Montecarlo - Scorpion: The Story Of The Lancia That Almost Never Was
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- Опубліковано 15 кві 2021
- It may be hard to believe now that it's a coveted classic, but the #Lancia Beta #Montecarlo also known as #Scorpion in the United States, wasn't popular with buyers in the period. Still, its existence led to two successful racing programs for Lancia. Funny, given the Montecarlo wasn't supposed to be a Lancia at all.
The Beta Montecarlo was available either as a coupé or with a large canvas sunroof: those models were, rather inappropriately, called Beta Montecarlo Spider. Although the little mid-engine Lancia did nothing for the company's balance sheets, it would serve as the basis for two unrelated but very successful racing programs, leading to two world endurance championships and one world rally championship for Lancia.
The Beta Montecarlo occupies a special place in Pininfarina's history, as the company's involvement went far beyond the exterior styling, attributed to Paolo Martin. For the first time, the company engineered the car's steel bodyshell, considering upcoming American safety legislation, on Fiat's behalf.
My automotive books:
Six Appeal - The Story Of The Alfa 6
www.amazon.com/dp/1793931046
Alfa Romeo Giulietta - The Story 1977 - 1985 www.amazon.com/dp/1983393746
Alfa Romeo Arna - The Full Story 1980 - 1987 www.amazon.com/dp/1656632500 - Авто та транспорт
![ПОЛНАЯ ИСТОРИЯ ЭКЗОРЦИЗМА [Топ Сикрет]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qBySr6Bt0B8/mqdefault.jpg)
Can't wait for the episode about "037" then! 🙃
For that one, I’ll have to find a 037 to film. Difficult, but not impossible... We’ll see!
@@Matteo_Licata I believe a red street homologation car was sold at auction in Japan a year or so ago. More conveniently, there are two for sale in Italy (advertised on Classic Driver), so maybe you can convince the seller to film them - great promotion for sale. Aside from that, there are quite a few replicas based on Montecarlos about, including at least one or two here in Perth, Australia.
Pininfarina , Montecarlo , Lancia and Dolce Vita...❤👍👏👏👏
As a kid, I lusted after our neighbor’s light blue series 2 Monte Carlo. It was magnificent.
Pininfarina really was on a roll with Lancia in the 1970s - this, and the sublime Gamma coupe............such a shame that FIAT didn’t invest in Lancia in more recent years. I’d love to be able to own a modern one......however, my Alfa Romeo makes up for it!
It seems that Lancia is coming back from the dead, thanks to the Stellantis merger. We'll see...
I found my Scorpion at a junkyard years ago. They choped it up to make it full convertible, and I rescued the poor thing. Fixed it up and drove it for a while, now I'm turning it into a 037 replica, cosmetically. Love the car, love your video, suscribed! Saludos from Mexico!
That is awesome! Thank you very much and welcome onboard! Finding another roof to repair the car must have been tricky!
Good luck with your 037 project, by the way!
Why don't you try and make it into a group 5 martini racing beta monte Carlo?
@@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo 037 seems a lot easier, group 5 not a bad idea, they were monsters!
Lancia have such a colourful history, thank you for bringing it to us. Love how you finish the videos with, 'and that's a story for another time'.
Thank you very much for your appreciation! I've been filming another pretty Lancia lately... But it'll have to wait, as for the next video we'll be back to Alfa stuff ;)
As Richard Hammond. I wanted one more than my next breath. 20 years later and I'm still enjoying my azzuro metallic S1 coupe. In the Australian sun it is like a 70's concept car and snaps necks young and old. My adolescent desire owned and it shifts with a few mods! Bellisimo.
That's very cool! I'm glad you got the car you've always desired. Hope you'll get many, many more years of enjoyment out of it, thank you for watching!
I had a white '76 exactly like the one they use in this video. Not fast, but put one curve in the road and it could leave anything in the dust. Best handling car ever. I miss the old girl!
I’m always here for your Lancia content! The fact that this styling was conceived in 1970 just amazes me. It looks a decade ahead of its time. Maybe more. It’s a shame no one saw fit to give the production car more power, though, having missed the opportunity for the 130 V6, and having been canceled before the VX supercharged engines made it into the Beta range.
