New Lancias were available for sale in the United States going back to the 1950s, but the closest the venerable Italian brand came to mainstream sales relevance in the US was during the 1975-1982 period, when Lancia owner Fiat took a shot at selling Montecarlos (Scorpions to us) and Betas here. I'd only found a single discarded Lancia in 16 years of junkyard exploration, but then this 1979 Zagato convertible showed up in a Colorado Springs self-service yard.
In Europe, this car was a targa/convertible version of the Lancia Beta known as the Beta Spider and assembled by the legendary coachbuilder, Zagato. In the United States, this car was badged as the Zagato and was available for the 1979 through 1982 model years (with no Lancias at all being imported here for the 1981 model year).
List price on this car was $10,811, or about $59,135 in 2023 dollars. If you wanted a new Fiat X1/9 that year, the price tag was just $6290 ($34,406 in today's money). Meanwhile, a new Triumph Spitfire cost $5795 ($31,698 now), and an Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce (which would have run away from all of those cars in just about any sort of race) could be had for $11,195 ($61,236 after inflation). It took a special kind of American aficionado of Italian iron to take the Zagato over the Spider Veloce.
Underneath all that rodent detritus is a 2.0-liter Fiat Twin Cam DOHC four-cylinder, rated at 87 hp and 105 lb-ft of torque and driving the front wheels.
I think this car might have been part of the huge 2019 auction of a Denver repair shop's hoard of Italian machinery, but I can't find it in any of my photos. Perhaps it was one of the many cars under tarps. I've found several of those cars in Colorado boneyards in the ensuing years, including a Fiat 128 3P, a Fiat Brava (aka 131), and another 1979 Brava.
As so often happens with vehicles left outdoors for a long period in the Colorado High Plains, this car is full of rodent excrement, and the interior was destroyed in comprehensive fashion by the elements. Still, it's not particularly rusty and could have been restored. Unfortunately, even pretty nice Zagatos aren't worth much these days.
1979 Lancia Zagato in Colorado Car Graveyard
