It has a special storage compartment for your helmet in the door. It has louvers for the rear window. And it has a roof spoiler reminiscent of a tiara. The Lancia Stratos HF Stradale may look a tad strange, but secretly it is very tasty. Very, very good.Until the 1970s, Lancia shopped its designs at Pininfarina. That changed when Bertone, that other famous Italian design house, pulled the curtain off its Stratos Zero concept at the 1970 Turin Motor Show. A radically designed car that didn't even have doors. No, you took a seat in the Stratos Zero by opening the windscreen. The design seduced Lancia's PR man Sandro Fiorio and his son Cesare. Who in turn paid a visit to the chief of Lancia at the time.
Long story short: that chief - Ugo Gobbato- saw merit in a new Lancia based on Bertone's Stratos design. But he did set the condition of keeping development costs as low as possible, by swapping parts with sister brands. The V6 from the Ferrari Dino was to be used as the power source, mated to an already existing five-speed manual transmission. A year later, the Lancia Statos HF showed off at the same Turin Motor Show. Mouths nearly fell open.
NO EXTREME FIGURES
It is not hard to imagine why. It's 1971. People are just getting used to cars not necessarily having curves. And now Lancia comes up with this oddly shaped object? A short wheelbase, low and wide body, sharply sloping nose, headlights that flip up, futuristic round windows and a modest ass with big round tail lights. An exotic appearance that would leave an everlasting impression.
The final street version of the Stratos HF, the Stradale, was not only impressive to look at. Enzo Ferrari, after some difficult wrangling, agreed to supply the desired 2.4-litre V6 from the Dino. That engine was good for 190 hp and 225 Nm of torque. Not extreme figures, but thanks to the Stratos' low weight, enough to make the snazzy little car shoot from 0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds. In no time, the Stratos HF Stradale proved itself as a potent coupe.
The rally version -yes, there was one- was even more aggressive than its street brother. Besides a fitting exterior including a battery of spotlights on the nose, the power was increased. On paper that meant pure gain, in practice it came down to steer or spin. One misjudgement and you were next to the track instead of on it. The fact that the technology also occasionally gave up did not help reliability.
LOCAL
500 street versions of the Stratos had to be built to compete in the Group 4 rally championship. In the end, 492 were delivered. Not because the thing didn't sell, but because the requirement dropped from 500 to 400. That's how it went in those days. The one on these pages is one of them. It comes in the finest shade of blue, on gold rims and with its original engine and gearbox. Of all the major parts, only the windscreen is not original.
The most important thing for a car like this is to be taken out regularly. A quick warm-up and then roar undisturbed along winding country roads. After a restoration that took more than two years and sixty thousand dollars, this Stratos HF Stradale is more than ready for that work. It has just 29,800 kilometres on its odometer and winks its folding headlight in your direction. "Buy me and I'll show you what driving really means," reads its lure.
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