The Scorpion

Originally developed, beginning in 1970, as a potential replacement for the Fiat 124 Coupe (and possibly the Spider), the car which became the Lancia Beta Scorpion was a larger contemporaneous take on the concept that saw production as the Fiat X1/9. Taking the front-engined, front-drive powertrain from the Lancia Beta and putting it behind the passengers in the middle of the car created a well balanced and exotic machine, though one with little or no luggage space and a few quirks that weren’t worked out during the car’s development.

Ultimately, the project was moved over to Lancia for production and, in 1975, became the Lancia Beta Montecarlo. Due to Chevrolet’s use of the Monte Carlo name, U.S. versions of the car were called the Lancia Beta Scorpion. All cars were built by Pininfarina, and they were the first cars to be assembled completely by the firm. The Scorpion was offered in the U.S. only in 1976 and 1977.

There was no official “Abarth” version of the Scorpion/Montecarlo, but there were several faster versions of the Scorpion/Montecarlo, right up to the Group B 037 Rally cars. Interestingly, the Montecarlo is one of the few cars to go out of production only to return. In 1978, production ended and Lancia took 18 months to remedy some of the car’s teething issues, particularly lock-prone front brakes, overboosted for the car’s weight distribution. The Montecarlo resumed production for the 1980 and 1981 model years.