Delta

Group A and the Delta HF 4WD

When the FIA abolished Group B at the end of 1986, Lancia needed a Group A car and needed 5,000 of them built within twelve months. The answer was already in the range: the Giugiaro-styled Delta hatchback, into which Lancia had dropped a transverse 1,995 cc turbocharged four and a permanent four-wheel-drive system for the HF 4WD of April 1986. The driveline combined an epicyclic center differential with a Ferguson viscous coupling, a Torsen limited-slip rear differential and a free front differential, with torque split roughly 56 percent front to 44 percent rear. Output was around 163 hp. Some 5,298 were built, and in its first full Group A season the car took the 1987 manufacturers' title.

The Integrale Arrives

September 1987 brought the HF Integrale proper. Blistered arches covered wider tracks and 15-inch wheels, brakes and suspension were uprated, and a larger Garrett T3 turbocharger lifted output to about 182 hp. Around 9,841 were built, plus roughly 2,700 catalyzed cars for Switzerland and Germany with reduced output. In March 1989 the 16v followed: a sixteen-valve head under a bulged hood, Weber-Marelli IAW engine management shared in principle with the Ferrari F40 and Sierra RS Cosworth, about 197 hp, a lower ride height and a torque split moved rearward to roughly 47/53. Handling became noticeably sharper and less forgiving than the 8v's.

Evoluzione and Evoluzione II

The Evoluzione of October 1991 was the last true homologation step. Track was widened by roughly 2.1 in (54 mm) at the front and 2.4 in (60 mm) at the rear, the arches grew again, the exhaust was enlarged, brakes moved to four-piston alloy calipers and an adjustable rear wing appeared. Output rose to about 207 hp. The Evoluzione II of June 1993 was a road-car exercise rather than a competition one: a three-way catalyst, a revised ECU, a red cam cover, 16-inch wheels and about 212 hp. Production ended in late 1994.

The Championship Record

Lancia took six consecutive WRC manufacturers' championships with the Delta family, from 1987 to 1992, a record that still stands, and the car is credited with 46 world championship rally wins. The drivers' titles are more often misstated: the Delta carried Juha Kankkunen to the 1987 and 1991 crowns and Miki Biasion to 1988 and 1989, but in 1990 and 1992 the drivers' championship went to Carlos Sainz in a Toyota Celica while Lancia still took the manufacturers' title. The 1992 campaign was run by the Martini-backed Jolly Club after Lancia had formally withdrawn its works effort at the end of 1991.

Special Editions, the End, and the Route to America

From 1992 Lancia used the Evoluzione as the basis for roughly a dozen numbered limited editions: the Martini-liveried Martini 5 and Martini 6, color runs such as Verde York, Giallo Ginestra, Blu Lagos and Bianco Perlato, and club and dealer series including Club Italia, Dealers Collection and the Edizione Finale. Most were built in runs of 15 to 400 cars, and they now command substantial premiums over standard examples. Zagato also built a small run of Hyena coupes on the Integrale floorpan. None of it was sold in the United States: Lancia had left the American market in 1982 and never returned, so the Integrale arrived only once individual cars aged past the 25-year threshold that lets a vehicle be imported without regard to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards compliance. The 8v cars became eligible in the early 2010s and the Evoluzione II cars have been crossing the line through the mid-2020s.

Corrosion is the dominant structural issue: sills, inner rear wings, arches, subframes, suspension turret tops, glass surrounds, the rear edge of the roof, the tailgate below the window, the cowl below the windshield, front chassis legs, the rear crossmember and jacking points. The shell is not especially rigid and stress cracks develop at the A-pillars and sometimes the B-pillars. Mechanically, the upper sump gasket is a common oil leak and on 8v cars leaks onto the exhaust manifold; camshaft and cam lobe wear affects 16v engines, often from metal filings in the oil; valve guides wear; the Garrett turbo can seize if oil level drops, and oil consumption of around a liter per 1,000 miles under hard use is not unusual. Gearboxes lose synchromesh on second and third first, with fifth-gear brass synchro cones also a known wear point. Front differential noise and viscous coupling problems occur. Evoluzione front anti-roll bar drop links are poor quality and can fail in very short mileage. Front brake hoses crack, rear brakes seize and the rear brake compensator often needs replacement. Interiors suffer sagging headlinings, worn Alcantara bolsters and delaminating badges that are hard to replace, and the Weber-Marelli ECU can be troublesome with age and after amateur tuning. Parts are specialist items sourced from Europe, so a full engine-out job is a long wait as well as a large bill.

Verify the car is what it is sold as. Every Integrale left the factory left-hand drive, so right-hand-drive cars are conversions, some using unsuitable Regata steering racks; converted cars are worth less and can handle worse. Lesser Deltas are routinely dressed up, and Hagerty and Autocar both note 8v cars passed off as 16v and Evo I cars as Evo II, the latter being easy because the visual changes are minor. Standard Evoluziones are also made up as special editions, so check build numbers, plaques and documentation against the claimed run. Because no Integrale was federalized, the paperwork is part of the inspection: confirm the date of manufacture supports 25-year eligibility, that the car entered under that exemption rather than a show-or-display or off-road claim, and that the title and VIN agree. State and local emissions rules still apply; RM Sotheby's offered its 2025 Monterey Evoluzione on the condition that it be sold to a dealer or an out-of-state resident under California rules. Structurally, inspect the sills, wheel arches, subframes and suspension turret tops, the windshield and rear window surrounds, the rear of the roof, the tailgate below the glass, the front chassis legs and the rear crossmember; look for stress cracks at the top of the A-pillar, especially on lowered cars, and for evidence of accident damage and poor repair on European and Japanese imports. Mechanically, confirm cambelt history (roughly 36,000 miles on 8v cars, 24,000 miles on 16v), listen for bottom-end rumble and check for white smoke from a tired turbo, worn cam lobes on 16v engines, and second and third gear synchro wear. Check for performance chips and a disconnected overboost solenoid. Solid service history matters more than mileage.

The Integrale was never sold new in the United States, so every US car is an import and US market figures describe imported examples rather than a domestic model run. The market is stratified sharply by variant. As of September 2026, classic.com market benchmarks stood at approximately $26,181 for the 8v (trending down), $46,007 for the 16v (trending up), $94,098 for the Evoluzione I (trending down) and $108,982 for the Evoluzione II (trending up). US results inside those markets show the spread: a 16v brought $41,000 in Portland, Oregon in October 2025 and $62,500 there in March 2026, while a 1989 car made $75,500 in Miami Beach in October 2025. Evoluzione I sales included $59,000 in California and $71,500 in North Carolina, both February 2026. Evoluzione II cars reached $139,000 in May 2026 and $163,500 in July 2026, both in Thousand Oaks, California, with a modified car at $84,000 in Los Angeles in June 2026. Exceptional and special-edition cars sit well above the benchmarks: RM Sotheby's reported $173,600 for a 4,070 miles 1991 Evoluzione at its Monterey sale in 2025 and $117,600 for a Martini 6, one of 310, at Monterey in 2023. Hagerty puts unusual-color editions at roughly double an equivalent standard car and rally-liveried editions at two and a half times or more, and a 4,000-mile Giallo Ferrari Evoluzione made $190,400 at RM Sotheby's in late 2017.