---
title: Lancia Delta S4 Stradale · HICONIUM
description: "A Group B weapon detuned enough to wear number plates. Supercharger below 4'000 rpm, turbocharger above: twincharging before the word existed, trimmed in beige Alcantara because Turin refused to sell anything crude."
canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale
image: https://hiconium.dev/og/vehicle/lancia/delta-s4-stradale.png
---

> HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.dev/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`.
> Path: [Home](https://hiconium.dev/) › [Vehicles](https://hiconium.dev/models) › [Lancia](https://hiconium.dev/manufacturers/lancia) › Delta S4 Stradale
> On this page: [The price and the proof](#the-price-and-the-proof) · [Overview](#overview-heading) · [Technical specifications](#technical-specifications) · [What moves the price](#what-moves-the-price) · [One weapon, two triggers](#variants-heading) · [Numbers that moved](#numbers-that-moved) · [Heritage](#heritage) · [Three men, one deadline](#the-people-behind-the-car) · [Member instruments](#member-instruments)

![A dark red Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, front three-quarter view on a deep crimson field with a cool white seam of light](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/hero-wide-2560.jpg)

# Delta S4 Stradale

Group B for the road

A Group B weapon detuned enough to wear number plates. Supercharger below 4'000 rpm, turbocharger above: twincharging before the word existed, trimmed in beige Alcantara because Turin refused to sell anything crude.

1985–1986 · 200 homologated · Turin

## The price and the proof

Indicative road-car band €600K–€1.1M · typical €700K · 5 documented road sales. Modeled values are not observed sales. Nothing here is investment advice.

Confidence: medium. Documented Stradale trades are thin — roughly 200 built, a handful of public sales a year. Time-capsule cars clear the band; Corsa competition cars price on history, in a different register.

Documented public auction results, EUR unless noted. The band spans the 2025 Paris result to the Essen record; Corsa competition cars price on history, in their own register.

For decades the S4 Stradale traded in the 037's shadow — too young for the classic circuit, too strange for the mainstream. The 2019 Essen result reset the model, and the 2025 Paris sale confirmed the new register.

| Record | Amount | What | Venue | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Road record | €1'040'000 | S4 Stradale (~2'200 km) | RM Sotheby's Essen | 12 Apr 2019 |
| Road record | £1'636'250 | S4 Corsa, ex-works | RM Sotheby's London | 5 Nov 2022 |

Valuation method and source rules: [HICONIUM standards](https://hiconium.dev/standards). Observed auction results across the wider market: [Market terminal](https://hiconium.dev/market).

### Model readouts

5 documented anchors. model v1 · seed lancia-delta-s4-stradale. Compound annual growth is modeled price CAGR; S&P 500 is a price index without dividends. Forecast quantiles are not investment advice.

| Window | This car* | S&P 500 | Gold |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1Y | +11.7% | +18.8% | +21.9% |
| 5Y | -5.0% | +11.4% | +17.6% |
| 10Y | +5.4% | +13.3% | +11.8% |

| Series | Deepest drawdown | Window |
| --- | --- | --- |
| This car* | -42.5% | Feb 2020 → Jul 2025 · not recovered |
| S&P 500 | -20.3% | Dec 2021 → Oct 2022 · recovered Dec 2023 |
| Gold | -18.9% | Feb 2026 → Jul 2026 · not recovered |

| Horizon | P10 | P50 | P90 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| +6M | €640'880 | €718'109 | €804'644 |
| +12M | €634'020 | €736'686 | €855'975 |
| +24M | €628'743 | €775'294 | €956'003 |

### Documented sales

9 recorded. Every public sale on this file, newest first. Amounts keep the recorded currency. Source links appear only when the catalog stores a public auction-lot URL.

| Date | Chassis / label | Class | House | Venue | Amount | Currency | Basis | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | ZLA038AR000000017 | Road |  | Bonhams Grand Palais, Paris | €626'750 | EUR |  |  |
| 2024 | S4 Corsa | Competizione |  | RM Sotheby's Monaco | €837'500 | EUR |  |  |
| 2022 | S4 Corsa, ex-works | Competizione |  | RM Sotheby's London | £1'636'250 | GBP |  |  |
| 2021 | S4 Corsa · 227, ex-works | Competizione |  | Artcurial, Paris | €810'560 | EUR |  |  |
| 2019 | ZLA038AR000000155 | Road |  | RM Sotheby's Essen | €1'040'000 | EUR |  |  |
| 2019 | 1985 | Competizione |  | RM Sotheby's London | £764'375 | GBP |  |  |
| 2018 | ZLA038AR000000033 | Road |  | Bonhams Quail Lodge | $423'000 | USD |  |  |
| 2017 | ZLA038AR000000119 | Road |  | RM Sotheby's Villa Erba | €492'800 | EUR |  |  |
| 2016 | ZLA038AR000000033 | Road |  | Gooding, Pebble Beach | $440'000 | USD |  |  |