It’s also a shame that the car wasn’t really produced at the same time its racing versions were succeeding. Lancia wasn’t able to take much advantage of “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” marketing opportunities, and develop the car to capture more enthusiasts’ imaginations like they eventually would with the Delta.
And Lancia re-entered the US market at absolutely the wrong time, given our emissions restrictions that modern technology hadn’t yet caught up with, and safety restrictions that required cars be awkwardly converted rather than having their safety features integrated. The Maserati Khamsin got it much worse than the Lancia Scorpion did, but the Lancia had far more unrealized sales potential. If Lancia had re-entered the US market just a few years later with the Delta and Thema, instead of hastily converted Betas and Scorpions, I’m sure they’d have done far better. As it was, the company left our shores for good in 1982. I own a 1979 US Lancia brochure and enjoy it thoroughly (just the pre-Trevi Beta range was available here by then), but it makes me sad to think about how history conspired to keep Lancias away from our shores ever since... and especially since they left just before the Delta was ready to become a legend of its own.
Is it the one with the Beta Berlina in yellow? I managed to see it on a site called veikl.om. the Beta in yellow is rather cool, I do not think it was offered in that color here in Europe.
@@roby72s It’s a different brochure with a black cover saying “Driving redefined.” The Beta Berlina inside is a champagne color rather than yellow. It features a prominent black/gold Zagato centerfold. The back says it was printed in 1979, so it might either be a midyear reprint or an ‘80 brochure.
@@judethaddaeus9742 the one I saw, has a Scorpion on the cover, and it says " the intelligence alternative ". Thanks
@@roby72s Yeah, the brochures with the Scorpion are probably for sometime in the 1976-78 era, since they’d discontinued it by 1979.
Thanks for your wonderful video 🙂
I currently own, and have owned Scorpion #1700 for the past 15 years. These cars are such an oddity but give an exhilarating driving experience!
I wanted to point out that there were actually 1805 Scorpions built and exported to North America in the mid 70’s. If you go to the archives on the Petrolicous website, you will find the last scorpion number 1805 that was featured as a point of interest car. I have personally met the previous owner of number 1805 at a car show in North Vancouver, British Columbia several years ago. Over the years, the production number 1801 keeps popping up and being shown on various websites as a total units built, but in many circles of Lancia owners and enthusiasts ,they will agree that there were actually 1805 built based on the discovery of number 1805 that is present and accounted for. If you go to the Lancia Scorpion / Montecarlo registry website you will see at the very bottom of the scroll that not only is #1805 listed, but #’s 1802 and 1804 are accounted for as well.
Thanks again for your well produced video and presentation.
Thank you very much for letting me know the actual number of Scorpion made. I referenced my books on the subject, but those are quite a few years old, so they didn’t include this information. Production numbers for Italian cars are always tricky, as there never was proper record-keeping implemented at the time. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed my video, thank you for watching!
@@Matteo_Licata You are so right by your statement “Italian car numbers are tricky”. Some of the manufacturers record keeping was horrible back in the day. I enjoy all your videos by the way. Great content and I am a subscriber to your channel 🙂 I have another UA-cam channel called Mid-Engine Maverick but it’s not the quality of yours by far. If you would like to see my car featured I did a particular video back in 2018 or you could follow my Instagram account @midenginemaverick. Please keep making your awesome videos! Thanks again and you’re welcome for the update 🙂
@@twentiethcenturyboy6328 Thank you very much for following this channel and for all your kind words. It's great to see my videos being appreciated by enthusiasts all over the globe, it motivates me to keep doing better. I'll duly check out your channel and have a look at your car in the video you've mentioned, thank you!
Pininfarina really was an artist and produced beautiful designs. I wanted one around '81 in the UK but could not aford one. Instead I had a beta coupe which had that lovely 2litre Fiat, twin cam engine and were quite cheap to buy. That wonderful ripping sound of the engine - but you had to keep them tuned. One day I had a "home tune" operative round. He really knew his craft. He set things not to the factory settings, but optimum and spent all morning doing it. He said "Well it was in a state, but its OK now". My God I was shocked at the difference.
