The Family Stradale: 1976 Lancia Stratos HF

Sean Rooks | October 18, 2024

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my favorite Italian automobile brand is Lancia. I love the company’s innovative engineering accomplishments and daring design. While the brand has a litany of incredible vehicles that could be called to mind when you hear the name, perhaps one Lancia embodies those attributes more than any other: The Stratos HF. It happens to be my all-time favorite Lancia and the subject of today’s Good Find Friday.

The Lancia Stratos isn’t just a rally car—it’s a machine born from the dreams of speed junkies and engineering visionaries. Back in the early ‘70s, Lancia teamed up with the Italian design house Bertone to create something unlike anything else on the road or track. With its angular, wedge-shaped body, courtesy of Marcello Gandini, the Stratos looked more like a spaceship than a rally car.

Beneath that futuristic shell, they stuffed a Ferrari Dino V6 engine right behind the driver’s seat. It was small, light, and fast—everything a rally car needed to be. But here’s the thing: this wasn’t just a concept car or a one-off prototype. Lancia had to make 500 street-legal versions to get it into the racing world, and they did.

Once the Stratos hit the rally scene, it was game over for the competition. This car wasn’t just fast—it was untouchable. Debuting in 1974, the Stratos didn’t just compete in the World Rally Championship—it dominated, winning three consecutive titles from 1974 to 1976. Its compact build and Ferrari power made it unbeatable on tight, twisty roads, and its handling was so precise that it seemed to defy the laws of physics.

Even though its production life was brief, the Stratos left an indelible mark on motorsport history, cementing its place as one of the all-time greats, both on the track and in the hearts of car enthusiasts everywhere including yours truly.

Stratos’ are relatively rare to see in a public sale, but they do pop up from time to time. Artcurial, the fine French auction house, has one included in its “Automobiles sur les Champs” sale on October 27th.

This Stratos is being offered publicly for the first time by the family that has owned the car for almost 40 years and the provenance appears to be well-documented, based on the catalog entry. While it would appear the car was ordered as a Stradale (or street) variant when new, the car currently displays some Group 4 racing features.

Painted in red, the car is said to have been delivered in midnight blue paint originally. This is a dark blue color that I must confess I haven’t seen on many Stratos’ that have come to auction in the past. The most common blue color would appear to be ‘Azzurro Chiaro.’ The Bertone-designed body on this car is currently painted red, in a color that could approximate ‘Rosso Arancio’ or red-orange based on the photographs. The original color is exposed in some areas, such as under the rear lid.

Some areas of wear and misalignment are visible on the exterior bodywork, particularly on the front of the car near the driver’s side headlight. It’s difficult to see the condition of the paint from the provided images, but it appears at least to be presentable.

Moving to the interior, it’s suggested that the center of the seats are the original Lancia alcantara. Having owned a Lancia with alcantara seats, the wear certainly appears to be consistent with use. It’s my understanding that the entire face of the seats on the Stratos were Alcantara, but the bolsters here appear to be leather or vinyl. The Alcantara on a Lancia wears VERY quickly, so it’s easy to assume they were replaced at some point for this reason.

The dash appears to be original, with a Haldex Tripmaster mounted to the face on the passenger side. The gauges are intact, but no closeup images are provided of the odometer, which is said to indicate 87,000km traveled.

The engine bay looks correct but aged, with the typical Lancia air cleaner in place on top of the Ferrari-sourced V6 Dino engine. The power plant was a detuned version of the 2.4-liter mill in the rally car, producing about 188bhp.

As alluded to earlier, the exterior has some Group 4 modifications, including wider arches on the fenders and Grp. 4 style wheels. The suspension on the Stratos comprised fully independent wishbones with coil springs and anti-roll bars. Braking was provided by discs on all four wheels.

Final Thoughts

The Artcurial team refers to this slice of automotive history as a restoration project, which is perhaps accurate given it’s not in its original color and shows wear from its 86,000 kilometers of use. Its last engine rebuild and service was in 1989, but it reportedly has been inspected for roadworthiness 28 times since 1993. When the last inspection took place is not disclosed, however.

Perhaps owing to its provenance of single-family ownership from when the car was only 10 years old, the estimate is pretty high  for a resto project at €550-650,000. The last Lancia Stratos to sell at public auction was a 1975 Stradale at RM Sotheby’s Monaco auction in May of this year. That car sold for $636,434 including buyer’s premium and was in similar condition to the subject of this article, in my opinion.

I’ve been watching the Stratos market for some time, and maybe 4 or 5 years ago these were trading in the $400,000 range and sometimes in the mid-high $300Ks. Prices have consistently risen over the last 30 years, meaning that if you want one of the 500 authentic Lancia Stratos HF cars built, you’ll have to invest generously to acquire it.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!

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