1:18 Lancia Stratos Winner 1979 Monte Carlo Rallye

Description

About the Car

The Lancia Stratos is an Italian sports and rally car.  The car had a transverse mid-engine, rear- wheel drive V6, 190hp engine with a 5-speed manual transmission.  The Stratos was the first car designed from scratch for the rally car competition.  The men behind the rallying project were Lancia team manager Cesare Fiorio, British engineer Mike Parkes and factory rally driver Sandro Manari.  Lancia did extensive testing with the car and raced the car in several Group 5 as a prototype.  With production of 500 cars, Stratos was approved for racing in the 1974 World Rally Championship season.

The Lancia Stratos, driven by Bernard Darniche and Alain Mahe, won the 1979 Monte Carlo.  They drove for Team Chardonnet.

About the Brand

Lancia is an Italian car manufacturer found in 1906 by Vincenzo Lancia.  Currently it is a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., a division of Stellantis. The brand has a strong rallying heritage and technical innovations.  The brand became part of Fiat in 1969.  Unfortunately, sales dropped over the years.  When Fiat acquired a stake in Chrysler in 2009, the Lancias were rebadged as Chryslers and sold in Europe.  Sales continued to drop and after 2015 the only product offered is a Lancia Ypsilon and only sold in Italy.

About the Manufacturer

Minichamps was founded in 1990 as a die-cast car producer in Aachen, Germany under the name of Paul’s Model Art GmbH.   The original company was the Danhausen, a trade company that made 1:43 scale models and sold them over the counter and mail order.  From 1971 to 1993 the company published the famous Danhausen World Model Car Book.  Danhausen was owned by the grandsons of Emma Danhausen – Hans Peter and Paul Gunter Lang.  There was a dispute between the brothers in the late 1980’s.  That is when Paul formed the Paul’s Model Art.  Diecast models were made more for the adult clientele and holding their value was a big question that needed to be answered.  Minichamps’ excellent quality has been noticed by Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Opel, and BMW.