I would like a Monte Carlo now 40 years later, a volumex, but thay are extremely rare now and are crazy prices. Thanks for the history.
Thank you for sharing with me your memories with your Lancia. I’m glad you enjoyed the video! 👍
Lancias here in Italy still are a relative bargain compared to Alfas, but yes the Montecarlo has risen quite a bit in price.
@@Matteo_Licata Thanks. How much would you pay for a Monte Carlo in Italy? I do like your country. I worked for 1 year for Laben SpA in Vimedrone near Milan. I enjoyed my time there.
A nice Montecarlo is about 20k Euros here in Italy at the moment. Given how much classic car prices have risen in the last 10 years, it’s still a relative bargain :)
I know Vimodrone, that’s near Milan. I’m from Torino, Lancia’s home :)
I had one back in the 1980s with a turbocharger fitted and big bwa wheels, koni shocks. Fun and fast and I put over a hundred thousands miles with multiple engines through out the years. Pretty car never could have a/c though but back then we accepted no working ac . Nice spots car i kept for over a decade. Eventually in the 1990s i sold it for half what it sold for new..(not msrp)
Drove a S2 Monte in the UK that had an Integrale engine. Very fast, just what the car should have been.
Yes indeed. Must have been a ton of fun to drive that one!
@@Matteo_Licata
It was at Italtune near Elephant and Castle. Neighbourhood was dodgy back in 1987, but a customer turned up with a 131 Mirafiori Sport, and took me for a ride in it.
Barry Waterhouse had a couple of Volumex cars in there that he would warm up, and I later went to Abarth on a trip to Italy. Bought a 131 Volumetrico from a tuner in Turin that I found by making a wrong turn off Corso Julio Cesare. Took me 3 years to beg him to sell me that car...
@@thomasmulhall4873 You got a 131 Volumetrico? Wow, those are rare as hen's teeth! Very cool, congratulations!
My father had one when he and my mother were dating.
In the United States it had a sizzling 81 hp!
He said although it had continual problems from minor to significant and rusted with 18 months it was one of his favorite cars.
He replaced it with a BMW 318.
Cool story, thank you for sharing it!
The 037 is fantastic! I love the sound of it. It sounds like a hive of angry bees has just been kicked over. Straight to the rev limit on every gear change almost instantly! The racing Monte Carlo looks great in that black and red livery too.
It still is a beautiful car. I remember having a friendly race with one in the back country roads not far from here in the early 90's. My Mk11 Golf Gti was faster, but not nearly as pretty. Thank you for your great content and greetings from Cape Town.
Thank you very much! Greetings from Torino!
Nice summary of a little-known car. Have seen a few in NZ, not sure if any left on the road now, but was surprised to see a real 037 (and S4) at a recent car show
Thank you! Surprising how very rare cars (only 200 037s were made) can get relatively easy to spot at car shows, while their more pedestrian brethren gets completely lost and forgotten.
Had one for a few weeks in the late nineties in Italy. Paid 2 million Lira. :)
nel 1977, quando ho iniziato la mia carriera scolastica in prima elementare, ricordo perfettamente che il direttore, del quale non ho alcun ricordo, aveva una beta montecarlo azzurro metallizzato. era la cosa più bella della scuola. mi pare l'avesse ancora cinque anni dopo, quando ho esaurito il percorso per passare alle medie.
Caspita, una macchina decisamente specttacolare per un preside di scuola! Ci credo che ti sia rimasta nella memoria!
Interesting, it reminds me vaguely the DeLorean DMC-12, but I know it was not designed by Pininfarina.
Giugiaro
I had one and i am crying when i see these pics. Let me feel young and fresh a bit also. Realy nice content.
I'm glad you enjoyed this video! Did you have the coupé or the so-called "spider" with the canvas sunroof?
@@Matteo_Licata The coupé, was a nice car.
The American version looked hideous... But the 037 compensates for everything :D
Every vehicle that gets exported to America - from anywhere - gets bastardised, looks appalling, performs worse and is a pale imitation of its original self. A combination of ridiculous over-regulation (which ironically doesn't extend to comparable global safety standards... ) and general tasteless-ness. Either US consumers are blind, or it comes down to pressure from US manufacturers to make their own rubbish products more appealing.
