Lancia developed the Stratos as a rally car first, but had to build a number of roadgoing versions in order to qualify it for international rallying. All versions used a 2.4 litre V6 engine, which was taken straight from the Ferrari Dino 246, and mounted in a mid engined location. It had a short wheelbase which gave it sharp handling, and many of the body panels were glassfibre to reduce weight. Inside it was cramped, with minimal creature comforts, and the only storage space was two large door bins which were sized to accommodate a race helmet each. The idea was that competition drivers could stow their helmets in the doors to allow more comfortable driving while travelling between stages. Bertone as well as styling the Stratos, made the bodywork for Lancia as well.
In competition form, the Stratos was very successful, and won the World Rally Championship for Lancia in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Kyosho who make this model, also make a variety of competition versions, which are very nice indeed.
Today, the Stratos is a prized collectors car and command big prices. However, Lancia built 492 road going Stratos between 1973 and 1975 and found them to be very slow sellers, so much so that in 1978 they still had unsold cars available!
Kyosho are the manufacturers of this fine model. It has plenty of fine detail, including headlights which actually pop up, opening doors, and opening front and rear body sections. The engine bay is fully detailed, with wiring, a painted battery, and so on, and the front end contains the spare tire. The interior has a pair of competition seats with realistic harnesses and the dashboard looks good too. My only criticism is that the rear bodywork does not close flush with the rest of the car (possibly an isolated fault with this particular model, as my 1977 Monte Carlo Stratos does not have this problem), and the rear luggage compartment does not open (it is a small boot in the tail section). The brakes are not that highly detailed either. Otherwise it is a great model and gets 8/10 marks.
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