Aug 12

Motorsport Homologation Specials

One of my employees is a car nut in his early 20’s and he regularly goes to cars and coffee events. He was telling me about a Lancia that he saw at one recently but couldn’t remember what model it was. He showed me a photo and I couldn’t believe he saw it at a cars an coffee. It was an 037 Stradale, of which they only built about 200 to homologate the car for rally racing. They were hardly a street car but they built them and sold them, so they complied with the letter of the rules, if not the spirit.

That car led to a whole conversation on how many great cars happened just for homologation purposes. I’ve always been been a huge fan of the rally cars, in particular. Anyone have any other favorites?

Aug 12, 2026

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Replies (13)

· Aug 12

I did not know Lancia was still in business!

· Aug 12

A separate topic, but this came up on our way to dinner last night. One of the rentals is a Buick and first thing my buddies wife said was "Buick is still in business?".

· Aug 12

Travis, this is a great topic. There are many. First one I think of is the Boss 429 but there are many others. I need to give it some thought.

· Aug 12

From the muscle car era, I’m partial to the Trans Am homologation cars. Gotta love a red/white/blue Javelin. I’m looking forward to the Lime Rock Historics this year because they’re bringing back the Trans Am class. Those cars put on quite the spectacle on the track.

· Aug 12

Just sticking with Lancia, don't forget one of the most famous ones of them all.

· Aug 12

One of my favorite cars in Road and Track as a kid.

· Aug 12

There were so many great Lancia homologation cars. The Stratos and 037 were wild, but the Fulvia 1600HF was just plain pretty.

· Aug 12

The one I would really like is a Delta Integrale Evoluzione II, though I’d settle for any Integrale.

· Aug 12

That looks a lot like a VW Rabbit???

· Aug 13

I’d say closer to a VW Corrado crossed with an E30 BMW M3. But I’m a sucker for a hatchback. I was in high school in the late 90’s so I’m too young for the 5.0 Mustang/ IROC-Z mullet cars and I’m too old for the Vin Diesel-esque 2 Fast 2 Furious tuner cars. Hot hatchbacks fell in the middle.

· Aug 12

Whoa. For a moment, I thought the Lancia was a Kimera. Uncanny similarities... And I can tell where Kimera got design inspiration. Really like where Kimera is going.

https://www.kimera-automobili.com/blank

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· Aug 12

Yes, the Kimera is basically a restomod 037. Nice to see they used turbo/supercharger combo, which was a Lancia first, if I’m not mistaken.

· Aug 13

Another of my all time favorites is the Renault 5 Turbo. This is one I remember from before I even knew much of anything about cars. I remember seeing the red one driven by Fatima Blush, the Bond girl in Never Say Never Again and it just looked so cool to me. Still does.