Well, it’s that time of the week again and we have another brilliant machine worthy of our Car of the Week award: the truly magnificent Lancia Stratos.

Lancia has made its name in the world of rallying and the Stratos is no exception. This is said to be the car that made the biggest leap forward in the entire history of the sport and when it was launched everyone tought it was 10 years ahead of its time. But being an impressive rally car alone isn’t enough to make it a great car so what is it that attracted us to this old Lancia? In my opinion the 3 things that make this car great are its looks, its performance and the way it feels. It’s as simple as that.

Let’s start with the way it looks, shall we? I do, of course, recognise that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I haven’t met anyone until now who didn’t like this car. That back end with those simple, round lights, that aerodynamic face and the best thing of them all is the profile – those side windows are just astonishing. It’s not surprising tough as the Stratos was designed by one of the great Italian styling houses: Bertone. The designers had time to digest the radical Stratos body as the car was developed after the 70’s Bertone Lancia Stratos Prototype.

Performance: need I say more than the fact that is has a Ferrari engine and that it won the World Rally Championship 3 times?

And last but not least, the feel of the thing. This is the pure essence of the Italian sports car. It’s beautiful, it’s fast but it also feels special and amazing. The man who designed it clearly was very passionate but the man who engineered it clearly put his soul into it. To turn a concept which was set to never see the light of day as a road car and turn it into a 3 times WRC winner and a road car is truly astonishing. This really is one of those hall of fame cars, one of those giant leaps forwards in the automotive world. I therefore give you the Lancia Stratos – our Car of the Week.

Hint: Thanks to Lancia archives, we are able to provide you with these 3 fantastic Lancia Stratos Rally wallpapers. All you need to do is click the pictures to see the high-resolution image.