One to Buy: Grigio / Turchese 1 of 24 1992 Lancia Hyena
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As a consequence of an extremely high price at a time of a severe economic downturn, Lancia’s Dutch distributor, Lusso Service Holland, only took orders for 24 of their Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione-based Hyenas.
When the idea for a Zagato-bodied lightweight version of the all-conquering Delta Integrale had been given the green light a couple of years prior, the exotic and collector car market was riding high as speculators looked for alternative investments following the stock market crash of late 1987.
This sudden influx of cash fuelled some spectacular price rises and accordingly Lusso Service Holland felt a production run of 500 Lancia Hyenas would be snapped up. However, when the money tap got turned off in mid 1990, buyers for high end machinery were suddenly extremely hard to find.
One of these rare creations will be going under the hammer at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction on August 18th.
Chassis 576660 was Hyena build number 018 and, although completed in 1992, was not registered until 2001 when it was brought into the UK by Lancia specialists Walkers Garage of North Yorkshire. The car was subsequently acquired by its first owner in April 2002 who retained it for the next 19 years, during which time 018 racked up around 30,000km.
In late 2021 the car passed to its second owner who commissioned Italiamotorsport Parussini of Udine to undertake a full restoration which included a colour change to Grigio Alloy and a re-trim in the same Turquoise alcantara upholstery found on the Integrale Evolution 2 Martini 6 special edition. The engine was uprated to 320bhp trim, since which time a little over 1000km has been added to the odometer.