Hideous? Opinions vary! 🙂
First time I saw one was in one of the Love Bug movies Herbie fell in love with a Monte Carlo
What a beautiful car, I always liked the Montecarlo. Thanks a lot for this interesting video and history lesson! Ciao 🙋♂️
My pleasure, thank you!
Loved these cars. A unique design which with the x19 modernised the sports car theme.In the UK few exist now the Landis rust debacle in the late 1970's which was overblown , and the cars reputation for over servoed brakes response in the wet did the model no favours.However, still love all Beta range including Monte Carlo.
Another fantastic in site to a modern classic.
Excellent piece. Full of little gems of knowledge.
These cars were easy to find used (few sold new, but they were unwanted used) when I was first driving in the early 80s in the UK.
I had no idea it was conceived as a Fiat project.... which now makes sense.... A bigger X1/9!
The reputation new was that the front brakes locked if you sneezed. I was led to believe that the absence of a servo in the Series 2 cars was largely a cheap way of addressing that issue.
The Montecarlo was a lost opportunity for Lancia. A lot of potential, but doomed not to work in a complex marketplace.
In truth, 120bhp and little over a tonne were good figures back then, but other forces were at work and in the UK the Beta name was a curse.
In the end, in the UK it was a car without a market and without the reputation, profile or pedigree it would need to generate sales.
The depreciation was colossal and most had been thrashed, neglected and scrapped before they became "desirable".
I do not know when I last saw one. But they are a cool memory from wonderful days. I had a friend who bought one without seeing it in 1990 because he was convinced it hid a 2-litre V6 Dino unit under the engine cover. He enjoyed it anyway, but never really got over the initial disappointment of finding a four-pot.
Good video, as usual.
And a good car, but one that never really believed it was good.
Thank you very much! Thankfully, here in Italy many Montecarlos survive, having lived rather cosseted lives as enthusiasts' cars. Many enthusiasts back then clamored for a V6 Dino being put into the car, but it never was part of the plan.
What Can i say ..the Montercarlo it's Just Beautiful ..Tq again for the Videos ..
My pleasure! Yes, it's very pretty indeed
I think the designer of the Nissan 300ZX (Z32) also had a little crush on the Monte Carlo. Just like Herbie did :)
Thank you for explaining these complicated details.
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
I adopted the neglected Scorpion #203 a few months ago and it really is amazing how many necks the car breaks. I took her to her first show a week ago and the car was absolutely surrounded by people all the time. A lot of people thought it was a DeLorean, but plenty of others knew what it was and were shocked to see a Scorpion
Cool!
I always remember this car from it's rally history - great video, sir!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you again for such great Videos and Storys. It´s always a pleasure to watch
Glad you like them, and thank you for your kind words!
Great video, thank you. I owned a silver Montecarlo S1 for a couple of years back when I was a young lad. Absolutely loved that car.
I’m glad you enjoyed this video, as it’s one of my favorites :)
The Montecarlo in silver must have looked very sharp indeed
Beautiful car. Thank you Matteo and a Very Happy New Year to you! God Bless.
Thank you, wish you a very happy New Year to you too!
One of the best looking cars at the time,leather seats,red exterior........underpowered but fun.
In 1978 after my Lotus Europa was stolen I went to the NJ dealer to take a test drive. I had loved the body and compact size but few were on the road. They let me take the metallic blue one out alone (rare back then). Shifting from second to third I thought the throttle cable had broken. Absolutely zero forward motion. Returned it feeling sad such a pretty sports car was just eye candy.
Your experience sums up pretty well how most people felt about the Montecarlo/Scorpion. Thank you for sharing your memories with me!
Great Great! Love this 😍
Thank you!! 😊
Loved this video, 😷👌
Glad you enjoyed it!
Although they were trying to keep brand identity, grouping it with the Beta Cars wasn't a great idea...
I really like these, but believe with a more potent engine they would have been more successful and more desirable now.
Either way... Beautiful machine.
Great review my friend 🎉
Good point!
What a beautifull car! And by the way, very good video ;-)
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you!
Love your vids and your wonderfull voice fantastico
"wonderful" is not an adjective used often about my voice, so your comment makes my day :) Thank you so much!
