Lancia were synonymous with rallying in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. No brand was more successful in dominating the World Rally Championship over that period. with four completely different cars; Stratos, 037, Delta S and Integrale. I have always wanted to do a manufacturer sequence build, somewhat inspired by the Damian’s Corvette build series. This will hopefully be a five-part tribute to Lancia, their changing fortunes, the designers and engineers that contributed to their success. I don’t have all the pieces in place yet but that will be a separate challenge to resolve.
Stratos and a new way
Lancia had been rallying for many years, as had other manufacturers, using special versions of existing road cars like the Mini Cooper, Ford Escort, Austin Healey, Porsche 911 and others. Lancia rallied their Fulvia in the late 60’s into 1970 but it’s production engine of 1600cc struggled against it’s more powerful rivals of the time. The team manager, Cesare Fiorio, a man who in own way dominated motorsport in Europe over the same period, realised that to compete with the likes of Porsche and Alpine-Renault, he would need a car with an engine over the driving wheels. Only problem was Lancia did not make such a car so Cesare would need to create one. A point to note, cars that participated in the WRC had to be homologated with a minimum production run of 500 cars. Now car makers say it is easy to build 1 or 2 specials or set up a production line to produce 10,000 cars but just 500 is very difficult and expensive which is why rally cars of the time were modified production vehicles.
In 1970 Bertone, the famed Italian car designer, created a rear engined concept car, using a Fulvia engine, called Stratos. This gave Cesare the inspiration for what he really wanted, and while nothing was transferred from the concept car, about 4 years later he had his result – a new way - the first ever purpose-built rally car, just 500 cars (allegedly) built, for road and rally called the Stratos.
I will flesh out the story, because it was not a straightforward journey for Lancia or Cesare, as the build develops but let’s look at the kit for Part 1. The Stratos by 1976 was at its zenith, almost unbeatable on the rally scene. The recently released Italeri 1/12 Lancia Stratos HF Gr.4 car represents its last win in the 1977 Monte Carlo race, the first race of the championship.
It’s a big box
A quick peak inside
The Alitalia sponsorship decals
The 40 page instruction and separate painting instructions for the exterior.
The latter seems a bit pointless since this is a white car with yellow wheels. Even more so since Italeri give very few colour guides for the internal elements of the car. Which maybe due to the use of coloured sprues.
There are white, yellow, steel, black, aluminium and clear sprues in the box. The body is white.
A lengthy intro I know but I hope you found it interesting. There is more to come as well as a build.
cheers
Michael