Mention the storied Italian brand Lancia to the typical automotive consumer, and you might get a raised eyebrow or a confused query in return. Only the most hard-core of enthusiasts spare a thought for Lancia, which is a real shame considering the Italian automaker has a long line of stylish performance cars in its history--at least one of which, the Stratos, is worthy of legendary status both for its success as one of the nonpareil rally cars of all time and as a high-performance sports car.
The Lancia Stratos was a wild and wooly sports car in the grand tradition of the 1970s exotics--loud, cramped, and uncomfortable, but so fast and uncontrollable that every spirited drive became an immersive exercise inself-preservation. In the Stratos, the cold sweat of raw fear was the perfect complement to the heat of excitement. Today's rally cars are hugely sophisticated, relatively refined affairs, with complicated all-wheel-drive systems meant to keep driver and car pointed generally the right direction on the slick snow, ice, gravel, and dirt surfaces they navigate. The Stratos rally car took the opposite tack--instead of all-wheel drive, the Stratos was a rear-wheel-drive brawler that didn't so much tiptoe along uncertain surfaces as it beat them into submission with hairy at-the-limit handling and frantic, cavorting horsepower. The Stratos', um, spirited nature was reflected in its styling, which wrapped the tiny driving module in an aggressively wedgy design true to the proudly angular style of 1970s supercars like the original Lotus Esprit and Lamborghini Countach.
Lancia Stratos Rally Car
As I bemoaned in the Lamborghini Miura Car Lust, today's supercars tend to drive nearly as amiably as a Civic or a Corolla until asked to do otherwise. After you stepped out of a Lancia Stratos, with palms damp, heart racing, muscles trembling, and eyes barren and blank with shock, you knew you had driven a supercar.
As one would imagine from the name, the Lancia Stratos Supersite is an excellent resource for all things Stratos and served as the source for these images.
Thanks to Phill Andrews of Czechered Flag Photography for allowing us to display the images of the red Stratos--if you're interested in the rest of his work, check out his soon-to-be-updated site here.
