A little while back in our ‘Tales from the Slack” series, Matt told you your professionally cranky goth car designer (moi) had been invited to another swanky Car Design Event, laid on by the same lovely people who invited me to a similar event back in March. This time, however, the proceedings were going to take on a slightly different flavor.
Instead of being presented with some of the latest concepts from the manufacturers supporting the occasion, there would be an array of classic cars from their heritage fleets for attendees to look at and drive. Given OEMs get their best historical toys out about as often as David gives out pay raises, this was an opportunity not to be missed.
The was at the newly opened Nationales Automuseum in Dietzhölztal, about another hour north of Wetzlar – in other words, the butt end of nowhere. The museum opened about a year ago and is home to the Loh collection. Professor Doctor (this is a peculiarly German combination of honorifics) Friedhelm Loh is a leading German industrialist and he has quietly been amassing a frankly astonishing collection of cars over the years.
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There were about 150 cars, far too many to list here, but the breadth of it runs from the only privately owned Le Mans-winning Audi and Niki Lauda’s BMW M1 Procar to a one-off Maybach Exelero and a genuine Jeff Gordon NASCAR Monte Carlos, one of the rare few outside North America. Did you know the original AMG Red Pig upset Mercedes so much they commissioned their own Silver Pig (Slibersau)? Guess where it is. Prf. Dr Loh is originally from the area, so when he decided to put his cars on display for the public, he found a local derelict boiler plant and turned it into a museum.
But I wasn’t there to gawp and enjoy free food and booze (only after driving was done for the day. I hasten to add – I’m a professional), I was there to drive. Not all the cars that were promised materialized, and disappointingly there were other filthy hacks present whom I had to fight off to make sure I grasped the keys to the cars our members asked me to have a go in. Here then (in several parts, there will be follow-up pieces soon) and in no particular order for those of you who haven’t seen the reels on Instagram (honestly why do I bother?) is what I got to have a go in, and what I thought.
Lancia Delta Integrale
This was the one. Out of the entire classic car buffet that had been laid out for us, if I didn’t get to drive this car I would have failed you and myself. On a personal level, this car represents the perfect intersection of everything dear to my black heart: a modernist Italian design by the maestro Giugiaro; affordable (when new); and blue-chip motorsport heritage. It’s probably the greatest rally car ever made – the Delta Integrale won six world rally championships between 1987 and 1992 and four drivers titles.
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Back when I could afford to start buying car magazines in the late eighties, every single one said the Delta Integrale was the fastest point-to-point car you could buy. Supercars of the day like the 911 or 348 were a pain in the ass to use and stabby in their road manners. Pushing one on a wet road would see you exiting stage left through a hedge backward. The handy size of the Delta and the security of its four-wheel drive would see you covering ground at a rate of knots. Now having driven one, I can see what everyone was raving about.
Let’s get the cliches out of the way first. The ergonomics are horrible. It’s a hot day and it takes me five minutes to find the window switches, buried down by the handbrake, but there is a certain pleasing geometry to the squareness of the rest of the dashboard layout. If I adjust the seat so I can get the clutch to the floor, I can’t get my hands between the bottom of the steering wheel and my knees. The pedals are offset, presumably because Turin University doesn’t have an ergonomics department. The indicator stalk is shorter than the one for the headlights – just like on the Mondial. They look like they’re identical parts, betraying the 1979 origins of the base Delta even though this is a late ‘Evoluzione’ model dating from the early nineties.
Build quality? Crap. The doors close with a twang. As I crack the motor into life the whole dashboard jumps about an inch. I am not kidding. The rev counter sits at the 4 o’clock position with the engine idling, like a sixties Grand Prix car. The shifter, a rubbery phallus with a leather gaiter, sort of points in the general direction of the gear you’re trying to select without much in the way of conviction. Plenty of revs are required to pull away to overcome the inertia of the four-wheel-drive system, and because the throttle response is best described as elastic.
