Raw, claustrophobic and designed to race without compromise, the original Lancia Stratos was not the ideal car in which to do the school run or potter to the shops, says Simon De Burton in the FT's How to Spend It. However, regulatory requirements decreed that at least 500 road-legal examples of the car had to be made. In 1976, the Stratos became the "coolest, quickest, funkiest [and] most outrageous-looking motor on the planet".
This is one of those cars that doesn't just accelerate; it beams itself down the road, says Jason Barlow on Top Gear. "You are at Point A; now you are at Point B. The bit in the middle is pulverised." This is a one-off car that is "stunningly well realised, a hunk of gorgeous carbon-fibre fashioned into a shape that drags the original Stratos into the 21st century". The slight downside on top of the half-million-pound price tag is that to have a Stratos built, you have to provide MAT with a Ferrari F430 to gut first.
Price: £487,000 (plus Ferrari F430 donor car);Engine: V8, 4,308cc, petrol;Power: 542bhp at 8,200rpm;Torque: 383lb ft at 3,750rpm;Top speed: 170-205mph;0-60mph: 3.3 seconds.
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