Low-Mile Euro-Spec: 1975 Lancia Beta Montecarlo
These mid-engine Lancia Beta Montecarlos are better known—and command higher prices—in Europe than in the U.S. Here, they’re an oddity, but a rather attractive one. If you do cotton to a Montecarlo two-seater, this is a very good choice. For sale on eBay with a reserve-not-met $10,000 bid and a $39,000 Buy It Now.
What’s good about it? Not only is it a Euro version with 120 horsepower from the factory against the 81 from the U.S. model, but it is a 55,000-mile original that is “in excellent condition inside and out with no known issues.” What’s more it’s a Spider, with a roll-back roof (there were also regular coupe versions). The owner claims there are only three other Lancia Beta Montecarlos in the U.S. from the 1975 model year.
Only 7,798 Montecarlos were produced from 1974 to 1982. The first series until 1978 have the Beta label, but it was dropped from the second series. The Montecarlo was developed by Fiat and evolved into an upscale version of the Fiat X1/9. It ended up as a Lancia project after some involvement with Abarth.
Under the hood is the two-liter twin-cam four-cylinder motor from the Fiat 124 coupe. The car also got a five-speed manual and disc brakes all around. Pininfarina built the Montecarlos, and the car debuted in Geneva in 1975. The Spiders were federalized and sold in the U.S., but not until the 1976 and 1977 model years. Here, the car was the Lancia Scorpion. It was worse in every way, with an emissions-choked engine and big five-mile-per-hour bumpers. Other safety adds meant a total of 130 extra pounds to cart around.
The photos show no issues at all with the car. Even nit pickers will go away disappointed. The current owner bought it on BaT for $27,250 in 2021. At the time, it was said that the car was first registered in Turin, and came to the U.S. in 2009. Features included: “a removable roof panel, a RetroSound radio, 14″ Maserati-sourced alloy wheels, a MOMO steering wheel, Monte Hospital and Koni struts, an ANSA exhaust system, and a Scorpion-sourced cylinder head and camshaft.” Output is said to be 130 horsepower, 10 over stock.
The current owner purchased new tires, did a servo brake delete, installed Wilwood brakes and rotors, replaced the motor mounts, and added dual Weber carbs with the appropriate manifold. Coming with the car are the four original 13-inch wheels, a bubble hardtop, and some tuneup items. Documents, too.
Bidders and owner appear far apart now, but that could change. Someone who really loves these rare cars is bound to find this auction eventually. And if a first-series Montecarlo is what you want, this is definitely the one.
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Comments
That is a beautiful car. The way we should have gotten them in the states. Lancia built some of the best cars in the world before Fiat bought them to save them from extinction. Fiat did save Lancia but compromise had to be made and much to the Lancia engineers dismay the product often times was released to the public to perform durability testing. This car has been sorted and improved to a point where Lancia engineers would give this little beauty a thumbs up. Question is will the public purchase this car for more than the BaT selling price? I think that will be a tough one.
Neat car, but he wants a lot of money and a lot of money buys plenty of other neat cars.
Swap in an Alfa busso V6 and transaxle from a 164 and you have a poor man’s Stratos!
…but do that to a US-market Scorpion which is already woefully underpowered. Let’s keep the few remaining Euro-market (better-than?) mint-condition Montecarlos like this one stock as they are.
Looks an awful lot like Deloreon to me.
Umm, a little anachronistic, no? Did you mean to say that you think a (1981) DeLorean looks like a (1975) Lancia Montecarlo? Or are you suggesting that Pininfarina’s stylists traveled in time to take inspiration from an ‘80s car?
So seventies. I like it, especially with the engine work. I wonder how much more horsepower could be wrung out of it? Drivability though? With those flying buttresses and no passenger side mirror it’s an accident waiting to happen.
I agree, limited view in so many places, it is an accident waiting to happen.
In addition, I’d be greatly concerned to have my spare tire right next to the engine… I would imagine the heat from the engine would weaken that spare in no time.
The spare tire in the rear rests in a sheetmetal “tractor seat” cradle that protects it from exhaust/engine heat.
At least these buttresses are indeed “flying”, with a glass filler pane to aid outward visibility, better than the original solid buttresses tho’ some prefer the look of those.
Pick up a copy of a late 1970’s FAZA catalog and you’ll find a ton of performance parts that were available for Lancia’s Lampredi DOHC I-4. Significantly improved performance was only a fat wallet away.
Located in: Santa Cruz, California
Yes a tire cooker no doubt, I still long for a Dino V6, where are the Stratos of the world that fall on hard times to us mere mortals laps? I’ve seen enough choked to death by emissions wanna bes let the dirty Hi Fi cars loose they can’t be any worse for the earth or us than say a wild fire from Canada!
Almst bought one of these new in 1976 but bought a Chevy Camaro instead. Living in West Texas, I had to have a car with A/C. In the early 80’s I owned several X1/9’s when I could afford to have a daily driver with dependable A/C and an Italian car. My daily driver now is a Toyota pickup and the toy is a Pininfarina Azzurra. Best of two worlds for me.
Interesting pricing. Buying in BaT usually means paying far more than a typical ‘market’ price. Now trying to get a massive increase over that already nosebleed price means finding one extremely ‘motivated’ person.
Interesting the seller didn’t go back to BaT. Means he’s looking for even more than the usual BaTshit crazy pricing there.
I don’t have a “cotton” for this car. But I do admire the authors creativity!
Fifty five grand for 130hp? I don’t care how good looking the car is, that’s insane money for a car that isn’t known for its performance. The current seller is hoping to find the ONE car collector who’s so rich, they can’t give their money away and has to have the worlds ultimate Lancia collection.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful Italian car, but the seller needs to drastically lower his expectations if he really wants to sell it.
55k is the mileage (er, kilometerage?), not the asking price. Still a Buy-It-Now ask of $39k is pretty bold, bidding is up to $11.7k as of now w/ reserve still not met.
My bad, I must’ve misread the article. $39k is still an out of this world number.
Final result: high bid of $23,700.01. Reserve not met. (seller mentions in the listing that he’d bought it on Bring a Trailer and included a link…he’d paid $27,250 for it 2 years ago, so I understand why his reserve was higher than $23k.
I have always liked these and thought that one would be fun (even better if you it were one of the several that have been converted to Alfa Busso V6 power), but $24,000 gets you pretty close to Mondial money, and a Mondial is also a mid-engined low-production Italian sports (sporty?) car, but you also get double the cylinders, a gated shifter, and a prancing horse logo.
Ended: Jun 10, 2023 , 12:00PM
Current bid:US $23,700.01 [ 43 bids ]
Reserve not met
Located in:Santa Cruz, California