Lancia 037 Group B

1983 Lancia 037 Rally Group B

For Sale at Girardo & Co.

Photo – Girardo & Co.

Lancia, though a shell of its former self, has produced some cool cars over the years. Perhaps none more so than the 037 (yes, I include the Stratos in that assessment). The car was essentially a purpose-built rally car meant to dominate Group B – but the company had to build road cars in order to satisfy the FIA’s homologation requirement.

So Lancia built 207 of the road cars. Requirement satisfied. And then they dominated Group B, winning the 1983 WRC constructor’s title. It also won three consecutive European Rally Championships (’83-’85). The 037 holds the distinction of being the last rear-wheel-drive car to win the World Rally Championship.

Power is provided by a mid-mounted, supercharged 2.1-liter inline-four that makes 325 horsepower. This car has such a great, hunkered-down look. And check out photos from the rear. You can almost hear it barking. A competition car from birth, the race history for this chassis includes:

  • 1983 Targa Florio – 2nd (with Carlo Capone)
  • 1983 Rally Sanremo – DNF (with Andrea Zanussi)
  • 1984 Rally Sanremo – 4th (with Fabrizio Tabaton)

This car competed in WRC events (the last two above), as well as other rounds of the European Rally Championship. It competed with multiple different teams and wore a few different racing liveries over the years. The Olio Fiat livery it wears today has been there since 1984. Oh, and this car is currently road registered in Monaco, so there’s that added bit of insanity.

A note on these cars… it would appear that Girardo & Co. is the world expert in the Lancia 037. A quick browse of their “sold” history shows three (!) 037 rally cars and four road cars. I think the only people to have sold more 037s was Lancia themselves. So I guess you can’t go wrong here. You can check out more on this car here.

Lancia 037 Stradale

1982 Lanica 037 Stradale

Offered by RM Auctions | Paris, France | February 4, 2015

Photo - RM Auctions

Photo – RM Auctions

Here’s another wonderful homologation special brought to you by the legendary Group B Rally regulations. Group B has been responsible for some pretty epic road cars from the 1980s. This is one of the coolest.

When Lancia threw its hat into the almost-anything-goes-as-long-as-you-build-a-road-version ring, they called in Dallara, Abarth, and Pininfarina for assitance. The body is made out of Kevlar reinforced fiberglass and it looks sort of like a badass version of the rust bucket Lancia Montecarlo.

The engine is a version of the one found in the Fiat-Abarth 131 – it’s a supercharged 2.0-liter straight-four making 205 horsepower. It is mid-engined and its on-track success was legitimate: Lancia won the 1983 World Rally Championship constructors’ title with the 037. It’s one of the last great RWD rally cars.

Only 207 road versions were built, with this one being #45. It’s being sold by its original owner with less than 14,000km on the clock. While the power output might not be extreme, this is one of the coolest, rarest cars from the 1980s that you can buy. Click here for more info and here for more from RM in Paris.

Update: Sold $384,720.