Background
Born directly from Lancia’s group A rallying successes after the controversial group B fire breathing monsters were decommissioned, the Delta Integrale was a rare car in that it proved to be successful on both rally stage and road. Launched in 1979 the five-door hatchback was refined over its life spawning a few performance versions including the HF and the HF Turbo AWD with turbocharged 1.6L and 2.0L engines respectively. 1989 saw the introduction of the 16-valve version, identified by its raised bonnet to accommodate the engine. In 1991 the Evoluzione arrived on the scene, keeping the engine but with power increased to 207bhp and given suspension tweaks to keep it competitive. The last of the line and the one you see for auction here was the Evo II, the final refinement for the Delta Integrale which was essentially an Evo with a catalytic converter but with engine tuning to make up for any power lost.
The Evo I and Evo II are the most coveted of the models and it shows why, the end of the production run was in 1994 by which time the rapidly declining Lancia brand had produced around 45,000 examples of the Rallying thoroughbred.







