There are some cars that, even though you might not care about their origins or their purpose in the world, that you have to respect without justification. Some cars just earn that right. Think about the 1964 Ford Mustang, a car that captured the imagination of a generation. Think of Duesenbergs, cars built to the pinnacle of technology and luxury of the day. Vehicles like that. Cars that, regardless of your background, regardless of your opinion of what it looks like, are worthy. That’s what the Lancia Stratos is, one of the top-tier machines. Yes, that’s a sincere statement, because think about what the Stratos is. Lancia built them explicitly for rally racing and produced some street cars because the FIA made them. They have more style per square inch than most vehicles produced after 1970. They are an ax, a wedge with a basket handle and a Ferrari-sourced V6 (yeah, yeah, it’s a Dino V6…whatever) and it was a beast. 492 of them were made between 1973 and 1978, and it seems like half of the run wound up painted in the Alitalia livery of white with green. They were light, they were fast, and they were as twitchy as a lab rat that had been made to test cocaine. Twelve feet long, less than six feet wide, three and a half feet tall, and wired for sound, the Stratos HF is just one of Marcello Gandini’s wedge-shaped beauties, in the same company as the Lamborghini Miura and Urraco, the Maserati Khamsin and Ghibli II, and rally royalty Renault 5 Turbo. And we haven’t even spoken a word about the noise it makes yet…
That’s a great video! You can really tell how much Leno liked this car, he seems to be running the gears out a bit more than usual, more often, than most cars.
Always one of my favorites, and obviously his as well, (“I gotta see about getting one of these”, he says).
good to see some one up too there eye teeth in fun,,,,,.,.,