We'll follow yesterday's quintessential Lancia, the Flaminia, with a Lancia begging discussion of its bonafides, the Scorpion.  Introduced to the Lancia lineup following the Fiat takeover, the Scorpion belongs to the Beta line of Lancias, which were Fiat's attempt at extracting profits from Lancia.

No innovative Lancia V6 to be found under the hood of the Scorpion.  Fiat supplied a 1,756cc variant of their Lampredi Twin Cam 4-cylinder, strangled by smog equipment in the US to a meager output of 81hp in comparison to the Monte Carlo's 120hp.  A small consolation - the valve lash is more convenient to adjust than on the Alfa twin cam!  Shims lie on top of the buckets, right under the cam lobes, eliminating the necessity of removing the camshafts to swap shims.

Year: 1976
Model: Lancia Scorpion
Engine: 1.8L 4-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage:  93,035 mi
Price: $8,900

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS: 1976 Lancia Scorpion

This is a very clean car that is coming out of the estate of one of our Lancia collectors.   He has owned this car for a very long time and took great care of it.   The interior has been redone at one time and is in excellent condition.   It has had a recent high quality repaint done to it and looks incredible.     We just put a battery in it, flushed the clutch system, cleaned the plugs, prepping the car to get ready for sale.  Car does have some fluid leaks, axle seals leaking a bit and some oil leaks on the car.   The a/c compressor has been removed from this car also.  The speedometer and odometer also do not work on this car, and this title is marked as odometer discrepancy  But this is a great looking, very nice, very clean car.   This is one of the nicest Lancias we have had in the shop.

Condition on this example is particularly nice.  Paint and bodywork are spectacular, which reflects the fact that this car was repainted at some point.  The reupholstered interior shows very well too.  Underside photos show that rust has been tended to or hidden very well, although we'll bet on the former.  The engine bay appear neat, and the engine shows a healthy amount of typical oil leakage - nothing to worry about.  We aren't 100% sure, but the engine might be missing a cam belt cover - exposed belt doesn't seem right to us.

The Scorpion isn't the best Lancia ever offered, but this is certainly one of the nicest Scorpions on offer.  Are we out of line to suggest that this one sort of begs for some hot-rodding?  The Fiat Twin Cams can be made to breath fire with proper upgrades.  We'd say that the car even deserves the hot rod treatment, if only to restore it to its rightful 120hp.

-Graham