Christ almighty, the amount of Pure Soy permeating through my screen is insane. Between your comment, the INSANELY emotional commentary and direction of this video, and the rest of the comments below, I am truly blown away by how over the top car enthusiasts can be. Genuinely, it seems like this man just witnessed the birth of his first child. That he was able to walk after being a cripple, to see for the first time as a blind man. I'm just wondering, where is the balance here? It's a cool car. An awesome car. An amazing car. Have you seen the video of that guy crying watching the Star Wars trailer? Yeah. That's the vibe I get from this comment and video. It's like you lost your virginity. Just a major yikes all around. It's a car dude.
you won't believe me, today I took my carburettor to an elderly carburist in my city, I had never met this gentleman before. as soon as I enter I head towards this red door, I open it and he was there greeting me, on his right two stratos... I'm very young and when he realized I was fixing a 1985 mini he decided to help me for free with the carburettor and with any other problem related to the car, after a while I complimented him on the two cars that while they were looking at us, and improbably as it seems he let me get on board and said that next time I'll go to collect the carburettor will give me a ride
Also, Paul Frere just going along with it and handing them their papers anyways. One of many reasons he remains the baddest auto journalist to ever live. Belgium should have a statue of him somewhere, if they don't already.
A car that embodies the Hunter Thompson quote: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” Everyone needs that.
Italian here, and I can't thank you enough. You really did this car justice and it's such a high ask given how legendary it is. Your enthusiasm was really infectious.
Oui... Vous avez entièrement raison... C'est une auto légendaire qui a fait rêver bien des gens, bien des enfants... Au même titre que certaines autres Autos Légendaires d'ailleurs... Pour moi elles sont 4... Toutes du fameux "groupe B", qui pour moi sont les autos les plus abouties et méchantes jamais construites !!! À savoir, dans mon ordre de préférence : la Renault 5 turbo (et Maxi 5 turbo) évidemment, la Lancia Stratos, la 205 turbo 16, et... La Lancia 037 Rallye ! Vous remarquerez que toutes sont des "propulsions", et 3 sont dotées de "petits" moteurs affublés de "gros" turbos !! Une autre époque que nous ne connaîtrons plus, malheureusement... Mais, si vous saviez ici en France, comme les yeux et les oreilles de pas mal de jeunes, ou d'enfants, s'émerveillent en voyant et en entendant la vue et le bruit d'une Renault 5 Turbo... Tout n'est pas définitivement perdu😊
No, it's a rally car. You're going through the pearly gates sideways with full opposite lock, throttle wide open, engine screaming, at least one piece of fiberglass bodywork hanging off, flapping in the breeze, and the back tires throwing gravel thirty feet behind you.
Probably the most beautiful, outrageous and wild car ever built. I've seen a few over the years mainly when I was a boy in the 70's and 80's. Lancia made some of the prettiest cars and the most successful racers.
It's a simple and classic design concept but few have ever gotten it right - fit the biggest engine into the smallest and lightest car with just enough body to envelope the passengers and apply the best chassis possible. Many have attempted but few have achieved it on such a level of racing success. Those Lancia dudes were insane! WONDERFUL POST!
A few years ago, I was walking back to my car after a long day's hiking up and down Tryfan and the Glyderau in North Wales. I could hear in the distance the noise of what sounded like probably two performance vehicles heading in a southerly direction up the Nant Ffrancon behind me. Imagine my astonishment as quite soon, two Stratos (Stratii?) in full race livery drove by at a quite decent pace! What a glorious and unique sight and sound and what an absolutely perfect end to a day in the mountains!
The Stratos has always been my dream car. I've never had money to own any "supercars", but I've ridden so-called crotch-rockets for many years, and I imagine the Stratos is the closest thing to those bikes on four wheels. Agile, immediate, alive, scary. No matter how fast today's high-tech supercars are around racing circuits in terms of lap times, nothing can beat the feelings of small, super-lightweight, agile, analog bikes and cars. You have to work hard on them, but when you get everything right at your own limit, regardless of absolute lap times, it is just about the best feeling you can get in your life.
I watched a lot of videos about this car, and kind of, through all of them, as I'm more than likely never even to see one, let alone put my hand on it, or dare i say it; drive it, deep down in my heart i hoped and imagined it would feel like that, just as you described it. Exactly like that. The scene where you are leaning against it with both hands @ 14:25 made me shed a tear or two because i know how you felt at that moment. The way i would too, the way every car aficionado should. Thank you for that incredible emotion transfer, and this great video, because i was in there with you, and in a way got a chance to do something i realistically will not do in my lifetime. Thank you! Oh, yeah... and you just got yourself another sub here...now ill go watch it again!
