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Lancia Delta S4 Group B

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1985 Lancia Delta S4 Corsa Group B

For Sale by Girardo & Co.

Photo – Girardo & Co.

The Lancia Delta is a car closely associated with rallying. The first-generation of the Delta was built from 1979 through 1994, and there were a number of variants of this five-door hatchback, including sporty ones.

The Delta S4 is related to the standard Delta hatchback mostly in name only. It was a mid-engined, all-wheel-drive near-supercar designed with one purpose in mind: to win in Group B rallying, which of course was the pinnacle of rallying when it was introduced in 1982. Group B was a little too extreme, and the FIA dialed back the regulations after 1986.

Power is from a supercharged and turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four good for 550 horsepower. Sixty arrived in 2.5 seconds. This thing is a beast, even by today’s standards. And don’t forget: they built 200 road-going versions.

This car is chassis #208 and was a works Lancia Martini test car before being sold to a partner team. The car actually wears the Jolly Club team’s ToTip livery and is wrapped in a Martini livery. This is one of the most serious Group B cars, and it can now be yours. Click here for more info.

GSM Delta

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1961 GSM Delta

Offered by H&H Classics | Epsom, U.K. | June 5, 2018

Photo – H&H Classics

Bob van Niekerk and Willie Meissner founded the Glassport Motor Company in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1958. Fiberglass sports cars had been on sale in the U.S. and U.K. for a few years by this point, but Niekerk and Meissner decided to open the doors for such cars for the South African market.

Their first car was called the Dart. It was a sporty little roadster with an optional hardtop. It was a good enough car that the British took note and GSM began exporting them to the U.K. (or assembling them in England). The problem was that Daimler already sort of had the whole “Dart” thing cornered, so GSM called the export cars the Delta. And that’s what we have here.

GSM didn’t build their own engines, instead based the Dart/Delta around other cars. This car originally had a 1.0-liter engine but now sports a 1.5-liter straight-four. Production records are sketchy, but it is thought that 122 Darts were built as well as 76 Deltas. Restored a while ago, this car shows well and should bring between $24,000-$30,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Not sold.

Delta S4 Stradale

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1985 Lancia Delta S4 Stradale

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Villa Erba, Italy | May 27, 2017

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Ah, the sweet, overpowered world of homologation specials, specifically, Group B homologation specials. You see, Group B was the most intense and scariest form of rallying of all time and it occurred from 1982 through 1986. The cars were required to be based off of road-legal cars so manufacturers designed super sophisticated rally cars, and then added the barest of passenger niceties to sell a few hundred “road cars” to make their rally cars legal. But to be fair, the interior here is pretty nice.

There are a bunch of Lancia Delta special editions, such as the successor to this car, the HF Integrale of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But this was the Mack Daddy. It was an evolution of the supercar-esque Lancia 037 that preceded it. The Delta S4 rally car raced only in 1985 and 1986, the same years that Lancia built the Stradale road cars.

They are four-wheel drive, mid-engined rockets. Where the later HF Integrales were four-doors, these sported two. And the engine is a supercharged and turbocharged 1.8-liter straight-four making 300 horsepower. Top speed was 140 mph and 60 arrived in about six seconds. That’s serious mid-80s performance from a sub-2.0-liter four-cylinder car.

Lancia only built 200 of these and they don’t change hands often. This one should bring in the neighborhood of $490,000-$600,000. Click here for more info and here for more from RM Sotheby’s.

Update: Sold $551,147.

Delaney Delta

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1954 Delaney Delta

Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | June 14, 2015

Photo - Osenat

Photo – Osenat

Delaney Gallay, still in business as Gallay Ltd, traces its roots back to Jean Gallay in Switzerland in 1911. The Delaney family joined the company (or bought it, or something) at some point and it moved to the north of London. The company has built car parts for a long time and still manufactures bits and pieces for companies like Caterpillar, McLaren, and BAE.

Eric Delaney was part of Delaney Gallay and he built the above car. He had a chassis built by John Griffiths and attached a 1.2-liter Ford straight-four. The hand-fabricated aluminium body work was built at Delaney Gallay.

Delaney raced the car for a few years before letting it sit. It was sold in 1970 and rediscovered in the 80s. A small restoration was carried out to repair what was needed and at that time, the car was green. It has since been stripped to bare aluminium and is race ready. It’s the only one like it anywhere and it could be yours. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this sale’s lineup.

Update: Not sold.

Delta Integrale 16V

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1990 Lancia Delta Integrale 16v

Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Silverstone, U.K. | May 23, 2015

Photo - Silverstone Auctions

Photo – Silverstone Auctions

The first generation Lancia Delta went on sale in 1979 and continued in production through 1994. That’s a long time. But it wasn’t the same stale car for 15 years – as it grew closer to the end, the cars got more and more extreme.

The Delta was also Lancia’s rally car for the late-1980s. The Delta Integrale 8v won the 1988 World Rally Championship. A variant of that car was sold to the 4WD-buying public as the Delta HF 4WD beginning in 1986. At the end of 1987, it was replaced by the Delta Integrale 8v. In 1989, the Delta Integrale 16v went on sale.

The engine is a 2.0-liter turbocharged straight-four making 200 horsepower. This was the ultimate hot hatch for 1990. Top speed was 137 mph and with its 47/53 front-rear torque split, the 4WD car could hit 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. That’s quicker than a Ferrari Mondial, which was on sale at the same time and had twice the cylinder count. More extreme versions were yet to come. This is a recently-serviced, 71,000-mile car that can be yours for between $20,000-$25,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Silverstone’s lineup.

Update: Sold $27,540.