Once upon a time, not too long ago, Lancia produced a car that made grown men weep. Yes, we"re talking about the last truly desirable production Lancia, the Delta HF Integrale which dominated the rally scene in the late 1980s and 1990s. Towards the end of the Integrale"s career, famed Italian design house Zagato and Dutch Lancia importer Paul Coot had an idea: why not create a limited series coupe variant of the Delta Integrale. And the Hyena was born.
Designed by Marco Pedracini in 1990, the Hyena was introduced as a production model at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1992. Even though the two cars shared the same underpinnings including the Integrale"s famed all-wheel drive system and the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine tweaked to deliver around 250HP, the Hyena boasted its own unique styling that was a radical departure from the boxy Delta.
Just like Zagato"s Alfa Romeo SZ of the same era, the Lancia Hyena is one of those controversially styled cars that you"re drawn to even though you feel like that you"re not supposed to.
Aside from the unique bodywork and the tweaked engine, the Hyena was also significantly lighter than its five-door counterpart weighing close to 200 kg or 440 pounds less than the Delta HF Integrale. The 3.99m long coupe was said to accelerate from zero to 100km/h in just 5.4 seconds.
Zagato and Coot initially agreed with Lancia to produce around 500 unit of the Hyena, but in typical Fiat Group style, the Italian automaker pulled out of the deal and only 24 pieces were ever built making the Hyena one of the most sought after Integrales of all time.
This particular example (the yellow Hyena) was spotted by a member of the Autogespot forums in the city of Rotterdam in The Netherlands. The Red Hyena is up for sale in the UK by Classic Driver for 105,995 GBP which comes to around $173,000 or ?124,000 at today"s exchange rates.
Via: Classic Driver & Autogespot
