24 tucked-away Italian classic car gems

Secrets of the FCA Heritage Hub

A recent visit to Stellantis Centrale Stile in Turin – where the aesthetics of Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Abarths and Lancias are honed – meant a trip to the FCA Heritage Hub. 

Located just a five-minute walk from the design studio, it’s an Aladdin’s Cave of concept cars, racing heroes and plenty more besides.

Set over 15,000 square metres, it’s largely dedicated to Lancia, Abarth and Fiat, but you’ll find rarities from Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Autobianchi, too.

It is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and a tour guide will take groups of 30 around this treasure trove of Italian design classics – find out more.

Here are 24 of our favourites.

1. Lancia Rally 037

The Lancia Rally 037 is famed for being the last rear-wheel-drive car to win the World Rally Championship, in 1983.

It’s a spectacular achievement, but owes more than a little to the Audi team’s reliability and mistakes during the season.

That doesn’t stop the 037 from being suitably epic. Its supercharged, mid-mounted, four-cylinder engine produced between 256bhp and 301bhp.

2. Lancia Stratos

The Stratos was one of the most successful rally cars in its era, scooping the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976, at the heart of which was a Dino Ferrari V6.

In its later life, the Stratos was also developed for endurance racing, but against the might of the Porsche 935s it struggled to keep up.

However, on race/rally hybrid events, such as the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, the Stratos was highly competitive, and won several times.

3. Lancia Delta S4

Is this the most over-the-top rally car to contest the World Rally Championship?

The Delta S4 was not only supercharged but turbocharged, too, producing upwards of 483bhp. However, Lancia’s engineers were able to coax 1000bhp out of the engine at one point, though that was under laboratory conditions.

This is a bittersweet car. While it was spectacular and successful, it was a Delta S4 in which Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto lost their lives on the 1986 Tour de Corse, a key factor leading to the banning of Group B rallying.

4. Fiat 131 Abarth Rally

The Stratos had more than done the business for Lancia in terms of rally wins, but parent company Fiat needed to give its new 131 saloon some motorsport gloss.

It turned to Bertone’s Marcello Gandini and Abarth to create the 131 Abarth Rally.

Crafted using glassfibre and aluminium, it was powered by a 2-litre twin-cam engine and certainly met its brief, netting Walter Röhrl the World Rally Championship in 1980.

5. Fiat 131 Diesel

Diesel racing cars really came to the fore in the late 2000s and 2010s in endurance racing and Touring Cars, but this Fiat 131 came many years before that.

To help launch the diesel 131, Fiat entered pre-production cars into the 1977 London to Sydney rally.

Powered by a 2.5-litre, 71bhp engine, it used lessons learned from the 131 Abarth rally car to create a successful entry for Robert Neyret and Marianne Hoepfner, who won their class with this very car. 

6. Lancia ECV2

This is a question of ‘what if?’. What if the next evolution of Group B rallying was Group S.

While designed with more safety in mind, it would allow manufacturers greater freedom because fewer cars would have to be built to homologate the rally versions.

This was Lancia’s plan, a Kevlar and carbonfibre-bodied car with a supercharger and two turbochargers. The result was 592bhp in a car weighing 910kg (2006lb). Sadly, with Group B banned, it would never be campaigned.

7. Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v

While its competitors fought for Group B rallying to continue, Lancia instead put all its efforts into its Group A rally car, the Lancia Delta HF FWD.

It was instantly a winner, claiming victory on its debut, at 1987’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, en route to that year’s World Rally Championship title – the first of six in a row.

This particular car is a 16v Integral, introduced on the 1989 San Remo rally. It features a c350bhp engine and a special livery designed by the Delta’s stylist, Giorgetto Giugiaro. Miki Biasion took it to victory on that rally, thus claiming the drivers’ championship.

8. Fiat 124 Abarth Rally

The 124 Spider had proved successful in the European Rally Championship when Fiat decided to up the ante in 1972.

The new car featured independent rear suspension, engine upgrades that helped it develop 126bhp, lightweight body panels and a rigid hardtop.

