Is The Lancia Beta Scorpion An Underrated Sports Car?
Story and photography by Christian Del Guidice
When I was 7 years old, my dad brought me home a few 1:18 scale model cars. I still remember: a Dodge Viper GTS, McLaren F1, Bugatti EB110, and Jaguar XJ220. After that, I couldn’t get enough of cars. At first, I was mainly interested in exotic cars, and I would read every book there was about Ferraris, Lamborghinis, etc., and I could recite the specs of almost every exotic car on the market.
I would go to dealerships and ask the sales people questions, just so I could correct them when they got the answers wrong. My appreciation for classics took longer to acquire, but now I think my dream list of cars has more classics on it than modern cars. This car actually belonged to my dad, he owned it before I was born. I’ve been around it all of my life. But, ever since I could remember, it never ran. Despite my dad’s desire to get his “second child” back on the road, he just didn’t have time. So, about three years ago, I told my dad, “sign the title over to me and I’ll restore it for you”. So, he did. And I restored it.
The more I saw it, everyday sitting in our garage collecting dust, I would think “wow, that really is a nice looking car”. It has a great design, and it’s a 2,200 lb, mid-engined, rear-wheel drive, two seater, Italian sports car. The sound is fantastic, it makes the most glorious noise. I love running through the gears and listening to the sound of the exhaust as well as the induction noise from the dual Weber carbs right behind my head.
I enjoy driving it mainly up and down the coast. Also, to car shows and some B-roads here and there.
I actually just purchased an Alfa Romeo 4c, which I feel is the modern day equivalent of the Scorpion. Very similar cars in a lot of ways, from their layout, weight, size, even engine size (of course the 4C has a nice big turbo, though). Both amazing cars and I love them both in different ways.
