Stop it all and stare at Kimera’s Lancia 037 Restomod

Yes, it’s another restomod. But this one introduces the new Lancia 037. He can’t help but get noticed.

It is the work of Kimera Automobili from Cuneo in northern Italy. The EVO37 is supposed to – shock – combine the drama and emotions of the Group B-inspired 037 road car of the eighties with the comfort and technology of something more modern. “The philosophy is to preserve the essence and soul of the old car by developing it further without disturbing it,” emphasizes Kimera. New restomod, same old recipe.

And yet it is not. A number of people who were involved in the original Lancia project also worked with Kimera, not least with Miki Biasion, who drove in 037 and won two world rally championships behind the wheel of Delta Integrales. If you still need to be convinced he’s a safe pair of hands to make sure the EVO37 drives spectacularly, Kimera quotes him as saying, “The best that a dressed man can do is let yourself drift.”

The list of suppliers to the EVO37 is equally impressive: Sparco, Pirelli, Brembo and Ohlins are some of the best-known names on the data sheet. A data sheet with a nice performance of around 500 hp. This is ensured by an improved 2.1-liter 4-cylinder turbo engine, which continues to drive the rear wheels.

This engine is based on the same block as the original 037, but capacity has increased and every other component has been redesigned or reverse engineered, all under the watchful eye of a man named Claudio Lombardi, who for four decades did almost the same job in front of everyone Martini-striped Lancia rally car, you’ve seen snow, mud, and gravel spread out in glorious archive images. A man who designed Ferrari F1 engines in the nineties, no less.

The central monocoque chassis under the EVO37 comes from the Lancia Beta Montecarlo, as was the case with the 037, and was only reinforced and reinterpreted by the findings from the mid-engine rally car Delta S4. Above it are carbon fiber panels that replace fiberglass but remain true to the devilish proportions of the original. Expect an empty weight of around 1000 kilos. In the meantime, the suspension has been completely revised, the braking force has been increased considerably and the wheels measure 18 inches at the front and 19 inches at the rear. All the better to use this 500 hp properly … or to give way to maturity and appear as Sig. Biasion insists.

Kimera builds 37 of these at a price of € 480,000 each – or a whisker over £ 400,000. Which in the grand scheme of the restomods is anything but the most terrifying sum of money. Especially when given an original 037, it can easily command twice as much. Expect each EVO37 to be uniquely painted and cut to size.

Thoughts, as always, please in the box below. But if you need a few more moments to ponder those thoughts, this is sitting pretty close to Lancia’s greatest hits …