The Lancia Montecarlo, you may or may not have heard of it, but this was an ultimate ‘cool car’ designed by the one and only Pininfarina!
It was a mid-engined sports car developed by Lanica between 1975 to 1981, short production but significant.
Lancia Montecarlo cars came in two forms, the Coupe and Spider. The latter featuring a unique roll-back manually operated targa style convertible top.
The Spider was sold in the United States as the ‘Lancia Scorpion’ during 1976 and 1977.
In terms of design, this vehicle was conceived through Fiat seeking a replacement for its 124 Coupe, so with that Pininfarina was commissioned to design and develop the replacement.
It was in the meantime where Bertone came up with a cheaper alternative, which became Fiat X1/9. Pininfarina continued with the project to build the car in its entirety.
The Lancia Montecarlo came in three models; the first series, the Lancia Scorpion, and the second series.
After a two-year hiatus the revised second serious was introduced in 1980. Its name was simply badged as the Lancia Montecarlo.