Lancia Beta Montecarlo

Styled and built by Pininfarina, this mid-engined sports car is sensibly priced exotic fun

- Matthew Hayward

MUCH-LOVED, IF SLIGHTLY misunderstood, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo has a lot going for it.

It's small, lightweight, fun and styled by Pininfarina - and assuming you buy one that doesn't need a substantial restoration (a move we would highly recommend), it's not difficult or expensive to run. The credit for this car really lies with Pininfarina, which not only designed it, but engineered and built it, too. It was the company's first major project of this type, although the result was never originally meant to wear a Lancia badge at all. It was developed as a bigger brother to the Fiat X1/9, called the X1/20 and envisioned with a 3.0-litre V6 engine, but the 1970s fuel crisis put a stop to that.