@@Matteo_Licata your very welcome
Very nice car
Thanks for the video
Thank you too!
Love these beauties, a chap who works near me still regularly drives his to his office, and turns heads everywhere it goes. I recall Top Gear talking about the brake servo being removed because it simply didn't work and braking would fail without warning, but that removal didn't actually fix the problem. Surely that was dramatic exaggeration?
Yes, it was usual Top Gear exaggeration. However, it is true that braking on the first series Montecarlo wasn't great, and Lancia tried to fix it on the second series
Wonderful! ❤️
Thank you! 😊
Hi Matteo, another great video of one my favourite cars! The Rally car spin off the 037 was and is always one of my absolute dream cars which kind of rubs off on the Montecarlo. Which do you think is the better version, the first series or the second series with upgraded but non Servo brakes? Sadly this car was also blighted in the UK at least with its association with the Beta and the rust issues. Although directly this car seems to have less problems.
Finally I wish to tell you your book on the Alfa Giulietta arrived and I love it. The format reminds me of the old Collectors Guides by MRP. Great work!
Thank you very much! I'm glad you like my book, as it's been a true labor of love.
Montecarlos were just as poorly rust-proofed as Betas, but they tended to live more cosseted lives, so I hardly seen rust on them.
Nowadays it's pointless to argue which model was best: I'd buy the car in best condition, regardless of series one or two.
What a beautiful car!
Indeed!
Another quality Italian automotive insight by Matteo, grazie!
I had a black Series 2 (with cream leather(ette) interior) which made the black parts naturally synergise with the body colour.
The car "ran on rails", the twincam engine was very good but lacked "sting", it was low slung, felt wide for an Italian car of era, always turned heads and received compliments.
Sadly it was stolen in the 90's.
We'll never see unique cars like this again from today's manufacturers.
What has always been sad, disappointing, and frustrating for me was (and remains) Gruppo FIAT's, and it's subsequent incarnations, "mindset", which failed to embrace the Italian and European brands in its portfolio,, develop them, and position them, for some "warped" fear of cannibalising FIAT at one end, and Ferrari at the other (unlike the VW Audi Group modus operandi).
Lancia' s luxury, sporting and engineering excellence was run into the ground and reputation damaged beyond repair.
Alfa Romeo almost came to a similar end, and is sadly a two to three model line up these days, underdeveloped (ie Giulia in coupe, convertible, or wagon options) and rapidly dating.
Maserati was heading the same way until someone woke up!
Once upon a time, these brands dominated in the world of Rally, Touring Cars, F1, etc etc, or sponsored events like the Tour de France etc, and people could buy cars that had a direct "family lineage" to these models.
Where are they today?
Stellantis seems more concerned with its American 4x4 products and market these days.
It has bought up many struggling European brands over recent years, but their long term destiny and fate is to be seen, if one looks to the past to understand the future, based on track record!!!
That said, "in bocca al lupo!" 🙏
Thank you for your appreciation! Regarding the future of these legacy Italian brands, I feel moderately optimistic. Stellantis’s management is investing again in their development, including Lancia. Of course, success is far from guaranteed, but we’ll see what they come up with!
The first love of Herbie. 😉
Indeed. “Gisele,” the most famous Lancia Scorpion, by far!
@@Matteo_Licata yeah Gisele i forgot her name. It's a master piece 👍🏼
Great video and a great channel you are running!! Please make a video about the Lancia delta 836 and specifically the HPE version. Greetings from Greece!
I had never thought about covering the second Delta, as I thought there was little interest about it. But it may happen, if I stumble upon a nice example to film.
@@Matteo_Licata I can assure you that here in Greece there is plenty of interest especially for the HPE version. Keep it up!
One of the (too many) cars I would love to own. Many people don't like the plastic front end, but I do (I remember the beautiful Seat that used a similar design.)
One thing I had not noticed before: is the MC one of the only cars whose wheel arch design differs so much between front (round) and back (almost rectangular)? It doesn't shock me, I just think it's wonderfully quirky.
And one last thought: I always get a kick out of learning that 14" wheels were an "upgrade", especially in our days of gaudy and uncomfortable 19- or 20-inch options...
