Zagato’s Lancia Hyena
In the early 1990’s, Lusso Service Holland decided to recreate the enthusiasm that surrounded cars built at the peak of Zagato’s collaboration with Lancia in the 1960’s. The brief was simple, design a classic two-door coupe incorporating Zagato’s much-loved styling ques, such as the ‘double-bubble’ roof. The design was completed by Marco Pedracini of the Zagato Style Centre and was unveiled at the 1992 Brussels motor show.
The Hyena was built on the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo 1, and was designed to be a limited-run production coupe paying tribute to the Delta and its phenomenal competition success. Initially there were plans to build around 500 examples, but this was quickly adjusted to 75, with only 25 Hyena’s actually completed due to unexpectedly high production costs.
The manufacturing process of this car was incredibly expensive. Lusso Service purchased 25 Delta’s and shipped them to Holland where the body and interiors were removed. Next, the cars were sent to Zagato in Milan, Italy to be fitted with new aluminium coupe bodies before returning to Holland where Lusso Service completed the assembly. Once complete, the Hyena was roughly 15% lighter than the production Delta Integrale, whilst retaining it’s 1,995 cc engine, five-speed manual transmission and four-wheel drive system, resulting in a 0-60 mph time of 5.4 seconds.
This example is available from Girardo & Co. Click on the link below for more information, including a detailed history of the car. Photos: ©Girardo & Co / Tom Gidden.