GTP Cool Wall: 1975-1978 & 1980-1981 Lancia Montecarlo

  • Thread starter Jahgee
  • 42 comments
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1975-1978 & 1980-1981 Lancia Montecarlo

  • Total voters
    118
  • Poll closed .
Jahgee

Jahgee

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Jahgee1124
1975-1978 & 1980-1981 Lancia Montecarlo nominated by @Spacegoat
Lancia-Beta-Monte-Carlo.jpg

Body Style: 2 Door Coupé/Targa
Engine: 2.0L Straight 4
Power Output: 120 HP
Transmission: 5-speed Manual
Drivetrain: Mid Engine, Rear Wheel Drive
Additional Information: Featured as Herbie's girlfriend in the 1977 film Herbie goes to Monte Carlo.
 
If you drove one, you would get quite some attention. Plus it's a Lancia and has the traditional Lancia madness!

So, I say Sub-Zero!
 
I went with Cool, I reserve Sub Zero for things I liked before the Cool Wall post, just a personal rule for me, but this is a definite high cool.
 
Would I be excited, if I saw one? Hell yeah.

But it hasn't aged well. Average person would think it's some ugly coupe from the 80s. Uncool.
 
Don't care if it didn't age well, or current Lancias are completely awful. Old Italian cars are suppose to be unreliable and fall apart easily. It gives them character that a lot of cars can't equal.

For those reasons, this car is Sub-Zero.
 
Not one of the prettier Lancias, unless it had the quad headlights and second series grill. But the shape and heritage have the hallmarks of a cool Italian sports car.
 
Basing a sports car on the Beta was not that great of a plan, then giving it brakes that work too effectively (Series 1), or not work at all (Series 2) is Uncool.
 
I know where to find one of these. In a field. Just slowly dying.
Still makes me sad when I remember that image.

High cool for being a Lancia. For being MR. For being the start of something awesome. And for Herbie.

👍
 
Wait, so it's unreliable and breaks a lot? AND ugly? Making it hard for it to be cool...

But it's not uncool, so meh.
 
Lancia doesn't equal sub-zero. But they equal cool.
 
On my list of meh Lancias. Not really cool for a Lancia and certainly uncool for a car in general but too interesting to be uncool.
 
Unreliable old Italian car could be acceptable if the car were good looking or powerful, but this one isn't either.

Uncool.
 
Five years ago, probably uncool. Many seemed to be in the state @Tornado describes. However, the ones I've seen recently have either been in absolutely stunning condition, or the one example I saw which was being used as a race car.

Also, I have this image in my head that people actually use non-exotic Italian classics - they don't just spend hours polishing the chrome or going out on "runs" with other people in flat caps like British classics or making ridiculous modifications to them like Japanese classics.

I believe the Beta Montecarlo was also designed originally as a Fiat, as a kind of big brother to the X1/9. The slightly faster, slightly more luxurious, slightly more adventurous version of a cool car? Also cool.

Looks good in the turquoisy colour Top Gear drove one in:

​
 
Lancia madness is always a sub-zero. Doesn't matter if they screwed up repairments or that they are rust bucket, or brake down each mile. That's part of the magic of Lancias
 
AlvaroF
Lancia madness is always a sub-zero. Doesn't matter if they screwed up repairments or that they are rust bucket, or brake down each mile. That's part of the magic of Lancias
Click to expand...
Okay, I want to make clear that I'm not having a pop at you specifically here, but a few people have said something like this now, ditto with Alfa Romeos, and it's bollocks. It's where I definitely draw the line with the character/magic/passion/whatever argument for certain types of car.

A car that breaks down all the time or has constant things that need fixing isn't "part of the magic" of the car, it's a massive pain in the ass.

What makes Lancias and Alfas special, to name but two marques, is that they have other qualities that make you overlook the fact they occasionally go wrong. They have something that gets under your skin that means you're more prepared to put up with occasionally crappy electrics or an engine going pop.

Unreliability isn't magical, and sitting at the side of the road next to a broken car definitely isn't cool. What is cool is that the car looks so fantastic or drives so well that even if it breaks down or annoys you every day with something not working, you still want to hop behind the wheel and drive the hell out of it.

Nobody has ever said, "you know what's cool about my car? It hardly ever works". What they might say is "you know what's cool about my car? When I get it working, it's the best car I've ever driven".
 

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