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Lancia Stratos to return


The wedgy styling of the Italian original has been reinvented by Pininfarina and German car collector Michael Stoschek already has the first car - and plans for a limited run of 25 copies.

Stoschek is a huge fan of the Stratos and has a 1970s original, with the full World Rally Championship package, in a personal car collection that includes many of the world's greatest cars. He has stayed almost completely true to the original Stratos - apart from pop-up headlamps that would not pass today's safety checks - down to using a Ferrari as the donor car for the chassis and engine. The seventies car was twinned with a Ferrari Dino and this time the work has been done on a shortened Ferrari 430 Scuderia chassis.

The 21st century Stratos project actually began when Stoschek met a young car designer, Chris Hrabalek, who is another Stratos tragic. The pair worked together on the Fenomenon Stratos project, which was displayed at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show, before the money man bought all Stratos trademark rights.

Work on Stoschek's car began early in 2008, first at Pininfarina in Turin, Italy. It has since been tested at Alfa Romeo's test track at Balocco, where its carbon fibre body and Ferrari chassis combine for an ultra-rigid and very lightweight car that sits comfortably in the supercar class.