Lancia isn’t a well-known marque among stateside car enthusiasts. That’s primarily because Lancia models were expensive and rarely seen in the U.S. throughout the five decades before the automaker was acquired by Fiat in 1969, an acquisition that followed some challenging years prior to the takeover that saved the Italian manufacturer from extinction.
The early 1970s ushered in Lancia’s new Beta Series, launched in 1972 as an attractive upscale model line powered by Fiat underpinnings. Meant to reimagine the brand, it was a valiant re-badging effort, highlighted by the stunning Beta Coupé and Beta HPE shooting brake, both of whose front-wheel-drive platform was utilized by the more popular and affordable Berlina fastback sedan.
The last—and by far most novel—car in the Beta lineup was the Montecarlo, a mid-engine sports car that shared the Beta’s 120 hp, 2.0-liter Fiat engine—but little else. Introduced in 1975, the seductive two-seater came to North America as a 1976 and 1977 model called the Scorpion—a tip-of the hat to Abarth’s arachnid-inspired logo—due to Chevrolet naming one of its models Monte Carlo, and threatening litigation.
Designed and built by Pininfarina, the little Lancia looked like a miniature Ferrari 365 GT4/BB. Its unibody chassis and copious room in the rear made it the perfect platform for Lancia’s new Group B rally car, which required that the racer be loosely based on a production model. The Lancia Rally project was designated Abarth SE037, powered by a Fiat Abarth twin-cam, inline-four engine—equipped with a Volumex supercharger—making more than 300 hp.
For those, like this writer, who owned a 1977 Lancia Scorpion when new, that amount of power and performance would have felt staggering by comparison, insofar as the U.S.-spec production car—with a bark and appearance far more ferocious than its bite—made a whopping 81 hp from Fiat’s detuned, 1,800 cc, DOHC inline-four engine. Those were the dismal days of power-robbing emissions systems adapted to otherwise delightful power trains. But the soul of the Scorpion was not easily vanquished, proving the axiom that driving a slow car fast is better than driving a fast car slow.
Lancia launched the Montecarlo as a premium alternative to the popular Fiat X1/9, which used a 1.3-liter, single-cam inline-four engine and was an even slower barrel of fun. As with the smaller Fiat, the Lancia’s engine was transversely mounted, bolted to a five-speed transmission and transaxle. Both cars used a similar unibody chassis, with MacPherson-strut front suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. Those Lancia Scorpion brakes were a problem, locking up with little provocation, resulting in a two-year delay (no Montecarlos were made from 1979 through 1980) until an improved (if less unique in appearance) Second Series Montecarlo was made from 1980 through 1981. That version, though, was only available in Europe.
From the beginning, Europe got Coupe and Spider variants, with streamlined bumpers and integrated headlamps, whereas America only got Spiders with battering-ram bumpers and pop-up lights. Spiders featured a novel fabric top whose plastic holding straps inevitably broke and remain an Achille’s heel of the convertibles. The U.S. models for 1976 had solid rear buttresses aft of the doors, replaced in 1977 by flying buttresses with glass panels that enhanced rearward vision and even improved on the profile of Maserati’s Merak.
Montecarlos aren’t thick on the ground, with only 7,798 built from 1975 to 1981, and just 1,801 brought to America, many of which have doubtless gone to the grave. While they’ll never be highly valued, these cars are an exquisite expression of Pininfarina design flair at its very best. Plan to pay around $10,000 (the Scorpion’s price when new) for a decent example, to $20,000 for the best.
Now that these European cars can be imported stateside, Second Series Montecarlos become a viable option, although at the high end of the valuation. Both the Montecarlo and U.S.-spec Scorpion are best suited to mechanically inclined owners, as most examples have suffered neglect, rust, and maybe even some hideous modifications over the ensuing decades, and will benefit from sympathetic remediation.
The good news is that the mechanicals are robust, and those parts are plentiful, so apart from rust and the challenge of obtaining trim and pieces unique to the model (serious enthusiasts may want to buy a second Scorpion to cannibalize), these are really delightful cars. Lancia Scorpion people are a rare breed, and hat’s off to them for keeping the flame alive.
Click here for more photos of this 1978 Lancia Montecarlo.
