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Digital Lancia Delta Integrale Is the Minimalist Widebody Restomod We Crave For

Although it was developed and marketed across three full generations and for a period of more than a quarter of century, there’s just one Lancia Delta anyone cares about, the Integrale. It was born from the WRC melting pot to make a huge impact among fans, unlike the no one cares to remember second generation or the no one wants to recall (anymore) third iteration.
Lancia Delta Integrale widebody restomod by mattegentile on Instagram 4 photos
Photo: mattegentile / Instagram
Lancia Delta Integrale widebody restomod by mattegentile on InstagramLancia Delta Integrale widebody restomod by mattegentile on InstagramLancia Delta Integrale widebody restomod by mattegentile on Instagram
Anyone who is genuinely impressed with the Lancia rags to riches and back to oblivion story knows a thing or two about the Delta. Not the letter of the Greek alphabet or the American air line, but the marvelous Italian small family car that became a legend through motorsport domination.

Basically, it’s another great example of how homologation rules for WRC’s various groups triggered a Eureka moment inside the collective minds and hearts of the people in charge of producing that street car with motorsport DNA. We could talk about such instances all day long and still won’t be done with them.

If you want a modern legend-in-the-making example, we can always refer to the Toyota GR Yaris saga for reference. Now back to the Lancia Delta Integrale, which is the object of awe and amazement for us right now thanks to a digital reinterpretation of virtual artist Matteo Gentile (aka mattegentile on social media).

He's apparently abandoned the craziness of air-cooled Porsche 911 VTOL projects (at least for now) in favor of something just as vintage but much more in tune with the immediate reality. Well, at least the virtual one, because (unfortunately) as far as we know we’re not dealing with a creation that’s about to become a car in the machined flesh and 4WD bones.

Actually, aside from this eerily steam punk industrial environment and the black Lancia Delta Integrale looking as widebody as restomods are getting these days, we have virtually no information to feed our daydreams of hooning this thing on a closed rally route. Pretty unfortunate, because we’d love to hear this artist’s thoughts on what should be hiding underneath the hood...


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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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