The whole episode reminded me about the old Petrolicious videos. I love the way you guys combine the perfect shots with the whole story behind this car while giving the feedback about emotions this car brings. You feel like it's one whole video and not few connected segments.
I remember the R&T and Car & Driver articles about the Stratos back in the 70's. One mag said "it was a motor strapped to a bell Star helmet", and the other said "this car is so loud it will wake up rocks!" Ah, the bad old days. Peace/Out!
Colors and sounds, that's what they wanted back then from their cars...and substances. I don't know about today. Brilliant, moving work, thank you Derek and team.
OMG, this has got to be the best car review I have ever seen!! I fell in love with this car as a child when I saw a metal scale model of it in a toy store and had to have it. It still sits on a shelf in my office and to this day is still my favorite car ever. I knew nothing about it then but I DID know it was definitely special, and I was right. Totally appreciate you really showing the emotional impact it had on you. I can't remember any other car reviewer that could articulate such detail about the experience of driving this iconic machine. Thank you, thank you, thank you....
Maybe the best car review I’ve ever watched. The way the experience was verbalized truly had me understand what is is like to drive this car without actually doing it. Well done guy’s.
In the mid 1970s as I had just gotten my drivers license this was my dream car. So much so I picked up a lancia scorpion in the states and modified it with turbo power, forged pistons, Konis and huge bwa wheels and tires. While still no stratos in amErica that’s as close as we could come.
I grew up watching these races in the 70's. Was like, 5 years old and getting the remote control rally racer for Christmas. I've been in love with this car since I was a child. Excellent. God blessed you allowing you to be able to drive that!
Derek, your level of putting your knowledge and emotions behind the wheel into technical, beautiful words never ceases to amaze me. The LFA video gets me every time, but this is just a masterpiece. Credit to the whole team; it feels deeply artistic. 20 minutes of artistic and passionate homage to such a great icon. Really appreciate all the work!!
I’ve read many, many car reviews in my lifetime but I’ve never been so moved like yours. I’ll probably never get the pleasure to drive one but it sure was fun watching you experience the Stratos for the first time.
I love the Stratos. This made me smile from start to finish. I've loved the Lancia Stratos since first seeing one in magazines the early 80's. I hope to be able to see one in person some day. This is just another reason why I love Bertone. I dreamt of working for Bertone as a teen. This reminds me of the old adage, "They don't build them like they used to". Just more prof that things were better in the old days. Thank you.
Great mix of Issimi Drives+BTS w/DTS-I don’t think I would’ve thought of the Stratos as steroids, speed and heroin but here we are. Absurd. Was definitely worth the wait!
One of the most beautiful cars ever made, the most beautiful rally car ever made and the first car designed from the ground up for the WRC, pure insanity.
Probably my favorite video yet! I absolutely adored the stratos as a kid and am building an AW11 SC which likely will be the closest I'll get due to finances but I can't help but think that the emotions that came through this video explains so much of my love for this car and childhood yearning to experience one. I am beyond ecstatic that the experience holds true to my dreams.
Derek is most often so composed, his knowledge deep (if not broad given his advanced age), and yet when he was at a loss for words he brought us with him to share those magical moments. Kudos to Derek and team for creating what should surely be a reference work on this incredible machine.
I saw Lancia Stratos Zero few weeks ago in St. Moritz for the ICE event. That concept was literally out of this world even so many years from it's original intention. It is crazy how far sometimes human mind and imagination can reach. p.s. It also won "Best in Show" by a mile
How does this channel only have 149K subscribers???!!! Absolute perfection! Derek, you are so eloquent in your descriptions like nobody I have ever heard! Just learned about entire ISSIMI and individuals involved. Dear Lord!
Absolutely freaking tantalising. Fantastic job on this one... Both the car, the history, the details. Your narration keeps improving too, this sounded more natural and less hurried than some of the others!
It's crazy how a car designed 50 years ago in a style (the wedge) that was very 70's manages to look like something from the future driving through modern traffic. The aggression in its lines too... Most aggressive looking small cars come across as cute, the Stratos triggers the "Caution: Predator" part of our brains that was responsible for keeping us alive a hundred thousand years ago. That we, as a species, can build machines like this makes me love humanity. That we all choose to drive CUVs makes me despair. I guess the rarity of experiences like this are what make them special. I'm reminded by this review of Hunter S. Thompson's "review" of the mid-90's Ducati 900SS titled "The Song of the Sausage Creature" which opens: "There are some things nobody needs in this world, and a bright-red, hunch-back, warp-speed 900cc cafe racer is one of them - but I want one anyway, and on some days I actually believe I need one. That is why they are dangerous." I'll never be able to afford a Stratos but I've been eyeing up the Hawk and Lister Bell replicas for years. I want one, badly, and on some days I believe I actually need one.
