Lancia Stratos Classic Cars for Sale

The Lancia Stratos was a popular rally and sports car made by the famed Italian automobile manufacturer Lancia. Its official name was Lancia Stratos HF, with HF standing for High Fidelity. Introduced in 1973, the car was successful on the rally circuit throughout the 1970s and has been recently revived with the New Stratos. The car has been a mainstay in popular culture, being recognised in a multitude of films and books, including the children's franchise Transformers.

A history of the Lancia Stratos

The Lancia Stratos was first introduced — in name — by Bertone with the Lancia Stratos Zero in 1970, but this original design shared little with the actual Lancia Stratos. The Lancia Stratos proper was introduced in 1971 at the Turin Motor Show. This prototype featured many of the trademarks of the make we know today, both in colour and design. The Lancia Stratos became a very popular racing car soon after this introduction, sporting several variations of the Dino Ferrari V6 engine and popularised by its rally team which included Cesare Fiorio, Mike Parkes and Sandro Munari. The Stratos was built with a space-frame structure made of steel with a fiberglass body. After extensive testing, the Stratos went on to compete in the World Rally Championship from 1972, winning the 1974, 1975 and 1976 championship titles, among other competitions. Although the car continued to see successes throughout the early 1980s, it ceased production with changing ownership; the one and only 3.0 litre version of the Stratos was raced by Andy Bentza in 1983. It has most recently been revived with the New Stratos in 2010, a one-off model based on the Ferrari F430.

Concept editions based on the Lancia Stratos

Although the appearance of a New Lancia Stratos has signalled a contemporary interest in the Stratos, the car has also seen several similar variations throughout the years. The earliest such concept car was the Lancia Stratos Zero, first introduced by Bertone in 1970. The Zero was a highly futuristic design with sharp contours and was famously featured in the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker. Another concept car, the Sibilo, followed the Lancia Stratos in 1978, and it featured similar aerodynamic sharp lines with futuristic plastic windows integrated into the shape of the car, painted dark and dystopian. More recently, the British firm Fenomenon introduced their Fenomenon Stratos at the 2005 Geneva Auto Show, with a design which updated the original 1970s Lancia Stratos.