A legend in rallying, the Lancia 037 marked the conclude of an era. It was at the same time the initial car or truck to gain the famous Team B constructors’ championship, but also the last non-AWD car or truck to gain an in general WRC title. And, it did so by defeating the juggernaut of Audi’s VW-backed, all-wheel-generate Quattro, a feat number of imagined achievable. Now, the originator of that historic victory, the initial Lancia 037 prototype, is up for auction.
Chassis 037-001 may perhaps not glimpse like the 200 or so homologated 037 Stradales, but beneath the cobbled-with each other styling, uncomfortable panel gaps, and package car or truck-like management panel, it has the basic principles that made its successors world champions. Power will come via a mid-mounted, supercharged sixteen-valve 2.-liter four driving the genuine wheels as a result of a 5-speed transmission. Dependent (incredibly) loosely on a Lancia Montecarlo (AKA Scorpion in the U.S.), the the entrance and rear sub-sections are tube-framed, and the engine rotated ninety levels for a longitudinal orientation.
This particular car or truck was created by race car or truck constructor Dallara, but you are going to discover an Abarth badge on the rear deck. At the time, the Fiat tuning division was was in cost of Lancia’s rally software, so it bought some branding highlighted on the prototype that failed to make the remaining reduce. Other stylistic variations on this prototype that failed to make it to the race car or truck consist of its squared-off wheel arches, staggered headlight placement, and round taillights.
The prototype was initially pink but sooner or later Lancia painted it in the white and blue Martini livery of the race automobiles, working with it on reconnaissance operates. The existing proprietor, Sergio Limone, restored it again to its primary coloration and spec.
The 1983 WRC struggle in between the 037 and the Audi Quattro is the things of legend. Lancia stretched the rulebook to its limit to get the gain, concentrating its efforts on the rounds it realized it could realize success in, flooding them with 037s to box Audi out of the podium (and factors), although entirely skipping rounds wherever it realized its RWD would be at a drawback. Ironically, it was a further German, Walter Rohrl, together with Finland’s Markku Alén (Finland was one particular of the skipped rounds) who delivered Lancia their WRC title.
In 2019 a Lancia 037 road car or truck marketed for about $867,000 at auction. When not as driveable, this prototype is arguably a lot more important, historically speaking. We’ll know its genuine price when it crosses the block at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Milan on June fifteen.
Relevant Video clip:
