Stratospheric

 It is a legend of a car. The Lancia Stratos.....the what?

That sort of response is understandable as the car was built in the early 1970's with the intention of rallying and in order to be eligible for the World Rally Championships (WRC) there had to be a production run of at least 500 vehicles.

Not many made it out to the open roads mainly because of the impracticality of its size, smaller than a Ford Escort and being mid engined under the Bertone styled shell there was limited storage and scope for the comfort of the driver and sole passenger.

The inaugural car was fast for its era with a 2.4 litre Ferrari Dino powerhouse giving a 0 to 60mph time of under seven seconds and a top speed of 144 mph. The distinctive and unique wedge body shape with pop up headlights was made from a combination of glass fibre and steel for lightness and strength and with the engine cover and tail section in plastic. The design and performance led to three years from 1974 of dominance in the WRC.

Bertone had to work hard to get the commission from Lancia as the Italian car maker had a strong and seemingly unbreakable association with the Pininfarina styling house but a bit of ingenuity including mocking up a concept car using the bits of a friends Lancia Fulvia got him the job. The Bertone pedigree was already well established with the striking Miura and Countach models from Lamborghini. The 1971 Turin Motor Show was the launch pad for the Stratos HF (High Fidelity).

Apart from the 2.4 litre version there were two other engine variants albeit from the Lancia factory somewhat forced on the model as Enzo Ferrari saw the Stratos as a serious competitor to the Dino V6 and was reluctant to supply the superior engine. However, with the end of the production run of the Dino all of the remaining 500 engines were unceremoniously dumped at the Lancia factory gates. It is thought that only 492 cars were actually built hence their rarity and premium value amongst todays collectors and enthusiasts.

There were mechanical issues with regular transmission failure and quite a few accidents from over-egging it on the loose dressed forest and mountain tracks during the rallying seasons. Fiat, the parent company of Lancia were jealous of the success of the Stratos over their Abarth model and politics came into play to reduce support and financing.

In spite of this and new regulations restricting engine power the Stratos continued to perform well until the last victory albeit by a private rather than  manufacturers team in 1981. After rallying there was a brief foray into endurance racing but consistently being second best to the Porsche 935's in most events.

Any surviving cars ended up in private collections or with infrequent appearances in classic car events. A few replicas have been produced by such companies as Hawk Cars, Lister Bell Automotive and Napiersport .

In 2010 a new Stratos roughly based on the 1970's design  was announced but at a price of about a million euro's was unlikely to be widely seen by the general public.

Perhaps more in reach would be the well crafted scale models by Polistil or Burago but the best buy is definitely the comic book Transformer known as Autobot Wheeljack  based on the classic Alitalia green, white and red livery of the best known version , all for 99 pence NOW! on EBay