Power rose to 170bhp in Group-4-spec versions and this model made its debut on the ’73 Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Come 1974 and now with a 16-valve engine giving 197bhp, the updated car scored a podium on its maiden outing, the TAP Rallye de Portugal – in fact every car on the podium was a new Fiat 124 Abarth Rally.

9. Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo

With rallying efforts focused on Fiat in the late 1970s, Lancia turned to endurance racing for its motorsport fix.

The resultant car, the Montecarlo Turbo, shared just the centre section of its body with the roadgoing Montecarlo.

Instead, front and rear tubular subframes housed the mid-mounted engine, which could produce up to around 480bhp.

The model won its class in the 1979 World Championship for Makes, and took the overall 1980 World Championship for Makes, before claiming the 1981 World Endurance Championship for Makes.

Other successes included the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft and the Giro d’Italia.

10. Lancia LC2

Looking to capitalise on its success with the Beta Montecarlo, Lancia developed an open-cockpit LC1, but endurance racing’s rules soon changed.

For 1983, the Group C formula needed a fresh approach for fuel economy. The engine was a twin-turbocharged Ferrari V8 that was far more powerful than the Porsche 956.

However, the car was much more fragile, and in a straight fight Lancia struggled to get on terms with the Porsche. It would win three times in 51 races.

11. Lancia D25

Lancia had seen great success with the D24 sports car during the 1953 and 1954 seasons.

Its mixture of a multi-tubular-frame chassis and double-wishbone/De Dion suspension, plus a 2.2-litre V6, had seen victories for Alberto Ascari on the Mille Miglia and Juan Manuel Fangio on the Carrera Panamericana.

Looking to take advantage of this, Lancia enlisted Pinin Farina to come up with the gorgeous D25 above, while famed Alfa engineer Vittorio Jano designed a 3.8-litre V6.

Sadly, Lancia chose to follow the Formula One path, meaning this is the only example built.

12. Fiat-Abarth Streamliners

During the 1950s, Fiat and Abarth combined to set several distance records using heavily streamlined cars.

Styled by Pinin Farina, the engines were small-capacity units below 1 litre, yet had received plenty of Abarth magic. By 1960, for instance, Abarth’s engineers coaxed 105bhp at 8000rpm out of the tiny Fiat engines.

However, it was long-distance world records that were most important. Of the nine records set by the team, one was 10,000km at an average speed of 118.7mph, and 72 continuous hours at an average of 116mph.

13. Group B road cars

To homologate the rally cars, Lancia had to build 200 037s and 200 Delta S4s.

While there are rumours that this didn’t occur – we’ve heard it applied to any number of homologation projects – here is a roadgoing ‘Stradale’ version of the 037 (right) and the Delta S4 (left), to prove at least some appeared.

The roadgoing version of the Delta S4 produced 247bhp, while the 037 Stradale had 205bhp.

14. Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider 

Built for the American market, the 1954 B24 Spider blended Pininfarina lines with a 2.5-litre V6 engine.

It ran on a shortened Aurelia platform and sat much lower than the standard car, necessitating revisions to the engine’s design to fit under the bonnet.

In all, 240 Aurelia B24 Spiders left the factory, 59 right- and 181 left-hand drive.

15. Alfa Romeo SZ

Often mistaken for a Zagato design, the Alfa Romeo SZ was actually the product of a Centro Stile design contest, which pioneered computer-aided design and modelling.

Under the skin lies the chassis from the 75 IMSA rally/racing car, which enabled the car to pull 1.5g in cornering. The engine, meanwhile, is the venerable Busso V6.

Zagato helped to productionise the cars and assembled them at its factory in Rho, Milan.

16. Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

Another one of Centro Stile’s design hits for Alfa Romeo is the 8C Competizione.

It stunned the crowds at its concept car reveal in 2003, and five years later the production version appeared.

Built in collaboration with Maserati, it features a 444bhp 4.7-litre V8 that’s shared with the GranTurismo and Quattroporte of the same era.

