One to Buy: ex-Grifone 1984 Italian Gr.B Championship winning Lancia 037 Rally Evoluzione 2
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As if the paltry 200-car homologation requirement for Group B did not permit sufficiently extreme machinery, manufacturers were permitted to build even more potent Evolution variants from the date of initial homologation and then every twelve months thereafter so long as an additional 20 examples were produced each time.
Having been first out of the blocks with a true Group B special (the 037 Rally), Lancia missed a trick by not having the first 037 Evolution ready from the get-go. Instead, the 037 Evolution 1 did not arrive until 1983 which was followed by the Evolution 2 in 1984.
Most notably, the 037 Rally Evoluzione 2 came with a bigger, more powerful engine with greatly enhanced breathing and much-reduced overall weight. Like its predecessor, the Evo 2 proved the car to beat in European and Italian Rally Championship events although by this time Peugeot’s monstrous four-wheel drive T16 had taken over as the dominant car in the WRC.
Set to go under the hammer at Bonhams’ Goodwood Revival auction on September 9th is one of the most successful 037 Evoluzione 2s ever: chassis 412.
Campaigned by the factory-backed Grifone outfit, chassis 412 was driven by Fabrizio Tabaton to five wins during the 1984 Italian Rally Championship, enough for Tabaton to claim that year’s domestic Group B crown.
A further four wins followed during the next three seasons, by which time chassis 412 had been sold to Garage Centrale (the parent of TAM Auto who prepared cars for Jolly Club).
Since then the car (which has been in the possession of just three owners since 1985) has been restored to its original 1984 trim and is today offered in superb condition with a small spares package.
