The 1974-76 Lancia Stratos is one of the wildest cars ever built and has such verve and a fantastic race-winning background that it only could have come from Italy -- famous for passionate, flamboyant autos.

Many Americans never have heard of Lancia, although the automaker sold cars here from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s. However, a limited dealer network and erratic promotion held down demand. I drove a 1986-92 Lancia Thema 8.32 in the 1987 Mille Miglia (thousand-mile) high-speed rally in Italy from Brescia to Rome and back and cruised at 140 mph on no-speed-limit highways.

Lancia was famous for innovation: Its 1937-49 Aprilia model had unit construction instead of the body-on-frame construction used by most automakers and an all-independent suspension way ahead of its time. Its fuel-miserly V-4 engine had only 48 horsepower but let the Aprilia top 80 mph because the car's body had such advanced aerodynamics.

Many consider the 1951-58 Lancia Aurelia coupe the first modern GT (Grand Touring) car, with its racy styling, first mass produced (and fairly potent) V-6 and race-style rear-mounted transmission. A gorgeous Spider (convertible) sports car version of that coupe was in several Italian films and was featured in Italy's 1962 movie "The Easy Life." Also, the 1962-75 Lancia Flavia was the first Italian car with front-wheel drive.

Italy's giant Fiat automaker took over financially troubled Lancia in 1969, which is the year it assumed control of Ferrari's passenger car operation. Lancia and Ferrari had old connections so it wasn't surprising that the Thema 8.32 had a Ferrari V-8 -- or that the Stratos had a Ferrari V-6. In fact, a nearly bankrupt Lancia turned over its entire Grand Prix race team to Ferrari in 1955.

Lancia built the all-new Stratos for the sole purpose of winning the World Rally Championship, which is big in Europe because well-publicized entrants travel at breakneck speeds over a variety of roads for long distances. Lancia was famous for rally wins since the early 1960s. Its Delta Integrale all-wheel-drive rally car won an incredible 14 World Championship rallies in 18 months for two world titles after being launched in 1987. It was sold until 1994, and some 25,000 were built, mostly as street models to allow the rally version to qualify for competition.

But the Stratos is the most famous Lancia rally winner because it looked and drove like such a wild child. It was built as a rally car first and as a road car second. Only 500 were made to let it qualify for World Championship rallies, but it's arguably the most desirable Lancia. It has become a modern classic -- valued at about $150,000-$200,000, depending on its condition and competition history.

The Stratos was a replacement for Lancia's front-drive Fulvia coupe, which was getting outclassed by 1970. The Stratos initially was presented as a tiny radical, impractical but exciting Fulvia-powered Turin auto show concept car from Bertone-- a famous, often daring, Italian exotic car styling outfit.

The concept car was called the Stratos. It led Lancia race team director Cesar Fiorio to ask Fiat to finance an entirely new car designed to win rallies. It would be a short, wide coupe with a sideways-mounted Ferrari V-6 Dino model engine behind its two seats.

Fiat had aggressive new managers who approved the car, which got the Stratos show car name. Lancia required only about 40 cars for its competition program, but needed to meet a minimum 500-unit production requirement. That meant that the new car would need money for semi-permanent tooling -- besides design and production expenses. The Italian auto industry -- unlike the U.S. car industry -- was familiar with, and well suited to, this type of venture.

Fiorio naturally headed the Stratos project. He was helped by top pros, including former Lamborghini chief engineer Giampaolo Dallara and former Ferrari engineering chief Mike Parkes. Bertone was hired to style the car and build its unit body/chassis structure.

After looking at every engine/transmission in Fiat's auto group, Fiorio picked a 2.4-liter Ferrari V-6 that produced 190 horsepower for the road model and a five-speed manual transmission. The V-6 gave the Stratos road car sizzling acceleration and a 140-mph top speed because the car weighed only 2,160 pounds. The rally version was much faster, producing 240 to 290 horsepower and as much as 350 when turbocharged.

The hand-built Stratos had an all-independent suspension, rack-and-pinion steering and four-wheel disc brakes -- all specially designed.

The $12,000 Stratos cost more than a top-line ($9,437) Cadillac Eldorado convertible and was a wicked looking thing, with a chunky, stubby wedge shape that made it look almost as wide as it was long. Its "minimal" design held down weight and bulk for greater speed. Distinctive features included ultrathin windshield posts, huge windshield and sharply upswept door tops. The roof looked like a space-age crash helmet.

Bertone designed a more conservative version of the Stratos body for the high-volume 1973-79 mid-engine Ferrari 308 GT 4. The Ferrari had a much roomier, more user-friendly interior than the Stratos, which was almost hopeless for daily use. It had lots of gauges, but a hot, claustrophobic cockpit for two strictly average-size adults. The extreme width and narrow cabin put the steering wheel almost in the middle of the car, which had weight-saving tilt-up fiberglass front and rear sections.

The Stratos was nearly unusable in traffic. Rear vision was so poor the car never was meant to be driven in reverse or to change lanes in traffic. The brakes called for lots of muscle to work right until they got very hot, which they did in competition -- not during street use.

Stratos racers were interested only in winning, not comfort, and the car even had bins molded into interior door panels for storing helmets. With a spare tire using all room in the front storage compartment, the only cargo space was in a small box behind the engine.

The Stratos was a resounding success in rally competition. The required number of "road" versions, which would allow it to compete, took time to build. But the Stratos finally was eligible and promptly won the World Rally Championship for three years in a row -- 1974, 1975 and 1976. The last major win was in 1979, when a Stratos entered by Lancia's Monaco's importer won the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally.

However, the Stratos was a bust as a commercial project. Its unique design and total lack of public sale promotion meant that most of the road car versions sat unsold in European showrooms for years, although the race version's victories got it many accolades in the media. It was still available new until 1978.

The Stratos never was sold in America because it would have been hopeless to try to make the car conform to U.S. safety and emissions standards. Oddly, Lancia never even certified the car for sale in many European countries, specifying only Italy, Belgium and West Germany. After years passed, though, it was allowed to legally be sold in America.

The Stratos was a thoroughbred rally/race car and exciting road car for those willing to put up with its purposeful design. It's become an exotic cult car throughout the world.

JEDLICKA ON STRATOS: