If I had to pick one car to sum up what a Youngtimer should be, it’d be the Lancia Stratos. It has the futuristic and brutal styling every Italian supercar should have plus a brilliant competition record

It’s based on the Lancia Stratos Zero prototype shown at the 1970 Turin Motorshow. Designed by Marcello Gandini of Bertone, the Zero was a wedge-shaped concept car with no concessions to road car usability

The Stratos HF (High Fidelity) debuted at Turin a year later. Designed specifically as a competition car, the V4 Fulvia engine of the Zero had been replaced by a Ferrari Dino V6, mounted transversely behind the passenger compartment. The wedge shape remained but the lifting canopy was replaced by conventional doors and a very unconventional wrap-around windscreen

Development of the car was masterminded by Cesare Fiorio, rally driver Sandro Munari and former Ferrari F1 driver Mike Parkes. The Stratos was immediately successful in competition and won the World Rally Championship in 1974, 75 and 76

This barn-find Stratos Stradale is exceptionally original and unmolested. It is for sale at the Bonhams Quail Lodge auction in August 2013. I envy the new owner

Photo credit
Photos © Pawel Litwinski, USA 2013
Courtesy of Bonhams