1983 Lancia 037 Evolution II

1983 Lancia 037 Evolution II offered at online auction by Repo Vehicle Holdings. Bank-sourced car with a clear title, VIN history report, no buyer fees and a 30-day return window. Open bidding with the full bid history visible.

This 1983 Lancia 037 is one of approximately 260 examples manufactured among combined production of road-going and rally variants and was ordered new in April 1983 by Spanish cider-business heir and gentleman driver Jose Bernardo Cardin. Chassis 145 was delivered new in October 1983 as a Stradale equipped with a Corsa-specification engine as well as a competition-style dashboard and seats. Wearing a white, red, and green livery showcasing sponsorship by Cardin’s family company, El Gaitero, the car was subsequently driven by Cardin in Campeonato de España de Rallyes events, highlighted in 1984 by a second-place finish at the Rallye de Gijon and a seventh-place finish at the European Rally Championship’s Rally Internacional Príncipe de Asturias. In the summer of 1986, the car was returned by Cardin to the factory’s rally services department for conversion to Evo II specification, which included the addition of a larger and higher-powered engine, chassis reinforcement, cooling updates, and removal of the rear bumper. The revised car’s return to Cardin’s hands was marked by a victory in the 1986 Rallye San Agustin followed by various rally appearances through 1989. Retaining an El Gaitero livery, the car is powered by a 2,111cc Fiat-Abarth inline-four featuring a Volumex supercharger, water injection, Bosch Kugelfischer fuel injection, and dry-sump lubrication. Additional equipment includes a ZF five-speed manual transaxle with a 40% locking differential, front and rear tubular spaceframes, Abarth-Brembo ventilated disc brakes, a hydraulic handbrake system, Bilstein gas shock absorbers that are in duplicate at each rear wheel, staggered-dimension Speedline alloy wheels, quad driving lights, a roll cage, and Sparco racing seats with four-point harnesses.

Under the project name SE037, Fiat Group began the development of a replacement for the 131 in 1980 in anticipation of forthcoming Group B regulations requiring the production of only 200 cars for homologation. Construction utilized the central frame cell of the Lancia Beta Montecarlo adapted to carry front and rear spaceframes formed from a combination of round and square steel tubing, with the substructure wrapped in Pininfarina-styled fiberglass-reinforced Kevlar or polyester resin body panels. The Rally 037 model was produced in both Stradale and rally variants, with the latter becoming the last rear-wheel-drive model to win a World Rally Championship constructor’s title in 1983.

To keep pace with the turbocharged entries of competing marques, Lancia developed a second evolution of the Rally 037 in 1984 with a displacement increase from 1,995cc to 2,111cc and corresponding updates to the supercharging, intake, and exhaust systems. The Evo II variant’s rear bumper was omitted in favor of large mudflaps in an effort to avoid buildup of debris behind the bodywork. This example is shown above at the 1986 Rally Internacional Príncipe de Asturias after its conversion to Evo II configuration and wearing a previous version of the El Gaitero livery.

The car was ordered new in white and currently wears an El Gaitero livery that incorporates the company’s logo depicting an Asturian bagpiper, or gaitero, along with red and green stripes. Features include front and rear clamshells, quad headlights flanking a pod housing quad rally lights, air scoops on each sail panel, a rear spoiler, a roof-mounted antenna, round taillamps, and El Gaitero mudflaps.