Your chance to buy a Lancia Stratos

he Lancia Stratos, a car that needs no introduction, has seen astronomical appreciation lately. Rightfully so: Even if it hadn't won the 1974, 1975, and 1976 World Rally Championship in Group 4 racing, it would still look like a million bucks. Derived from the Stratos Zero, the most mind-bending concept car ever produced, the Stratos remains a brilliant reflection of an era defined by the Countach, the Carabo and the Modulo
What we have here is an original, low-mileage Stratos in reddish-orange, with a beige interior and gold wheels -- Lancia was doing bling rims when Subaru was still sweeping its warehouse of scattered 360s. After it rolled off the line in Turin (following a few miles on the roof, we hope) it went straight to London. It has just 54,800 kilometers on it -- 34,051 miles, most of those presumably inducing sheer terror. "The handling of the Stratos is so extremely well and off-course [sic] the power of the car is amazing," says the seller. "It is almost possible to feel every stone on the roadBut of course. The Stratos is that unholy combination of a short wheelbase, a sub-2,000-pound weight, a 200-hp, 2.4-liter V6 from a Ferrari Dino shoved in the back somewhere for a frightening 37/63 rear weight split, and the unsettling notion that if you crash one you'll have to declare bankruptcy. "The Stratos was somewhere between scary and suicidal for an unprepared driver," claims Sports Car Market. "The almost-square layout, once it starts to go it takes a very quick driver to catch it. As evidence, a friend of mine was almost killed during a demonstration ride on a residential street a few years back. The car was destroyed
Finally, a car that lives up to its aggressive looks