Desirable Lancias

Before the Stratos, rally cars were adapted from road cars. The Stratos was designed from a blank sheet purely to win rallies — and it took three consecutive World Championships doing exactly that.

Pure Competition Focus, Rarely Matched

Few road-going cars have ever been this narrowly, deliberately purpose-built. Before the Stratos arrived in 1973, rally teams simply adapted whatever road car they already sold, but Lancia built this one from a genuinely blank sheet with no other job in mind, powered by a Ferrari Dino V6 that Enzo Ferrari himself provisionally agreed to supply. The results were almost immediate and remarkably total: three consecutive World Rally Championship manufacturers' titles between 1974 and 1976, including three straight wins at the Monte Carlo Rally alone, at a time when rival manufacturers were still racing cars designed primarily to be sold to ordinary customers.

That single-mindedness came at a cost the road-going Stradale version never quite overcame — buyers weren't especially drawn to a car with almost no creature comforts, and production ended after fewer than 500 examples. On the stages, though, nothing came close for three straight seasons. Below is the model we've covered so far.

• Lancia Stratos Overview — Classic Icon