The Montecarlo's plastic front end was quite radical when it was conceived, in 1970. Back then, plastic was "the future," so it was used as a key design element. I personally like it, as it's an expression of its era. Yeah, back in the 70s wheel rim diameters reached their smallest, with 13" being the norm on most cars... Now we've reached the opposite end, I'd say!
037 ♥️
It was a very beautiful design, it had the right mix of elegance and sportiness. Why was the production suspended for 2 years?
Lack of sales, sadly
I got a quick shot of one and yes the brakes were as awful as the press made out....But I would forgive a car so beautiful!!It was a gorgeous minty green colour......
That must have been “Metallic Green 143,” a shade that I have rarely, if ever, seen here in Italy. I wonder why the car went into production with the brakes not fully sorted… Probably those responsible weren’t given enough time to do their job.
@@Matteo_Licata You are a treasure trove of info!Many Thanks🙂
a gorgeous design
Indeed. And one of my favorite videos of mine, by the way!
There is a belief that beautifully styled cars have to be overpowered.
Very good! Hold on!
Grazie mille!!!
Unfortunately as stated, in the USA the car was so underpowered it died. I would dream of having one of these with a busso V6 mounted longitudinally with wider bodywork and wheels. Now that (as an engineer) I could make such modifications, they have disappeared
With 1800 made, the Scorpion must be very rare indeed there in the USA, especially given the fact not all Scorpions made it to the USA in the first place: sales were so poor that quite a few Scorpions never reached the boat and stayed in Italy. I've seen a few at shows
@@Matteo_Licata Veramente non ci sono in tanti qui. Io non ho mai visto una sulla strada in Italia, e solo una volte una X 1/9; una macchina che ho avuto qui negli Stati Uniti per tanti anni, e come lo scorpione era anche lei una macchina speciale.
@@RJM-II I had an X1/9 (Many actually) and it seems the car was only appreciated after it was long gone. They still run well in auto cross, and for a while here the D mod champs until guy running the fastest one switched to an MR2. Now the world is just SUV's...
Its very sad that you dont know or didnt mention who designed the car: Paolo Martin, the creator of the Fiat 130 Coupe, the RR Camargue, the Ferrari Modulo and many more
First One 👍👍👍👌👌👌
🥇🏆👍
Lovely car. Always wondered why it was called Beta as it was completely different looking. Still a few around, even now. Would have been fantastic with the V6 I think - or would the extra engine weight have messed up the handling,
Yeah, the Beta moniker was used simply for marketing reasons, it was decided by Nicola Tufarelli, then Fiat Auto chief
Molto ma molto bella, da piccolo sono salito su una Monte-Carlo spider per una piccola gita e fu emozionante. Interessante sapere che nacque dal progetto X1/8. Mi piacerebbe vedere una panoramica riassuntiva di tutti i progetti X1/_ di cui solo alcuni sono noti.
La dicitura X1/_ fu una iniziativa di Dante Giacosa: dalla 124 in avanti, Fiat aveva iniziato ad usare il codice di progetto come nome commerciale dei nuovi modelli, il che aveva finito per dare alla stampa fin troppi indizi su cosa "bollisse in pentola" a Mirafiori. Giacosa quindi ottenne di utilizzare la dicitura X1/1 nella fase di progettazione della 128, e la pratica continuò almeno fino al 1978, possiamo affermare: la Ritmo aveva codice X1/38. Tutto fa pensare che queste sigle siano state abbandonate poco dopo, comunque, in seguito a cambi al vertice dello Sviluppo Prodotto in Fiat.
Non conosco l'intero elenco di progetti X1/_ ma posso provare ad indagare :)
@@Matteo_Licata ok ti ringrazio, sarebbe interessante. Forse il Centro Storico Fiat potrebbe essere d'aiuto. A proposito della Ritmo, ricordo che nel 1978 o forse a fine 77 vidi una copertina di Quattroruote che diceva "ecco in anteprima la 138, l'erede della 128". Ma poi fu la prima ad adottare un nome non numerico, pur conservando il 138 come sigla interna, insieme alla Panda che era la 141. Mi incuriosisce questa storia dei codici interni, non so dirti perchè.
