Stratos Prototype - anyone know the history?

[Ken H]

This car is on display today at the Pebble Beach Concours, but also attended the Tour d'Elegance on Thursday. BTW the Tour is a great way to view over half the Concours entries for FREE plus you get to see/hear/smell them run. I've attached a couple of pictures. The orange paint is so bright it messes up your eyes. Those taillights are bizarre - glad they changed them for the production design!

Anyway, the car is advertised as a 1970 "Lanica" (horrors!) Stratos HF Prototype Bertone Coupe. Since it was accepted at Pebble I assume it's for real. Anyone know anything about it?

- Ken H.

[DJ]

Never seen or heard of that car before.

This (http://lancisti.net/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=4898) was the original Strato's prototype.

[1,6 HF]

This car is on display today at the Pebble Beach Concours, but also attended the Tour d'Elegance on Thursday. BTW the Tour is a great way to view over half the Concours entries for FREE plus you get to see/hear/smell them run. I've attached a couple of pictures. The orange paint is so bright it messes up your eyes. Those taillights are bizarre - glad they changed them for the production design!

Anyway, the car is advertised as a 1970 "Lanica" (horrors!) Stratos HF Prototype Bertone Coupe. Since it was accepted at Pebble I assume it's for real. Anyone know anything about it?

- Ken H.

Is is indeed the factory prototype and it's absolutely real. It's owned by Chris Hrabalek, who bought it directly from the factory. (Chris also owns a Gp. 4 Stratos, a Gp. 5 turbo , and a couple other Stratos). This was the factory development car, and it was the car that was used on the show circuit and for magazine preview tests; I have an issue of AutoSprint from 1972 with this car on the cover under the banner headline, "[I]Ho guidato la Stratos". Chris also had the car at Villa d'Este this year.

Aside from those tail lights (I actually think they're OK), there are a lot of differences between this prototype and the production cars: aluminum body instead of fiberglass; 206 Dino engine instead of 246; longitudinal slot front hood vents instead of lateral rows of louvers; totally different interior; &c, &c. And that fluorescent orange paint looked amazing on the lawn.

The car that DJ posted is known as the Stratos 'zero'. But it's a show car, and most assuredly not a serious prototype; other than the name and the design house, it has no real relation to the production Stratos or its development.

[Will]

I've seen photographs of both versions but don't know much about Stratoses (Stratii?) so Ed answereed that much better than I could have. One thing to add is that a mule was built of the zero version by a guy in CA. It was silver, you can see it for a short glimpse in the Michael Jackson "Thriller" video, and it was sold off on ebay a few years ago as a roller. I don't think it has a functional hatch but I could be mistaken. I always wondered on the zero, do you climb over the wheel or is it jointed, Isetta-style?

[1,6 HF]

Will,

Someone made a near-copy of the show car; at one time it was owned by Michael Jackson and used in the "Thriller" video. I've only seen that car in photos, but it's more a tribute than a real nut-and-bolt recreation (unlike the D24 recreation that was up at auction at Gooding this past weekend).

In any case, the hatch is rear-hinged, and you walk across the nose of the car to enter it. The steering column is hinged to tilt vertically to allow access to the full-reclining driving [ostensibly] position. I say 'ostentibly' because the original show car was technically a functioning vehicle (using a Fulvia 1.6HF engine), but it was virtually undriveable--the 'zero' might as well describe the visibility out of the driver's seat. The view directly up is great, as is the view to the pavement direct next to you; the useful views are close to useless. Bertone famously drove it into the forecourt of the Lancia works. He's alleged to have driven it across town from the Bertone shops to Lancia, but he was almost certainly accompanied by 'outriders' to guide and clear the way.

Chris Hrabalek's prototype, on the other hand, was a real development mule--driven, and driven hard. Like most such prototypes, the details look great from about 20 feet; closer than that and it looks a bit crude--as with the 'X' tail lights, which were (loosely) assembled from 4 individual pieces of plastic lens material.

The one question I really can't answer is about the apostrophe on the badging. Like the production cars, the badging says "Strato's"; I've never heard an explanation for this. The factory literature doesn't use the apostrophe, but it's not just a decal fluke--the chassis plate also has "Strato's" with the apostrophe.