The engine, a transverse sixteen-valve turbocharged unit, was super trick for its time. Unfortunately, it was a time when for road cars, these technologies were still in their infancy. There’s no lag as such, more a fraction of a second delay in response as you nail the throttle. It sounds gloriously buzzy in the way all the best Italian engines are, with a gentle turbo whistle on a trailing throttle. The best way to get going is to keep your foot in – with just over 200bhp and all that grip you’re never going to get into trouble unless you cock up a “50 m, jump into immediate right-hand bend severity 2 tightens.”
The Integrale is so wieldy – you really can sense the four wheels at each corner and the whole thing pivoting around your ass as you chuck it about. The steering is fabulous – just two turns between the lock stops. It’s instantly responsive and full of information. Even the brakes, the one dynamic area where older cars can sometimes show their age, are amazing. But the Integrale has so much grip and fidelity you need to use them much less often than you think. Once outside Dietzhölztal the roads become the sort of mountain switchbacks the Integrale was absolutely born for. Second gear on the approach, half a turn on the Momo wheel, breathe on the brake pedal, mat it on the way out, the boost swells and all of a sudden I’ve become Juha Kankkunen. It’s one of those cars that goads you into driving it on the door handles. I’m laughing like a loon and marveling at the same time.
How is it possible this innocuous little Italian family hatch from the seventies has been transformed into such a terrific tarmac stage go-kart? The original Delta is little more than a square-edged design curio – the Integrale is its final, definitive form. It’s so alive, so communicative, and plenty fast enough: 0-60 is quoted as 5.7 with a top speed of 137, although given it looks like a shapely house brick I imagine the wind noise would be so bad at that speed you’d need rally style headsets to talk to your passengers. You’ll be having too much fun to care.
Sometimes driving old cars, even the stone-cold classics and especially the performance ones can be an exercise in disappointment. There’s just no way they can live up to the mythology surrounding them. Not in this case. The Integrale deserves every bit of its reputation and more. What an amazing thing. I loved it so much my mind immediately turned to thoughts of replacing the Mondial with one. Until I saw the price the Evo models go for. All that motorsport pedigree has its price.
Ah, the hindsight. In ’07 these and Alfa GTV.s were super cheap. Good example of GTV2000 or integrale could be had for 5k€. Bad for less. I almost bould integrale as fun “daily” but my mechanic uncle talked me down. Also problem was that i had no garage to keep it in, and kinda felt bad for keeping it parked by the curb in Finnish winters.
I was really really really close buying GTV6, I think it looked just italian pornstache on wheels, busso v6 was lovely and in the sample I tested even the manual was nice. However it was rusty as f*ck. I’m pretty handy with welder (also fixed RRC rust issues), but main issue was crack in the block. Dunno how it got there (the engine was lovely), but chickened out. Mistake in hindsight, but had limited money and time.
Ever since the first time I watched Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1984-5?), I’ve always wanted a Lancia. I’d rather have a Scorpian, but one of these would do quite nicely.
I think you are wrong. I am not sure that column is too long and boring. I assume attacks on David for raises is based on the length of your article and not quality? Just because the saying says a picture is worth a thousand words doesn’t mean we need a thousand words.
Are you having a stroke? Or are you new here?
I think they were saying that they wanted your article to be longer?
I enjoyed, but I would have also experienced greater fulfillment with a bit more length.
Brevity is an overlooked quality.
You make a good case but I’d still rather have a Saab-Lancia 600.
Not if you’ve driven one of these you wouldn’t.
And why exactly are you showing the photo of the Leica camera museum in Wetzlar, other than using is as the anchor point for nowhere as you traveled to the “butt end of nowhere”? (I happen to agree that Wetzlar, were it not for the Leica connection, isn’t exactly on anyone’s list of Instragrammable destinations in Germany)
That and to reinforce my point about the tiresome symbolism in post modern architecture. It’s mean to resemble the viewfinder of a Leica.
Ive just realised the paragraph were I talked about the hotel seems to have been lost in the edit.
Aha. The paragraph was so over itself that it couldn’t be bothered to include itself in the article!
This was always one of my dream cars. Back in the day we would call it “Tossable”. I’ll let you go from there.
I concur
“…just like on the Mondial.”
I only read this to see if you could weave in your ferrari.
