Unequivocally among the greatest rally cars of all time, the Lancia Delta won the World Rally Championship no fewer than six times, a feat no other car equalled before or since. After a series of fatal accidents highlighted the dangers of the legendary and largely unrestricted Group B cars, the FIA replaced it with Group A, which proved to be a much safer formula. Lancia just happened to have a car that was ideally suited to the new rules in their Delta HF 4WD, which began winning immediately. From there, they hastily developed the HF 4WD into the Integrale, creating an icon in the process, one which won the championship every year from 1987 to 1992.
Group A rules required 5,000 roadgoing examples to be built, and enthusiasts were happy to buy them. The Integrale was continuously developed to remain competitive in racing, and these improvements made their way into the road cars as well. 4 valve heads were introduced in 1989, increasing power output as a result.
This particular car was built in period as a race car, and campaigned by Italian driver Piero Longhi from 1991 to 1993, where it competed in races across Europe, including Sanremo, France, Madeira, Sardinia, and many others. It later passed into the hands of subsequent private owners in Italy, and was eventually purchased by a German owner in 2009, who campaigned the car enthusiastically in historic events. In more recent years, the car was imported by an American collector, who brought the car to the United States in March of 2022. The total number of owners is unknown. The car comes with four binders containing extensive documentation including copies of the car’s contemporary registration and transfer documents from Italy, a thick file of invoices from the car’s time in Germany, documents supporting its competition exploits, homologation documents, and FIA papers (Historic Technical Passport).
