This beautiful Lancia Montecarlo Spyder S2 must represent something of a unicorn for these cars. XBU44X was built by Lancia in September 1981 and first registered in the UK in June 1982. She then had three owners in its first three years of life before being bought by her saviour, the late Roger Cotton, an engineering company director and car enthusiast who was well-known to the Monte Carlo Consortium owners’ club. He owned her from 1985 until he passed away earlier this year, at which point his wife decided she needed a new home.
Mrs. Cotton informed her current owner that her husband’s business commitments and other cars in his fleet meant that she had very little use. When he bought it in 1985 it had done c. 30,000 miles from new. At some stage he took it off the road and decided to rebuild and improve it. This project stalled and only resumed after he retired a few years ago. At this point (2017/18) – he had the engine uprated by Avanti Engineering of Street in Somerset – a recognised Italian car engine tuner – and the car re-assembled by Bristol Classic Cars of Clevedon, also in Somerset.
The car was SORN’ed for most of the first two decades of this century, being re-registered with the DVLA in July 2018, when the total mileage was 33,600, which appears to be genuine.
By this summer the mileage was 37,400. The car remains fully matching numbers, with an original owner’s manual, copious invoices and photos from the Cotton rebuild, and a useful general history file on Montecarlos including technical data and period road tests. She is registered with the Montecarlo Consortium and with the Lancia Owners’ Club.
In July this year the current owner acquired the Montecarlo on a whim, the car he had really been looking for proving to be rather elusive. However, having now found what he really wanted it’s time for her to find a new home.
Over the years I have worked on and looked over a number of Montecarlos and this is without doubt the finest I have seen. The long period of good storage has meant the body has escaped the ravages of the UK climate that play havoc with most Lancias of this period, indeed from my inspection I am pretty sure this one has never seen a welding torch, indeed the underside & wheel arches are still finished in the body colour!
She comes complete with an A4 history file containing current MOT (valid until July 2023) and numerous invoices dating back to 1986 for the twin carburettor set up, though most are from 2017 to date when the rebuild was carried out in earnest.
Key work carried out in the last few thousand miles during 2017/18 was carried out by Bristol Classics and Avanti Motorsport and included:
- 2 new wheel bearings.
- A comprehensively uprated Avanti-built engine (see spec below).
- Rebuilt steering rack.
- New brake discs and calipers.
- New hydraulic hoses.
- 4x new tyres.
- Rolling road set up by the legendary Tom Airey and Montecarlo expert Darren Cooksey.
Engine spec: Stage 1 flowed and polished cylinder head with a ‘fast road’ camshaft; a lightened, toughened and balanced crankshaft; new 9.8:1 high compression pistons with a skimmed head and block; new main bearings; twin Weber 40 DCNF carbs; an Alquati intake manifold and an ANSA exhaust manifold and silencer. The current owner replaced the 4-pipe Ansa silencer with a new stainless steel unit as he found it too noisy, but the ANSA sports manifold remains in place and the silencer is included in the sale.
To this point a total of £29500 had been spent on making this Lancia Montecarlo Spyder S2 what must be one of the best in the UK.
Having had little use in recent years since the rebuild was completed, this autumn it was taken to Omicron Engineering to recommission it properly for normal everyday road use. Work done in this process included the following and resulted in a further £4209 being lavished upon her including:
- New cam belt.
- Brake fluid flushed and new fluid run throughout.
- New ignition switch.
- New thermostat.
- Fitting of Dynamat soundproofing and new door seals.
- Repairs to the sliding sunroof, instrument binnacle and seat adjusters.
On test drive I found myself grinning from ear to ear, the extra punch from the internal modifications and twin carbs has really made this Montecarlo the car they should always have been. A well thought out spec, she still idles perfectly, and is as tractable and driveable from idle as a standard spec example.
In our opinion this Montecarlo represents a one-off opportunity to own such a rare car that has been properly looked after and maintained throughout her life and has been sympathetically modified to make it the car Lancia could, indeed should have delivered in the first place. The fact that she also presents superbly with none of the usual tatty bits of plastic trim, bubbling bodywork and patchwork welding covered in thick underseal is the icing on the cake.
If you would like to discuss further or arrange a viewing please contact Alex on 01243 575760