It’s my trademark.
I did not need this information as the Delta Integrale is on my list of cars I would do questionable things to own. So glad it came along, because without it, my Evo probably doesn’t exist.
It certainly caused other manufacturers to rethink their WRC approach.
Thank you for doing God’s work and driving the Integrale. It is definitely on my bucket list of cars to try. Now try to go do the same with a Dino 246 GT!
I followed one into Le Mans classic last year in the Mondial. I joked that convoy of two Ferraris was worth one million and forty thousand pounds.
Is the going rate for a Dino 246 GT £1,039,000 these days?
On The List you go.
I’m a bit insulted that I wasn’t already on it, but there is a good amount of competition around these parts.
My original plan with the Scorpion was to fix it up a bit, drive it for a couple years then sell it and put the money into a Delta. Over time, I’ve fallen hard for the Scorp and now it’s harder to want to do that. But now I’m kinda waffling back towards the sexy Italian brick…
This news is devastating, as I’ve lusted after these for some time. I almost bought one some time ago, but wasn’t really in a position to pull the trigger. It seems they’ve now gotten much more expensive. Oh well. Great article!
Dad had a Delta mk1 1.3 in the late 90s-early 00s. Always speaks with fascination about it and how much more peppy and agile it felt compared to all the Ladas and Moskvitches which were still very common on the streets of Bulgaria at the time. It developed stress cracks on the firewall and that was the end of it. Nobody saved these cars and the only ones left now are the Integrales.
Fancy Mercedes just got out fancied. A Leica Hotel/Museum? An Integrale? That’s all the fancy I need.
It’s going to get fancier.
I’d love to have 2 Lancias, one Stratos and one Delta Evoluzion Integrale.
Solid two car solution tbh.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1244411553465780/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks&referral_story_type=top_picks
not an evo but…
Is it wrong that I enjoy the offset pedal part? This is so endemic to U.S. domestic would-be sporty cars that I always figured everyone else just did it right. I feel a little better now.
It tends to be due to packaging problems. The firewall has to be of a certain width, but the engine/exhaust/mechanicals/master cylinder placement gets in the way somehow and things just have to get shifted in order to fit, especially given the available parts and OEM supplier bits available at the time before clever CAD systems and modern manufacturing techniques.
Big American barges didn’t have so many constraints due to their scale.
It’s not just pedals that get offset. I’ve encountered entire steering column/wheel assemblies set slightly inboard and subtly angled in order to get everything to fit on or through the firewall and not have too-tight angles in the steering joints. If the designers got it right, you probably won’t even notice unless you look really close. And while it’s not ergonomically “right” it can still be made to work better than it might seem. Sometimes the quirks and imperfections manage to make the car more interesting and engaging.
Wait a minute – a Leitz museum??!!! Is that photo some sort of teaser?
(And yeah, great writeup on the Lancia. Sigh.)
A Leica museum yes. There’s a link and everything. Ernst Leitz was the founder.
Sorry my mistake. There was a paragraph about the Leica museum and hotel in there but I think it got lost in the edit.
Was wondering about the link, but I checked the museum’s website out. Looks like a fascinating place. I just hope I can someday afford a Leica.
I sat through a presentation with their design director. Lovely objects I’m sure, but this whole ‘genuine tactile experiences’ will only be for the rich people really rubs me up the wrong way.
Good point. I think of them in terms of people like Cartier-Bresson, but I suppose it’s mostly very wealthy hobbyist, at best, buying them.
Certain cars just beckon with their grip and ability to fling you about. Every time I encounter one, I think of Richard Hammond shouting, “I am a driving God!”
-I never will be a driving god, but I well understand the outburst 🙂
I had an 82 Beta Zagato, this seems to right the wrong that car was
I’m curious as to how it compares with the first Audi Quattro coupe? Certainly different pedigrees, though not dissimilar in general lines and sporting intent. Does the character difference mostly come down to a preference for the operatic song of Italian engines versus the Teutonic sturm and drang of German motors or is it ineffable?
I’ve not driven a ur-Quattro. My understanding is they don’t like to turn much due to the wheelbase and motor being entirely ahead of the front axle.
