Someone parked his Lancia Delta close to the entrance of the freeway exit at my place of work. It’s been sitting there for 4 weeks now and I finally managed to find the time to pull over and snap some pics. It features not only the S4 rally decals but has also a somewhat modified interior…..
I would say this looks pretty serious and may have seen some racing action.
Though not an ‘Evoluzione’ and no mid-engined S4 Stradale, it also is quite a bit “cheaper”. The for sale sign lists it at a price of 41,800 euros…..
It’s a great antidote for the sea-of-grey cars you usually see these days, that’s for sure. Might be just slightly impractical as a daily driver, though. Just a little.
Yeah it needs to come with a co-driver for the daily grind to tell you how slippy the on-ramp is or that you can take the corner in 4th at 120 and not to cut it.
I like it! “Wendy’s drive-thru 100 meters right 3 left 6!”
An English friend told me he had one of these bought cheap with problems but in the UK parts were not a problem and it went like stink but he sold it, traded on a Citroen AX GT which weighed nothing and went even better. Ive got too used to comfort in my daily drive so that semi rally interior would not suit nowdays but it looks like it would be a fun Sunday drive occasionally.
Two words: ticket magnet.
I am afraid this is just an ordinary FWD Delta, the Integrale has wider wheelarches, this started with rather modest ones on the HF Integrale 8V to the Evo I & II.
Just remember the Delta was meant to be a Golf alternative, it was a Fiat Ritmo disguised as a Lancia.
The reason for the Integrale was Lancia’s despair to have an immediate successor for the banned Group B Delta S4 rallycars.
To be honest I never liked them, the driving position is odd and to work on the Integrales well they were hell on wheels, a turbo, the gearbox, an intercooler a 2 liter engine all stuck in an engine bay designed for a 1300 Fiat engine!
I once had a yellow one, when they were cheap and the windscreen just popped out, for no reason,
Could it have been re-shelled after an accident? The livery does look a bit “wanna be” but the interior looks relatively purposeful, as though it may have been used in competition.
I just think if the guy is asking 40k Euro for a tarted up HF Turbo he must have escaped from an institution.
It has no integrated roll-cage like the works Delta’s did have, this cage is bolted and offers little protection when crashing We once had a real ex-works Martini Integrale which is in the books and did the Safari rally.
This car’s body broke on a jump as works Lancia’s were, after the fully integrated roll cage was welded in, were dipped in an acid bath , flushed with water and set outside in the sun to rust. (to make the body loose weight for competition)
When needed, they were literally taken from the ‘body shelf’, shot blasted, painted and prepared for competition.
A works rally car is generally used for 2 – 3 events then it can be used as a reconnaissance car after which it will be sold off or simply scrapped for parts.
Lancia were very tight, parts were hughely expensive and nothing ‘dropped of the back of a truck’ like we had with the Renault 5 Turbo age or with Impreza’s. Although Prodrive (Impreza works cars) was a fortress we knew a guy who ‘arranged’ for parts at very reasonable prices, the bosses knew but they loved amateurs using their cars.
I didn’t for a second think it was ex-works, just raising the possibility it might have an Integrale drivetrain and could have been used in club competition.
I’m remembering British rally cars I saw in my youth, including Mk1 Escort drivetrains fitted into modified Mk3 shells, Sierra Cosworths which morphed into Escort Cosworths, and a Rover SD1 which lost its rear doors and a good foot and a half in length to sharpen its handling.
Agreed on the 8V/16V flares. Could be a narrow-bodied 1987 HF 4WD Gruppo A SE043 clone (though probably not the real thing).
Have to agree with Matt below regarding this most excellent stripage on the street. Nice find Hannes.
Martini is my favorite racing livery, but racecar graphics are really really cheesy on the street.
They have definitely caught the look of a rally car and the feel of a genuine club racer. It would never be mistaken for the S4 but it’s plausible as a Group A and probably fun
off topic alert
sorry, but I’m in need of advice. Hannes (or other German-speaking users), could you please recommend me some German car site/magazine/blog worth reading? It seems like mobile.de and autoscout ad descriptions aren’t enough for me 😀
Reading these in English helped me a lot and I want to apply the same pattern to another language (finals from German are coming, and then of course life…)
I hope someone will notice this comment 😀