[Will]

I know how the real car's hatch sets up, Ed- I wondered about the MJ car, can't tell from your answer which you were referring to, both? The wheel is vertical, so you still have to climb over/around it? At any rate, it's ridiculous- but you can see where Jerry Weigert and others got the inspiration for the ultra-wedges.

There is another thread in this same forum on the apostrophe, or as Tye believes, it is a grave. Any of the explanations in that thread seem OK to me, I am not gonna worry my pretty little head about it too much :)

[1,6 HF]

re: the MJ ‘object’–don’t know, don’t much care. But I imagine that they tried to replicate the original "entry experience." In the original, the wheel (which is almost spherical--sort of like a deranged soccer ball) flips vertical when the hatch is open. Presumably, after walking across the nose, you walk across the passenger seat and slide onto the driver’s seat, at which point you flip the soccer ball onto your lap. If I didn’t make it sufficiently clear earlier, I’m very skeptical of the stories about Bertone driving it across town to the Lancia premises; I’ve always suspected it was trucked to about a block away.

And the diacritical in "Strato’s" makes no sense in Italian–as an apostrophe, accent mark, or otherwise, but then I’ve never really worried too much about it either.

[rossocorsa]

at the centenary celebrations in turin the zero was driven in the courtyard for a few metres I didn't see any evidence that the driver couldn't see where they were going! can't remember how they got out though someone may well have a video of it?

[1,6 HF]

I don't doubt that the Stratos 'zero' can be driven in a straight line for a few metres. And there are contemporary photos showing it being driven on a track. But I'm still very skeptical of the story of its being driven across town from Bertone's studio to the Lancia works.

As I said earlier, it could probably be driven on the street only by following a 'lead' car, and only if you drive slowly and make any turns slowly. But that's not the same as being truly driveable--in anything other than a straight line, you're driving nearly blind. The view out the rear consists of a single 'postal slot' between the headrests of the seats, and the rear quarter views are virtually nonexistent given the tall rear flanks and the lack of any outside mirrors. But even the front quarter views are really constrained. The massive, angled A-pillars combine with the full layout driving position to limit the view out the front to a very narrow cone of vision.

That's fine for "driving" a few metres across a courtyard in a straight line, and probably OK on a track, with predictable wide-radius turns and no traffic. But making a right-angle turn from one city street to another would be merely a roll of the dice.

So you can keep the Stratos 'zero', as far as I'm concerned. But donations of either the "real" prototype or a Stratos stradale will be gratefully received...

[rossocorsa]

I reckon that the biggest problem would be driving at the same level as everyones exhausts CO poisoning!! I think the Michael Jackson replica is in the UK now with mechnicals (although not fulvia origin) or at least if not someone has a built a replica that is road legal. the zero in turin seemed to run like a bag of spanners coughing and farting and sounding very rough

[rossocorsa]

here's a link http://andysaunderskustoms.freeservers.com/car%20-%20lancia.htm the proportions aren't quite right and it has the wrong engine but it's quite impressive

[1,6 HF]

Saw that in Classic Cars a while back. You're right; it's an impressive tribute, but not entirely correct (even setting aside propulsion by X1/9 instead of Fulvia, and the RHD).

In terms of my visibility comments, the cockpit rear window is much too large, as it runs across the tops of the seat headrests. In the original, the seat headrests run all the way to the headliner, so the window only runs in the gap between the two headrests. But I don't think it matters much one way of the other--driving that thing requires either a team of spotters or a large dose of faith.

[omicron]

The Stratos 'Zero' was the original show car. It brought the idea, the name, Lancia and Bertone together.

Hrablec's car is effectively the first prototype (maybe this is why the previous one is now known as Zero) mule and shows the concept much closer to how it turned out.

The MJ Moonwalker car is in the UK. Andy Saunders finished it with an X1/9 engine and a quad tip exhaust. Steering and Interior are nothing like the original concept.

Its actually coming up for auction along side some of Saunders other wacky creations - look at the Picasso Citroen 2CV, the Fiat 126 'Flatout' and the Mini Ha Ha. Clever Chap. Estimated price is £ 30,000 - £ 40,000 ($ 50,000 - $ 70,000)

http://rmauctions.com/Carlist.cfm?SaleCode=LF08&Page=4&Category=Cars&Collection=&SortBy=RO&Search=

It was brought to the last Lancia in the Piazza event at Covent Garden, London.