The Audi was one of three divergent cars I considered buying in the mid 80s: Audi Quattro; Porsche 944; and Saab 900 T. The Audi did perform well enough though it plowed a bit in corners. The Porsche was fine but somewhat cramped. Ultimately, I went with Saab for practical reasons and because I’m sucker for curved windscreens. No regrets, although your review makes me wish I’d included an Integrale in the mix.
Have you ever seen an Ur-Leica? Sorry, I couldn’t resist the reference to an ur-Quattro.
Wow more gauges than a model railroad shop!
“LAN-chee-ya,” or “LAN-see-ya?”
I heard it pronounced both ways in Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. I think the answer is similar to how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop. The world may never know.
Lahn-see-ya.
Italian pronounciation rules say LAN-chee-ya. I get to talk to Italians pretty regularly for work and I love how they pronounce things. They pronounces Mercedes as mer-CHEY-dees.
These days it should be pronounced GAR-baj. The days of the Delta Integrale are long gone.
New way to pronounce my name unlocked! I love how Germans pronounce it. ♥
Yeah I just always thought Europeans especially would pronounce words the original way from the word’s native language, since they’re generally more exposed to varying languages. But it’s more fun when they make it their own.
The Germans are not free of such foibles either: my favourite is their version of Seiko, “Psycho”.
Mind you, English pronunciations are probably subtly horrible to native speakers: “Purr-Joe”, “Reh-No”, “Bends”, “Toiyooota” etc., etc. & so on.
English is garbage and we all know it; us native speakers still regularly have issues with it. I cannot imagine learning it as a second language.
I always loved these, since my Gran Turismo days. I saw one street parked maybe 10 years ago and nobody with me could understand why I was so excited about it. I’m convinced that rally cars are probably the best performance machines for real world driving, I’ll never be able to justify the price of one of these but I have been eyeing getting a driver quality Evo IX
I <3 WRC more than any other form of motorsport. Huge variety of manufacturers, engine types, engine orientations, drive systems, etc etc etc, all battling it out on REAL roads with both right and left corners. You get cars like this… a shitty car… but the OEM shoved boost at it, box flares and wider wheels, and took a gamble with developing AWD for it.
I’ve never driven one of these in real life, but I have driven one in VR with my rig, and it drives great. It seems weird to say this, but given how the Alpine A110 feels very much like my 911 and you can feel the weight in the back of the car, it’s likely as close as I will get it experiencing one. Jealousssssss!!!!
This was my dream car until I discovered that slithering all over the road in something RWD was more fun than going quickly.
A friend had one that was constantly broken, which put me off, then the prices went insane.
I’m still a sucker for anything with box flaired arches (even a 3 door Vauxhall Nova FFS), and I love that the bonnet bulge has been styled the same way.
I sort of agree with you. Except….. snow. It’s a shame because these are now worth so much, but man.. driving one of these on snow or gravel is probably the best way to experience one. Low traction + AWD + short wheelbase + boost is a magical thing.
My favourite daily driver in snow was a Lotus Elise on snow tyres. Great mid-engined traction, fantastic steering, and sideways everywhere. Ground clearance was sometimes a problem.
The bonnet bulge appeared when the engine went from 8v to 16v, to provide clearance.
I do love a functional power bulge.
That’s what she said.
Unavoidable, sorry.
I get the BAT emails when one of these is up for auction. I can never afford but I can dream.
Non-Evos are about £40k in the UK. Roughly what the Mondial is worth…..
Ben Collins just bought one from a specialist that takes the original and ‘improves’ it. Bring your cheque book though.
He has a good video on his youtube channel about it.
This was always my go-to car when playing racing games. Sure, it’s fun to jump in some hypercar and pretend to hit 220 through city streets, but even in video games the Integrale’s speed is more fun. Not so fast you can barely control it, but not so slow that it’s boring. It also has a permanent spot in my “wallpapers” folder.
Yes… “Wallpapers.” Just like my \Documents \untitled folder \untitled folder (1) \Tax Forms folder.
Edit to fix formatting hopefully