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

[Jahgee]

1975-1978 & 1980-1981 Lancia Montecarlo nominated by @Spacegoat

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.

 

[C-ZETA]

No other company would dare to take their car off sale for a year to fix the brakes - by removing the servo.

It's also a tiny little beauty. And lest we forget the Group 5 and the 037 it spawned.

Sub-zero by a street.

 

[Liquid]

I don't care if it will disintegrate outside of a sterile vacuum, this car is sub-zero.

 

[GTracer98]

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!

 

[JAHHAJ]

Sub Zero, I don't know of many if any Lancias that aren't Sub Zero.

 

[Jahgee]

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.

 

[GTracer98]

Sub Zero, I don't know of many if any Lancias that aren't Sub Zero.

Well, sadly there's this:

 

[Liquid]

Well, sadly there's this:

 

[Legro]

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.

 

[Katiegan]

I voted meh before reading the OP and discovering Herbie got on one of these.

Now I want to vote sub zero.

 

[GTPorsche]

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.

 

[JAHHAJ]

Well, sadly there's this:

Kill it with fire!!!

 

[GTracer98]

Kill it with fire!!!

I would still struggle to kill it, I mean, I wouldn't be able do it. Something deep in my heart would stop my hammer or flamethrower.

 

[Wiegert]

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.

 

[MoLiEG]

No even remotely exciting.

Meh.

 

[AudiMan2011]

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.

 

[Slash]

Could be way cooler if it was cleaned up. Meh.

 

[Dennisch]

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.

👍

 

[Tyger]

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.

Great of a plan? But you're from Scotland...

 

[Parker]

Gets a cool from me.

 

[JMoney]

Lancia

Sub-Zero.

 

[Tornado]

I submit that the photo in the OP is a Photoshop. All Monte Carlos looked like this before the end of their debut decade:

 

[Dagger311]

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.

 

[Ken]

Lancia doesn't equal sub-zero. But they equal cool.

 

[XS]

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.

 

[Adamgp]

Unreliable old Italian car could be acceptable if the car were good looking or powerful, but this one isn't either.

Uncool.

 

[Cano]

Barely cool, the thing hits a lot of high points... as many as it misses.

 

[homeforsummer]

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:

​

 

[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

 

[homeforsummer]

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

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".