Photo: RM Sotheby’s
A few weeks ago, we were telling you about the Gran Turismo Collection, an impressive single-owner car collection spanning fifty years of automotive history that will be sold at auction via RM Sotheby’s. It includes fabled vehicles from Ferrari, Bugatti, Jaguar, Lamborghini, and Lancia, and each one of those cars is special in its own way and highly coveted by collectors.
Today, we want to focus more on one particular example from the Gran Turismo Collection, namely the 1982 Lancia 037 Group B Works Evolution 1. This is a genuine rally legend, being one of the models that made the mid-engine Lancia an icon of Group B’s earlier years.
It also was the last rear-wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship, as the final years of Group B competition were dominated by four-wheel-drive models.
The design of the Lancia 037 is primarily the work of Abarth, but racing car maker Dallara and design house Pininfarina were also involved in the process. It was built on a highly modified, reinforced Lancia Montecarlo central monocoque, but it benefitted from new tubular steel front and rear sub-frames. The body panels, meanwhile, were made of Kevlar with fire-retardant fiberglass.
The legendary rally car was gifted with a Fiat/Abarth DOHC inline four-cylinder engine with a Volumex supercharger. The Lampredi-designed 2-liter supercharged engine was able to deliver 280 hp (284 ps) in its initial form but was subsequently updated to a 2.1-liter Evolution 2-specification mill that churned out 320 horsepower (325 ps) and 246 pound-feet (334 Nm) of torque. The longitudinally-mounted engine was mated to a five-speed manual transaxle by ZF.
The Lancia 037 offered for sale is chassis number #319 and was one of three works rally cars. It rolled off the factory door wearing the famous Martini livery and made its debut at the 1982 Rally Costa Smeralda with Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki behind the wheel. It was only three weeks later that chassis #319 managed thirteen stage wins and an overall class win.
Later on in its life, this particular Lancia 037 was upgraded to Evolution 1 specifications and was given an enhanced engine cooling system. The car participated in various noteworthy events, like Rally 4 Regioni, Rallye Côte d’Ivoire, ADAC Saarland Rallye, and ADAC Rallye Deutschland. The latter was also the model’s final competitive appearance. Walter Röhrl was behind the wheel and won every stage of the competition, finishing no less than 14 minutes ahead of its rivals, the closest of which was a Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC.
After its retirement in 1987, Chassis #319 passed through the hands of various collectors before being placed in the Gran Turismo Collection in 2019. It has remained there in static display ever since. The fabled Group B car is set to go under the hammer via RM Sotheby’s at their London, UK, sale on November 5.
It also was the last rear-wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship, as the final years of Group B competition were dominated by four-wheel-drive models.
The design of the Lancia 037 is primarily the work of Abarth, but racing car maker Dallara and design house Pininfarina were also involved in the process. It was built on a highly modified, reinforced Lancia Montecarlo central monocoque, but it benefitted from new tubular steel front and rear sub-frames. The body panels, meanwhile, were made of Kevlar with fire-retardant fiberglass.
The legendary rally car was gifted with a Fiat/Abarth DOHC inline four-cylinder engine with a Volumex supercharger. The Lampredi-designed 2-liter supercharged engine was able to deliver 280 hp (284 ps) in its initial form but was subsequently updated to a 2.1-liter Evolution 2-specification mill that churned out 320 horsepower (325 ps) and 246 pound-feet (334 Nm) of torque. The longitudinally-mounted engine was mated to a five-speed manual transaxle by ZF.
The Lancia 037 offered for sale is chassis number #319 and was one of three works rally cars. It rolled off the factory door wearing the famous Martini livery and made its debut at the 1982 Rally Costa Smeralda with Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki behind the wheel. It was only three weeks later that chassis #319 managed thirteen stage wins and an overall class win.
Later on in its life, this particular Lancia 037 was upgraded to Evolution 1 specifications and was given an enhanced engine cooling system. The car participated in various noteworthy events, like Rally 4 Regioni, Rallye Côte d’Ivoire, ADAC Saarland Rallye, and ADAC Rallye Deutschland. The latter was also the model’s final competitive appearance. Walter Röhrl was behind the wheel and won every stage of the competition, finishing no less than 14 minutes ahead of its rivals, the closest of which was a Mercedes-Benz 500 SLC.
After its retirement in 1987, Chassis #319 passed through the hands of various collectors before being placed in the Gran Turismo Collection in 2019. It has remained there in static display ever since. The fabled Group B car is set to go under the hammer via RM Sotheby’s at their London, UK, sale on November 5.
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