In 1975 Lancia announced the launch of the Montecarlo at the Geneva motor show. Styled by Pininfarina, the new car was mid-engined and offered fine handling, and ride comfort. These prototypes were produced for motor shows across Europe and lent to journalists to review.
Lancia promised that cars would become available "early in 1976", a timescale that was never met.
The 1977 version of the Montecarlo was produced in two variants, fixed head and spyder form. There was a small break in production around 1978 where further modifications were made to the car. Externally there were very few changes to distinguish the two variants, but these versions have subsequently known as series 1 and series 2. Mechanically the two variants have different brakes and different suspension settings. In the USA, the name Montecarlo was already used and Lancia decided to launch with the name Scorpion. A further derivative of the Montecarlo was the Lancia 037 which was predominantly built for racing, with sufficient non-race cars sold to satisfy the race authorities.
The production Montecarlos were all powered by a 1975cc engine derived from the Beta. The engine is carburated by a single downdraught two stage Weber, and subtle changes from the Beta engine includes modified valve timing. The engine delivers 122bhp at 6000rpm which is only slightly higher than the Beta counterpart
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Originally Posted by Oversteer
