Better late than never, they say, and with prices of the legendary Lancia Delta HF Integrale of 1986-95 heading skywards, you could say the ‘elephant’ has well and truly bolted. But do not despair. Take your courage in both hands and buy an Integrale at auction and you might bag a tidy example of the less revered eight-valve version for around £15,000, as one bidder did as recently as last October.
True, it had been converted from the standard left-hand drive to right-hand drive, although by well-regarded specialist John Whalley. Also in its favour was a mileage of just 56,000, a good service record, with work done by respected Integrale specialists, and a full body restoration in 2008. The auction house rated it as being in very good condition.
Click here to buy your next used car from Autocar
The point is, there are still tidy Integrales out there for everyman money – reassuring when the only prices you seem to see these days are north of £40,000 for clean Evo 2 versions and as much as £150,000 for the very best last-of-line cars.
The model appeared first in 1986 in standard-bodied HF 4WD form, featuring a viscous centre diff and a Torsen rear diff and powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine producing 162bhp. Off road, competition versions were claiming all the silverware so, on a roll, Lancia upgraded the model in 1987, naming it the Integrale and giving it a wider body, a wider track and flared arches housing larger wheels. With its smattering of air vents, it looked on point, straight out of the box.
The first of this new breed was the 182bhp Integrale 8v but, emboldened by the model’s continuing success in rallies, Lancia replaced it in 1989 with the 16-valve version, producing 197bhp and with a revised torque split in favour of the rear wheels. It also sat 20mm lower and had larger wheels all round.
Then in 1991 came the first of the even wider-bodied and wider-wheeled Evoluzione versions. First out was the 207bhp Evo 1, followed in 1993 by the almost identical Evo 2, although it had 16in as opposed to 15in alloy wheels and, to counter the drag of its catalytic converter, 212bhp. Both spawned a host of special editions.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Sorry, non relavent but I had to add this
The Group B Lancia Delta S4 that won the 1985 RAC Rally on its debut has been sold at auction for £764,375.
Henri Toivonen drove the car to victory in the Nottingham-based rally, spearheading a 1-2 finish for the new, high-tech, four-wheel drive Delta S4. The two cars won 41 of the event’s 63 special stages.
Fitted with a carbon-fibre spaceframe and 550bhp turbocharged engine, which was also supercharged to reduce turbo lag, the Delta S4 marks the pinnacle of Group B rally cars, along with the Peugeot 205 T16.
The two cars fought for the 1986 World Rally Championship, barking, crackling and hissing their way through stages across the globe.
But it would be the final year of the Group B monsters: the category was banned after Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto lost their lives in a crash involving a different Delta S4 on that year’s Tour of Corsica.
If you really want be drain your finances go ahead!
These are nice but old cars...better yet Italian old cars. So driving them really hard is madness. If you just want a weekend cruiser it may just do. However, better buy all the spares you can find on the planet of you insist on taking the plunge.