MILAN: The Lancia Delta Integrale is one of the most evocative names in European motorsport history and was a Group A rally car built for the Martini Lancia team by Lancia to compete in the World Rally Championship. And if you fancy owning a brand new version instead of a heavily used model from an auction you now can, courtesy of Italian coachbuilder Automobili Amos.
The originals competed in the WRC from 1987 when they scored their first victory in the first race they entered, the 55ème Rallye de Monte-Carlo. The last victory was in 1992 at the 34º Rallye Sanremo.
Now the Italian coachbuilder has come up with what the company’s founder, Eugenio Amos, has described as the ultimate tribute to this iconic rally car, the Futurista. The Futurista is a complete reworking of the 1980s legend, which makes extensive use of carbon fibre and boasts a number of modern engineering upgrades.
Amos (right) his chief designer posing with the car.
Like the old Delta S4 homologation specials it’s based upon, the rear doors of the Futurista have been welded shut. However, every panel of the car that can’t be unbolted has been done away with and replaced by duplicates in thoroughly modern carbon fibre. As well as reducing the weight of the car by around 90kg from the original, it also means the panels won’t rust and rot away as they famously did with Lancias of years gone by.
An upgraded intercooler, new intake system, improved exhaust and a new engine wiring loom have all been added, which among other things will eliminate another less than desirable feature of the original cars: electrical faults. With a claimed power output of 330bhp and the reduced weight of this re-imagination of the Integrale, there should be enough in the new version’s locker to give a fright to most of the current array of super-hot hatchbacks.
Of course, there is a major drawback, and that’s the price. Amos says, the feelings of “passion, euphoria and nostalgia” the Integrale generates can’t really be measured numerically, which is effectively saying this is a car you buy with your heart rather than with your head.
That’s just as well because the price for this is going to be close to €300,000 (RM1.4mil). At the moment, original cars with reasonable mileage are fetching between €33,000 and €85,000 (between RM159,000 and RM410,000), depending on model, age and condition.
Keyword: Lancia Delta Integrale reborn — at supercar price