Super vid. A definite favorite. A Jewel far above just being "Automotive Art". It doesn't tell U what it needs, It demands U give it what it wants..... Everything! Many thanx 👍👍.
Ive watched hundreds of reviews, this is the best...i felt those same emotions thrashing a 928 around Manhattan island at 5am, nothing better. Of course this is the GREATEST designed car of all time...notch about all others so congrats
literally my dream car! my dad bought me a toy pull back let go stratos as a kid. i lost it under a wash machine at a local laundry mat. i never seen the car again until video games. sega rally, and gran turismo had this beauty in the game. as soon as i saw it, i jumped up and yelled, thats my car!!! ever since, ive been dreaming of the day id get to atleast see one irl. i know, living in new york, its just a dream to see one, that alone drive and own one. ive always been captivated by a car that demands so much from its driver, making it, in my opinion, the greatest driving experience anyone can achieve. hopefully, some day, i too, will get to pilot this amazing car. great video, thanks so much!
Your passion and review really reminded me how beautiful that car was! What lines! And that aggressive back end!👍🏼 I received a 10inch Stratos toy car for Christmas when I was 6 or 7 and I fell in love with it. I was just fascinated by the look of it I loved playing with it until my mother tossed it out along with some other old toys, she deemed trash, years later. I'm 52 now and still miss that car. I guess you never truly forget your first love. Lol! 😊❤ Keep up the great work!👍🏼
Listened to Derek's more coherent thoughts on the Carmudgeon podcast and he is a changed man having experienced this anima-- I mean car. Thanks so much for sharing sights and sounds and the whole story behind this insane creation.
I remember watching topgear episode on Lancias more than 12 years ago. Even then it looked exciting and cool beyond words. But this! Daamn! Usually Derek is technical and even cold but this time you can see that it's not about technicality but his emotions. Fantastic job!
The most powerful, beautiful, romantic review I’ve ever seen. In tears watching and listening. I’ve been there. I know EXACTLY how you felt. You’ve created a masterpiece, in honor of a masterpiece. Bravo!!!
This and the Kimera EVO37 are my two and mostly only favourite "oldschool" car videos. I'm not a huge fan of old cars. I respect them and especially the special/racing ones but anything prior to the mid 80's is a "yeah that's cool I guess" to me personnaly. If only more videos like this could capture their essence i'd be a fan of way more oldtimers. Didn't think anything could beat the Kimera but we all knew this car is a bit wilder. Amazingly well done in transferring what we see in the video to applicable emotions!
Wow! Such a nice video! 20 mins of heaven about a masterpiece put together by a legendary designer and hiperskilled passionate bunch of people. Amazing. Thanks
If I had to choose five cars out of all the cars that you can be a fan, I would choose the F40, the Stratos, the Countach LP5000s, The De Tomaso Mangusta and the Ford Falcon.
It might not has strong body nor great driving position nor many otherthongs but it is a legend to respect I would love to sit inside one of them.I am driving Mx5 nd4 but this is smaller car. Respect to the legend. I hope your channel grows faster for its quality content
Thanks for this. There are very few motoring journalists who can actually convey the joy of driving a car which us, mere mortals, will never get a chance to drive. You managed it amazingly.
My admiration to those bold minds that created an outstanding car. The lines, the curved windshield… they are just beautiful. It is hard to believe that it is more than 40 years old.
Fantastic piece of film... well paced and edited, thank you for showing the Stratos in all its glory; The candle may not burn the longest but it sure was the brightest!
Magical content. Magical car. Imagine it to be nirvana to drive.. and goes without saying - sublime to look at. Thank you for sharing this. Cheers from Wisconsin !
Wow. This is one of the best pieces of car content anywhere right now. The depth, the delivery, the genuine enthusiasm. From the technical details and story behind it to capturing the driving experience, all done in a relaxed, yet serious way. Incredibly moving.
One of my all-time favourite car designs. Although I'm unlikely to ever get the opportunity to drive one, your comment about being somewhere on the edge of insane laughter and crying fully encapsulated the idea I had about how I would feel if I ever actually had the chance. Many thanks for a great video. Best wishes from New Zealand.
