It was the only two-wheel-drive rally machine that could show Audi’s Quattro that the driver still had a lot to do with driving to victory. It was Walter Röhrl’s favorite machine to whip around in. And it had the pedigree from the same company that had the initiative to launch a Ferrari-powered wedge called the Stratos down every gravel road in Europe and beyond. The Lancia 037 Stradale occupies a strange spot between the unreal Stratos and the infamous Delta Integrale machines that were at the center of the demise of Group B rally racing. Just barely based on the Montecarlo coupe and sharing only a shadow of the shape with that little sports car, the 037 was realistically a psychotic little machine that balanced light weight, a supercharged four-banger that thumped out power all over the rev range, and seriously overbuilt suspension components to make…a road-going car. In 1982, you still had to produce a street variant of the car you wanted to compete with, so a few hundred Stradales were sold off. It isn’t often that you get up close and personal with one…the only time I saw one was at The Auto Collections in Las Vegas back in 2010. But after seeing tons of old rally footage, you might like a closer look inside this rear-engined missile? Thank Leno for squeezing himself into the cockpit of this car…trust me, I’ve tried that stunt in a Lancia Scorpion and failed miserably.