1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale Could Fetch $700k At Auction

A 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Stradale will be auctioned off by Gooding & Company at an Amelia Island event running from March 2 to 3, 2023.

The estimated price is set between $600,000 to $700,000, which is a reasonable price for an extremely rare car with such a prestigious racing history. Its many victories shouldn't come as a surprise, as Lancia designed it specifically to go racing. The Stratos replaced the Fulvia sedan, which Lancia used to go racing for the first time since it left F1 in 1955. Because of its sedan roots, the Fulvia struggled. It was inherently flawed, so Lancia moved on to a new platform.

In rally racing, grip is everything. That's why Audi became the dominant force in the 1980s, forcing everyone else to adopt an all-wheel-drive system. But the Stratos was born before that, and Lancia used a mid-engine layout to get as much grip as possible over the rear axle.

Lancia also overengineered the car in every other department. The standard gearbox was a five-speed manual transaxle, for example. It also had disc brakes at all four corners and fully independent wishbone suspension with coil springs, anti-roll bars, and telescopic shock absorbers.

Even the engine is impressive by modern standards. It's a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine with triple Weber carburetors, and it produces 190 horsepower at 7,400 rpm. That's a pretty impressive specific power output for a near 50-year-old engine. Then again, what else would you expect from an engine borrowed from Ferrari?

This particular example has all matching numbers. The engine, gearbox, chassis, and body panels are entirely original, finished in Rosso Arancio. It's a three-owner car, and Gooding & Company claims low mileage. Looking at the images, the odometer reads 72,556 km, or just over 45,000 miles.

Only 492 examples were made, making it more exclusive than the Lamborghini Countach and Ferrari F40. The latter supercars are easily worth a million these days, so it stands to reason the Lancia will only go up in value. Actually, it's guaranteed to go up in value since Lancia seems to have lost the plot completely.

As further proof that this Lancia is a relative bargain, look no further than the famous Lancia restomod based on the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. One of these restomods recently went on sale for $900k.

If your budget can't stretch to $700k, you can also wait for the Kiska APG-1, which looks like a modernized Stratos but is powered by the legendary turbocharged five-pot borrowed from an Audi RS3.