1973 Lancia Stratos makes for a super cool barn find

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Off-Road, Lancia, Racing



Like a scene out of Forza Horizon, finding something like an ultra-rare 1972 Lancia Stratos is a dream. The Ferrari-engined, Bertone-bodied rally car is one of the automotive highlights of the 1970s, winning the World Rally Championship three straight times (1974, 1975 and 1976). And while there were some 492 road cars produced, none were formally exported to the United States. Which makes the appearance of this red, Stradale variant quite a find.

It's up for auction at Bonhams, which has a thorough rundown of this particular model. As we said, it's a Stradale (Italian for "street"), designed to fulfill FIA homologation requirements. It uses a detuned variant of the Stratos rally car's 2.4-liter Ferrari V6, with 192 horsepower routed through a five-speed manual transmission. The curb weight sits under 2,200 pounds, which Bonhams estimates will help with the car's claimed 0-60 time of around five seconds.

This car was originally sold in Germany, before being imported to the US late in 1982 by a British national. He took delivery in Albuquerque, and proceeded to drive from there to his home in San Francisco. It was then regularly used for commuting, which must have been a quite a sight. The Stratos was put into storage in 1998 with just over 31,000 miles on the clock, and hasn't been moved since.

Not surprisingly, the auction house gave this Lancia a thorough examination, and found a body that is in "very sound condition," while the car's mechanicals appear complete. It even has the California stamp that signifies it's been federalized.

Bonhams is strongly recommending that this Lancia's new owner give the car a complete, ground-up rebuild. And if you were hoping that might lower the price a bit, you'd be wrong - Bonhams is predicting this particular car will sell at auction for $250,000 to $300,000. It's lot number 189, and will cross the block on August 16, at Pebble Beach. We've no doubt it will find a buyer.Continue reading 1973 Lancia Stratos makes for a super cool barn find

1973 Lancia Stratos makes for a super cool barn find originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Aug 2013 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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