What’s Your Favorite “Ugly” Car?
I saw that question up at another blog, and it got me thinking.
There are a lot of ugly cars out there, and for some twisted reason or another, car guys always seem to have a soft spot for this one or that one. Ferrari guys that also bend your ears for hours talking bout Gogomobiles. Porsche guys that are also into Rambler Station Wagons. I’ve got a friend that’s a die-hard vintage Mercedes guy, but if you mention LaSalles to him, you better set aside the next 4 to 6 hours.
So asking ‘What’s Your Favorite “Ugly” Car?” doesn’t necessarily mean things like Edsels and Messerschmidt bubble cars and Pontiac Azteks, it can mean cars that are really functional, or had a big impact in this way or that way, they just don’t have the most inviting of bodywork.
Take the car pictured above.
That’s a Lancia Delta S4 in full daytime rally spec.
The S4 was Lancia’s answer to the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16. And a very good, if ugly and bizarre answer it was.
Although looking (sort of) like a Delta road car, the rally car was made primarily of Kevlar cloth. The engine was moved to where the back seat used to be, and an all wheel drive system was installed. They also wanted more power out of the engine, so some sort of forced induction was called for. But what kind? Supercharging delivers most of its power low in the rev range, but losses efficiency as RPMs increase. Turbos are great for adding top end power, but suffer from lag.
Lancia’s answer:
Both.
The Lancia Delta S4 was both supercharged AND turbocharged in a literal plumber’s nightmare of pipes and blow-off valves.
The result, and resulting horsepower, were impressive to say the least. The factory figures were 550 HP, but everyone thought Lancia was sandbagging, and the real figures were far north of that mark.
To better balance the car, they moved all weights to the middle, including the twin fuel tanks which were located under the driver’s & co-driver’s seats. Don’t worry, it was safe as long as you didn’t run into anything big and solid. Which Henri Toivonen and his co-driver, Sergio Cresto did while leading the world championship, inexplicably missing a tight left-hand hairpin bend and plunging into a ravine, where his S4’s fuel tanks exploded.
So for a number of reasons, the Lancia Delta S4 is my favorite ugly car.
Yours?
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