Very interesting vid only marred by poor audio - hardcoded subtitles would be a reasonable work around.
I want one
lancia always imposing technology!!!
Those American Bumpers just ruined it. Otherwise, what a beauty! I remember seeing this on Top Gear, years ago being reviewed by Richard Hammond. Apparently, the brakes were a big issue?
Well, as everything said on Top Gear, it was exaggerated for comedic effect. The first series of the Montecarlo did not have the best brakes, that's true. Not very powerful and with a tendency to lock up easily. Still, nobody killed himself because of them, so they weren't as bad as the telly made them out to be.
Ah yes the Italian Time Machine
Is it Riccardo Patrese at 7:06? Today (17 aprile) is his birthday.
Yes he is! No idea it was his birthday!
I owned a silver one and regret to this day getting rid of it
I always liked that car. Yet another heartbreaking story of another Italian car underdeveloped due to that 2000cc engine tax then bastardized here in America with air pumps and 20-year outdated headlamp laws.
i find it hard to believe that the 120hp 2lt engine on 1975 1 ton car was the reason for the poor sales.
Well, it was a problem given the car looked like a bit like a supercar and wasn't inexpensive to purchase. But the failure of the Scorpion on the American market was another big blow to the model.
037 ' the last ballerina !
Montecarlo Nice car poor brakes went the Lancia 2.0i HPE ALSO HAD a Delta Prisma and Lancia Thema 2.0 l Turbo
Cool!
I'm third. it likes dmc delorean .
Dinamically and ergonomically it was a flawed car, especially if compared with the little sister x1/9, but estetically it was a masterpiece.
The Italian DeLorean
What a shame, such a beautiful car with such a powerless engine for it.
Yeah, and they killed it off right before the supercharged VX 2.0L engine launched in the Beta range. That engine’s 10% power bump might have helped a little.
se non ricordo male, la serie 1 venne tolta dal mercato per problemi all'impianto frenante, gravi intendo.
I freni non erano il suo forte, ma non era niente di cosí terribile come Top Gear ha fatto pensare. La triste realtá é che, semplicemente, la macchina non si vendeva.
@@Matteo_Licata anche metterla nella famiglia "beta" probabilmente non ha aiutato le vendite... e sicuramente per l'america anche le dimensioni.
troppo piccola...
On my list.
Unlike at the time of its production, today it’s a bargain.
If only someone would take away my concerns about spare part supply ...
...Spare parts? Which spare parts? ;)
I'm afraid I can't do much about your concerns, as they're based in reality! Apart from basic mechanical stuff, the rest is tough to find at the best of times, impossible at the worst.
@@Matteo_Licata Yeah, I guess you’re right. Googling around since I watched your vid ... there’s a company near Padova that restores them.
@@GreasyFingers I didn't know there was a specialist for these cars. Could you post the link here? Thanks!
@@Matteo_Licata They’re not explicitly saying that they restore them themselves, but they hold 3/4 cars currently offered and among those restored ones.
Automontecarlo srls, Albignasego (PD)
Looks like a less edgy Lotus
Not a fan of the Montecarlo's wraparound plastic bumpers, would have preferred styling similar to the modified Montecarlos seen online with body-coloured bumpers and an overall more aesthetically pleasing exterior with 037 Stradale cues. Realistically what could have been done to remedy the Montecarlo's shortfall in power? Read elsewhere of there being some challenges in fitting more potent 2-litre Fiat Twin-Cam engines into the Montecarlo, yet it is a shame the production Montecarlo was never equipped with other powerful Twin-Cam variations be it the Twin-Carb (e.g. Ritmo/Strada 130TC Abarth), VX (e.g. Beta/Trevi, 124 Sport Spider and Argenta) let alone the 16v and Turbo versions used on the Delta, Thema, etc.
Fitting a more powerful engine wouldn't have been an issue, but my impression is that Fiat quickly lost interest in a car that sold in minuscule numbers. The money to develop it into a full-fat thrill ride was never made available.
