‘Golden Era’ of rallying, known as Group B.
After losing the championship to Audi, and their well-known four-wheel drive Quattro in 1982, Lancia lined up at the start of the following year’s rally with a new car. The 037, which surprisingly, kept channeling the output to the rear wheels.
In that year, Lancia had some great drivers ready to push the 037 to its limits, and Walter Rohrl was one of them, but for some reason, the German didn’t care about winning the title, as he only competed in some rallies.
Still, that was enough for him to secure first place in Monte Carlo, Acropolis, and New Zealand, all behind the wheel of the fabulous 037, which despite lacking the AWD system of the Audi Quattro, proved to be a serious competitor.
Now, as part of rallying regulations, automakers needed to produce some road-going examples of their racers, so Lancia made a total of 207 units of the 037 Stradale.
All of them used a mid-mounted 2.0-liter four-cylinder supercharged engine, married to a five-speed manual gearbox, developing 205hp and 226Nm (166lb-ft) of torque.
Thanks to its motorsport pedigree, clever engineering, and limited production, the Lancia 037 is now a collector’s item, with the few examples that rarely end up on the used car market fetching in excess of $300,000.
But just how good is an ’80s rally-bred car? Well, Jeremy Clarkson had the chance to drive one during The Grand Tour’s season 2, episode 7, and had a difficult time restraining his emotions.