Lot 103: Lancia Beta Montecarlo

Fiat first commissioned a design for a 3-litre sports car from Pininfarina (Project X1/8) in the early seventies. In 1973 the World fuel crisis causes Fiat to revise the specification to 2-litres, which became Project code X1/20. In 1974 an Abarth-Pininfarina 030SE ( an X1/20 development chassis) which was fitted with 3-litre V6 engine from Fiat 130, finished in second on the Giro d'Italia. In 1975 Fiat transferred the X1/20 project to their Lancia division, where is was shoehorned into the Lancia new Beta range. The main reason for this was the 'Lampredi' twin-cam engine, transmission and sundry other parts common to the rest of the Beta range. The Car was renamed Lancia Beta Montecarlo in honour of Lancia's 1974 win on the Monte Carlo rally with a Lancia Stratos. A European version was announced at the 1975 Geneva International Motor Show and production of the Montecarlo begins. The model will be the first car designed and built completely in-house by Pininfarina. It was not until 1977 that a RHD, UK version was launched, which had glazed rear buttresses. Offered here is a 1978 example, which has benefited from a restoration by Betacar of Bradford, who specialise in Lancia and especially Beta Montecarlo. The car comes with a detailed bill for �9400, which shows the extent to which Betacar went during the restoration. Since the restoration in 1993, the car has covered just 6,000 miles. Finished in green with black leather, the car is described as being in good condition throughout. The car is equipped with the 2.0 Twin Cam engine, 5-speed manual transmission and has covered just 50,000 miles from new.