The Lancia Rally 037 is one of those sports cars of classic proportions that just don’t age. Simple, objective and without blemish due to frivolous aggressive characteristics, the 037 represents the nexus of form and function. This is not surprising considering the roadgoing 037 Stradale was built for homologation purposes and is really a racing rally car at heart.
It is for these reasons that this particular 037 prototype, set for auction in Milan next June RM Sotheby’s, it looks so shocking. If you’ve never seen this test car before, it’s an impressive tipping point on the road to Lancia’s first Group B hero – not to mention it’s a far cry from that Lancia you could destroy by turning the steering wheel at the wrong time.
You can detect tips in the final form of 037 here and there, but some tips reveal that not everything is as it should be. The prototype’s headlights are the first and most visible signs. The external lamps immerse themselves in the bumper in a strange way. They push the directional signs down towards the edge of the divider, which in itself is much less pronounced than it would eventually appear in the passenger car.
The squarer, flatter cutouts for the front wheel arches are another peculiarity that would not reach the finish line, nor would the body split below the A pillar. The rear panels are especially strange, widening roundly compared to the car. production with side plates.
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At the back, things get especially weird. There are some curious details here. The rear lights appear to have been lifted from a Ferrari 308, and the “Abarth” and “SE 037” labels are extruded just below that gigantic rear wing. Abarth actually led the development of the 037, despite the car wearing Lancia emblems and liveries once at last The presence of red-painted metal obscuring the engine under the acrylic lid is another special peculiarity for this mule.
Altogether, Lancia built approximately 220 copies of the 037, including roadsgoing and running incarnations. This example – chassis # 001 – left the Dallara factory in September 1980 according to a Bonhams List 2016, the last time it was auctioned.
Lancia announced the 037 program in December 1981, and approved road cars went into production in 1982. In 1983, Lancia won the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ trophy with the 037. To this day, it is the last rally car with rear-wheel drive to claim a WRC title.
Chassis No. 001 was restored in 2014. Hagerty notes that the car did not sell the last time it fell under the hammer, so it was designed to sell for between $ 380,000 and $ 470,000. The car still belongs to Sergio Limone, the 037’s chief engineer who also oversaw the development of some of Lancia’s other rally cars, as well as The astute Alfa Romeo touring car and GT programs throughout the 1990s.