Originally it should have been equipped with a sportier version of the 3.2 litres V6 of the Fiat 130 (that produced 160hp on the luxury sedan) but, with the oil crisis, Fiat decided to go for the smaller 2.0 l four banger. As you can see in pictures, the Montecarlo has a HUGE hood for that small engine.
Have read rumours saying to the effect a 130 V6 was considered for the Montecarlo (though it could be confused with the Abarth SE 030) and that the fuel crises and Fiat’s general downturn in the 1970s threatening its survival, caused many a project to either be cancelled or delayed, neither of which likely helped the Montecarlo’s prospects.
The 160 hp 130 V6 would have been more appealing in the Montecarlo and provided a suitable gap between it and the 120 hp 2-litre Twin-Cam, a pity the 130 V6 could not be reduced to 2-litres for a domestic Italian market tax special without a significant loss in power nor was a detuned 155 hp (US emissions spec) 2-litre Dino V6 in the Ferrari 204 GT4 ever investigated since it was presumably more expedient to stick with the existing 2-litre Twin-Cam 4-cylinder engine.
On the 2-litre 4-cylinder Twin-Cam NA front would say the Montecarlo really needed another 10-20+ hp or so at minimum, whilst benefiting from the VX and Turbocharged variants as used by both the Beta and Delta. The only other question would be whether the Montecarlo (let alone the Beta in general despite only sharing the name in some markets) had its production been prolonged (like the Fiat 124 Sport Spider and Alfa Romeo Spider) was capable of capable of utilizing AWD as was featured on the Delta HF.
@@wickiezulu Ferrari had always been vary of conceding his engines to other manufacturers. The Fiat Dino was made only because Ferrari needed 500 road cars to omologate the engine for F2, and it needed a lot of persuasion to obtain the V6 for the Stratos, despite the fact that the engine was at the end of its career in Ferrari, and would have been destined to a small number of dedicated racers.
Ironically Gandini didn't even like the Dino V6 in the Stratos (it was Cesare Fiorio that absolutely wanted it), considering it too heavy and top heavy for a rally car. To him the Fiat Twincam was the engine to go.
@@neutronalchemist3241 My bad, forgot about the switchover from the Dino V6 to Dino V8 around that time. Agree that the Fiat Twin-Cam seems to be the way to go for the Montecarlo, despite the 130 V6 not reaching its full potential.
Seems the only other unlikely V6 options Fiat/Lancia had were either a redesign/evolution of the De Virgilio Lancia V6 with OHC as considered during the Gamma project or a 120-degree V6 by Ettore Zaccone Mina as considered during the Fiat 130 project. Doubt either would have been suitable for the Montecarlo.
Another unlikely V6 option from Ferrari was a Colombo V12-derived 60-degree though it was only considered earlier on with the Innocenti 186 GT prototype.
While the displacement of the Innocenti 186 GT V6 or even a hypothetical V6 version of the later Colombo V12 engines (up to about 2471cc at most via half a 412 V12) initially does not appear to hold a lot of promise by themselves. It is worth also considering the Colombo-derived 4-cylinder engines used by ASA particularly in later 1756cc ASA Roll-Bar 1800 guise and its 90mm bore (and 69mm stroke) equate to a V6 of 2634cc, then pairing the 90mm bore of the former with the 78mm stroke of the Ferrari 400 that together equates to a hypothetical V6 of about 2977cc (along with making a 6-litre Colombo V12 and a 2-litre 4-cylinder viable possibilities under the right circumstances).
However also doubt a Colombo-based V6 would have fitted properly into the Montecarlo, the only notable mid-engined Colombo V12 car appears to be the Ferrari 365 P Berlinetta Speciale.
Cha auto!
Eh si, una figata!
Second 👍
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The 2 things that ended the Scorpion's American campaign was the lack of power & the pathetic quality control.
Very true!
What? It wasn't a real Lancia at all? I wonder how it looks without the black sash over the headlights. Probably a bit less distinctive but maybe also a bit more subtle. Somebody should waste a bit of time on Photoshop!
Several restorers did it. You can easily find pictures.
@@neutronalchemist3241 Yep, A bright red one without it just popped as a UA-cam suggestion. Much better!
Boxes of shit. Had the opportunity to sit in one a few years ago, never seen worse materials or fittings on any car