_Bravissimo!_ Longtime sub here.... I've seen 1000s of car short films, and this is one of the top 25. As a kid in the 70s/80s I could only experience Stratos through my dad's _Road&Track_ subscription. 40-some years on, and it's still the ultimate unicorn. Next to R5 turbo2 and Countach, Stratos _always_ makes my dream-garage list.
This is the best video and the best in your face comments this car has " Properly Received" I've known about this car, from the Zero. And I lived thru these years of greatness. You did this car, Honor ! Later on in my life, a Real estate Developer, had an exrally, car in this livery, on Nantucket Island, he would drive it in the woods and into town.He had all the racing parts like the front brace of driving lights the works. He also later added the Metro Rally car, with the optional 600hp , to his collection...great rally Cars this pair made!
I never tire seeing driving reviews of these cars. Only the Italians would look at a rolling fantasy sci-fi prop and think, yeah, I think we could modify that a bit and make it ford water crossings and leap sideways down stone-strewn gravel roads and not only make that concept work, but kick ass with it! I never thought to compare prices with contemporaries and now I can't fathom buying another yawn-inducing 911S-not even the top variant 911 FFS-over a Stratos or even any of the other Italian rivals if one really needed the 2+2 (OK, maybe not the Ferrari 308 GT4). Even forgetting the difference in their day, decades later, when you show your grandkids pics of your old cars, which one makes you seem impossibly cool and which one would they shrug at before returning to their phones? Stratos is a damn legend that still looks like a spaceship even today.
Thank you! This video is a gift of art, admiration and love. One of the best car review videos for one of the best cars. The video and narration style perfectly communicates the rare and wild experience of driving this car. And as a designer to often singularly focus on the product, this is a good reminder that even the best designs still need awareness.
Ι have seen so many videos about Stratos...but never listened such an alive, enthusiastic, full of love and joy, but at the same time accurate and professional report. Bravo...bravissimo! #A petrolhead from Greece# 🏎🏛
It will fight you and bruise you and maybe give you a bloody nose. If you stick around too long, it *will* get you killed. It will also give you _the best sex you have EVER felt,_ a feeling you will spend the rest of your life chasing in vain. It may very well ruin your underpants before you've even got them off. The example in the video may be green, but I'm convinced that every Stratos is red in spirit.
This video popped out of nowhere, due to the algorithm I suppose, and because it is about the Lancia Stratos, I couldn't resist and clicked on it. I'm glad I did that. What a nice channel!
you won't believe me, today I took my carburettor to an elderly carburist in my city, I had never met this gentleman before. as soon as I enter I head towards this red door, I open it and he was there greeting me, on his right two stratos... I'm very young and when he realized I was fixing a 1985 mini he decided to help me for free with the carburettor and with any other problem related to the car, after a while I complimented him on the two cars that while they were looking at us, and improbably as it seems he let me get on board and said that next time I'll go to collect the carburettor will give me a ride
I love the camera work on this video, I've become so used to go pro static mounts. This setup really helps demonstrate the vibration and g-forces the car generates; keep up the great work!
This has just become my new favourite channel because of this and the Fulvia video. The editing, research, filming style and pure information is perfect. Off to buy my first ever Fulvia this week (gulp). It's been some 38 years or more since I had my last Lancia so looking forward to it. A Stratos might have to wait a little while longer ! If my name suddenly becomes Bezos or Zuckenberg then it would be top of the tree alongside a 33 Stradale .........of course. Great content.
As a little boy i'd tear up Sega Rally on the Saturn and Arcade for years and the Lancia felt like a part of me. love all the cars from Sega Rally and always will : D
In the very early 80,s one went through our local car auctions near Durham England and either went unsold or very cheap, same colour as this, only car i ever fell in love with to this day, thank you for this
For many years I owned and daily drove a 1973 Fiat 128 rallye in green, ill echo the comments here of downshift38 "deep down in my heart I hoped and imagined it would feel like that, just as you described it" ... "this will probably kill you but it will be awesome." likewise i saw you stand with both hands on the car and immediately knew exactly what you were feeling, im not crying youre crying, that sense of touching the void, right on the edge of death and never feeling more alive. an emotionally wrought tribute to an emotionally wrought vehicle, and a fabulous piece of journalism.
I can relate to a certain extend. I owned a 1975 Fiat Dino coupe which used the same engine. The sound is the best I've ever experienced. I'm sure I'm not getting this wrong but mine had a 9,200 redline. I use to take the air cleaner off at times for some midnight runs. Priceless memories,. Vintage Ferrari induction music
Masterful narration of the raw passion that defined the Stratos. I remember when I was a young lad, that you could actually buy one brand new. Thank you for such well crafted story of this magnificent machine.
