As well as producing a string of outstanding models post-war (Aurelia, Flaminia, Flavia, Fulvia, Stratos, Delta, etc.), Lancia excelled in competitive motor sport, especially rallying, where statistically it remains the most successful marque of all-time, despite officially withdrawing from rallying in 1992!
Lancia dominating rallying for 20 years, winning the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1972 (Fulvia V4), 1974-76 (Stratos), 1983 (037), and 1987-92 (Delta Integrale). Quite a feat, that has yet to be bettered, and quite an exceptional car marque overall.
So why is it, to the ill-informed and unimaginative, that Lancia today has such a lousy reputation? Is it purely down to that dreaded four-letter word; rust?! Sure, Lancias rusted in the 1970s, as did nearly all others cars, be they Italian, French, British, German, Japanese, and so on. Show me a 1977 Rover SD1, Renault 30, Audi 100 or Toyota Crown that hasn’t suffered corrosion!
The key difference between Lancia and the other contemporary car brands at the time was that the British Lancia importer at the time handled the whole Beta rust ‘scandal’ so badly, not helped by Esther Rantzen’s 1980 crusade on BBC1’s That’s Life.
Overnight, Lancia’s fine reputation (remember that in the late 1970s Lancia outsold key rivals in the UK such as BMW, Audi and Saab) was destroyed, with residual values plummeting and fields full of unsold (and unsaleable) cars. The marque soldered on in the UK unsuccessfully until it finally called it a day in 1994, by which time its model range was fully galvanized and more rust-resistant ironically than its British and German rivals. The British car buying public weren’t convinced though.