Amazing $7.5m collection of Martini Lancias for sale

By Lizzie Pope

| 24 Jan 2020

The Campion Collection of Lancias is valued at $7.5m

Fancy buying a ready-made collection of Martini-liveried Lancias? Well here’s your chance.

The six cars in The Campion Collection are valued collectively at $7.5m (£5.73m), although British firm Girardo & Co will also be happy to sell them individually.

Then again, with such treats as a WRC-winning Delta HF Integrale and a trio of Le Mans cars among them, it might be easier to just buy the whole lot, rather than have to choose between them.

1988 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V Group A

Assembled and consigned for sale by entrepreneur and racing driver John Campion, the six classics are all Abarth Classiche or Lancia Classiche certified and have featured at events including the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.

Our favourite has to be the 1988 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 8V Group A (above): the original double World Rally-winning works car that Miki Biasion took to victory in 1988’s Rallye de Portugal and Olympus Rally, en route to the first of his back-to-back titles.

In total, this car has achieved 36 world rally stage wins as a works entry, and it is being offered for sale having been restored to its original Rallye de Portugal-winning spec (shown above at that event).

Sticking with the rally cars, there’s also this 1984 Lancia 037 Rally Evo 2 Group B.

The car above is chassis 411, one of 20, and it made its debut with Markku Alén as a recce car ahead of the 1984 Rally of the 1000 Lakes.

Later it was part of the Jolly Club racing team, and it was also campaigned by European Rally Champions Dario Cerrato and Enrico Bertone. Oh, and in 1985, nine-time motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi’s dad, Graziano, took it to victory on the Rally Citta di Mantova, a round of the Italian Rally Championship.

The Campion Collection’s 1985 Lancia Delta S4 Corsa Group B is another ex-Cerrato, Alén and Biasion car that made its debut as a works test car ahead of the Monte-Carlo and Swedish rallies.

Cerrato took it to victory on its first competitive event, the 1986 Rally 1000 Miglia.

What’s more, it was also the recipient of an Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance ‘Best in Class’ gong.

The three racing cars in the collection are hardly less notable than the rally stars. This 1982 Lancia LC1 Group VI, for instance, was a works entry at that year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race and is one of just four built.

Across its lifetime it has been driven by, among others, Formula One, Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring star Michele Alboreto, F1 race-winner Riccardo Patrese and World Sportscar Champion Teo Fabi, with this trio driving it to victory in the 1982 Nürburgring 1000km.

Indeed, that year this car was on pole in its class in four of the six World Sportscar Championship races it contested.

This Lancia LC2 Group C is another Le Mans entrant, competing as a works car at the 1983 edition.

It was campaigned in both the ’83 and ’84 FIA World Sportscar Championships and has been driven by stars such as F1 racer Alessandro Nannini, four-time Le Mans winner Henri Pescarolo and four-time Daytona 24 Hours victor Bob Wollek.

1981 Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo Group V

Last, but definitely not least, there’s this 1981 Beta Montecarlo Turbo Group V.

Another Lancia works entrant at Le Mans, it scooped the World Endurance Championship in both 1980 and 1981.

All six of the cars will be on display at this weekend’s Palm Beach Cavallino Classic in Florida – and if you’re interested in buying one (or all!) of them, you should view the full listings on the Girado & Co site here.

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