Just 500 were built, and this particular car is occasionally moved to Centro Stile’s entrance, presumably to act as inspiration.

17. Fiat Barchetta… but with a difference…

The Barchetta was one of Fiat’s success stories in the 1990s, blending cheeky design style with a shortened Mk1 Fiat Punto wheelbase.

While drifting fanatics might duck out for the MX-5, the light weight and zippy four-cylinder engine made it much more fun than the base materials might suggest.

However, look closely at this yellow car. Notice the bonnet hump? That’s needed to house a Yamaha V8. Sadly, nobody was on hand to answer all four-billion questions this prompted.

18. Fiat Barchetta… and again, with a difference

The designer of the original Fiat Barchetta, Andrea Zapatinas, always had an idea to build a coupé version of the Barchetta, right down to his original sketches.

The then head of Fiat rejected the idea, fearing it might rob sales from the Fiat Coupé – and he’s probably right.

Nevertheless, coachbuilder Maggiora, who built the Barchetta at the time, created this one-off, inspired by British and Italian sports cars of the 1960s.

Sadly, it was not to be, and eventually Maggiora itself closed.

19. Fiat Scia

Prior to the production Barchetta, there was this, the Scia.

Introduced at the 1994 Turin motor show, it was designed by John Kinsey and Darren Caddesl of Centro Stile, using the Fiat Punto as its basis.

This rear shot shows how far they took the ‘little boat’ – Barchetta in Italian – concept.

20. Fiat PanDakar

Developed from the Fiat Panda Cross, this 2007 machine was created for that year’s Dakar Rally.

Two cars were built, one for Miki Biasion and Tiziano Siviero, and another for Bruno Saby and Rudy Briani.

The tiny machines were rugged enough for the challenge, but sadly accidents meant neither car finished the rally.

21. Lancia Diàlogos

This concept car was developed for the 1998 Turin show, and was designed by Centro Stile Lancia under Mike Robinson.

It lacked side central pillars and the rear doors open backwards, to evoke memories of the Lancia Aurelia.

The Diàlogos featured innovations such as a multi-directional set of front seats to aid access, and a steering wheel that can slide to either side of the car, depending on which part of the world you’re in.

Though this was purely a concept car, and had no engine, its styling language was later seen on Lancia’s Thesis.

22. Lancia Delta HF Integrale Safari

Lancia had tried for many years to topple Japanese manufacturers from their dominance on the gruelling Safari rally.

Finally, in 1988, Biasion and Siviero achieved that goal with this very car.

It wasn’t an easy victory, though. On the last day, Biasion had to nurse a problem with a strut that cost him 10 minutes.

In the end, the victory was theirs, the first Italian win on the Safari –  but not the last. 

23. Lancia Fulvia HF

High Fidelity might be most associated with audio equipment, but the Fulvia HF certainly sounds good to us.

This elegant Centro Stile-designed coupé ended up being one of the most handy rally cars ever made.

This particular car, a 1600 HF, won the Rallye Monte-Carlo in horrific amounts of rain, wind and snow.

Alpine withdrew and the rear-wheel-drive runners floundered, but Sandro Munari and Mario Mannucci mastered the Fulvia’s front-wheel drive and beneficial power-to-weight ratio, to take victory.

This win was towards the end of the Fulvia’s career, but it helped to galvanise both sales and Lancia’s desire to go rallying through the 1970s.

24. Lancia Fulvia Concept

First revealed in 2003, this concept came at a time when retro-themed design was in – think of the Mini Cooper and VW Beetle of the era.

This used Mk2 Fiat Panda mechanicals, which meant a c140bhp, 1.8-litre, four-cylinder engine and a 990kg (c2180lb) package.

That was good for a sub 9-sec 0-60mph time and 132mph all out. However, Lancia lacked the finances to make the project a reality.

Bonus! Always check your baggage…

One final shot as we left for the airport…

What better way to say goodbye to Turin than with a Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo, on loan from the FCA Heritage Hub to Turin airport.

Sadly, it didn’t fit into our carry-on luggage.