## Overview

| Highlight | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Two chargers, one 1.8 | A Volumex supercharger fills in from idle; a KKK K26 turbo takes over at speed. 250 PS from 1'759 cc in road trim — a supercharger and a turbocharger on one crank. Abarth type 233 ATR 18S: 16 valves, twin intercoolers, Marelli-Weber injection and a 7.6:1 compression built for boost. The supercharger kills lag the turbo would leave behind; past 4'000 rpm the K26 does the shoving. Rallying called it twincharging a decade before production cars borrowed the idea back. |
| Two hundred, by decree | Group B homologation demanded 200 road cars. Abarth built them in Turin with beige Alcantara and a warranty — the rally silhouette, civilised. Kerb weight 1'197 kg against the competition car's ~950; the Corsa ran to 473 bhp in evolution trim while the Stradale kept a usable 250. Period sales were slow — Bonhams counts only ~71 cars sold between 1985 and 1990 — which is exactly why a documented, unmodified Stradale is rarer today than its Stratos and 037 forebears. |
| The last silhouette of Group B | The S4 won on its debut at the 1985 RAC Rally. Within a year Group B was over — banned for 1987, leaving the Stradale as the final homologation special of rallying's fastest age. The lineage ran Stratos, 037, S4 — all developed by Abarth engineers, all obliged to exist as road cars. When the category died, so did the breed: no 200-unit homologation special followed under the rules that replaced it. Values read accordingly: €626'750 at Bonhams Paris in 2025, and just over €1M for a 2'200 km car at RM Sotheby's Essen in 2019. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Power | 250 PS |
| 0 to 100 | 6.0 s |
| Built | ~200 |
| Layout | Mid-engine · AWD |
| Charging | Supercharger + turbo |

## Technical specifications

### Powertrain

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Engine | 1'759 cc inline-4, 16V | Abarth 233 ATR 18S, mid-rear, longitudinal |
| Charging | Volumex R18 supercharger + KKK K26 turbo | twin intercoolers; sequential by design |
| Output | 250 PS (184 kW) @ 6'750 rpm |  |
| Torque | 291 Nm (214 lb-ft) @ 4'500 rpm |  |
| Compression | 7.6 : 1 |  |
| Injection | Marelli-Weber IAW |  |

### Performance

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Top speed | 225 km/h (140 mph) |  |
| 0 to 100 km/h | 6.0 s |  |
| Weight to power | 4.8 kg/PS |  |

### Drivetrain & chassis

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Drive | Permanent all-wheel drive | centre differential, rally-derived |
| Transmission | 5-speed manual |  |
| Suspension | Independent, MacPherson | front and rear |
| Steering | Rack and pinion, 2.5 turns |  |
| Brakes | Vented discs, all round |  |
| Tyres | 205/55 R16 |  |

### Body & dimensions

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Body | 3-door hatchback silhouette | composite panels over a tubular core |
| Wheelbase | 2'440 mm |  |
| Length | 4'005 mm |  |
| Width | 1'801 mm |  |
| Height | 1'501 mm |  |
| Kerb weight | 1'197 kg |  |

### Production & identity

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built | ~200 (1985 to 1986) | Group B homologation minimum |
| Assembly | Abarth, Turin |  |
| Engine code | Abarth 233 ATR 18S |  |
| Interior | Beige Alcantara | most cars; registry also lists black cloth |
| Registry | 42 chassis publicly documented | exclusivecarregistry.com, 2026 |

## What moves the price

Two Stradales can share a colour and sit a quarter-million apart at the hammer: the difference lives in kilometres, paint and paperwork. Spans are indicative, read from the documented sales — never the calibrated HICON multipliers. Build the file below.

Spans are indicative, drawn from documented public sales. Calibrated multipliers for a specific chassis remain member instruments.

| Value driver | Indicative range | Meaning | Documentary evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Delivery mileage | +40% to +110% | A four-digit odometer with a storage history to explain it. | '19 Essen · ~2'200 km · €1.04M against a €450k–550k estimate |
| Factory finish, no livery | +10% to +20% | Many survivors wear later Martini wraps; unrestored factory paint is the exception. | Registry: 9 of 20 documented liveries are aftermarket Martini |
| Period first sale | +10% to +15% | Only ~71 cars found buyers 1985–1990; a clean early paper trail is rarer than the car. | Bonhams '25 catalogue research |
| Modified boost hardware | −10% to −25% | Swapped Volumex or non-original K26 — usable power, discounted originality. | Matching 233 ATR 18S hardware is the auction catalogue lead line |

## One weapon, two triggers

Abarth built the S4 twice: two hundred Stradales on paper to satisfy the rulebook, and a works Corsa that treated the same 1.8 as a suggestion. The road car kept the silhouette, the Alcantara and 250 PS; the Corsa kept the 473 bhp.

| Variant | Years | Built | Rarity | Indicative value | Documented cars | File |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Delta S4 Stradale | 1985–1986 | 200 | Works / very rare | €700k | 5 | [Open variant file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale/stradale) |
| Delta S4 Corsa | 1985–1986 | 28 | Works / very rare | €1.2M | 5 | [Open variant file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale/corsa) |

The public registry documents 42 Stradale and 28 Corsa chassis. Registry colour data says more about owners than about Abarth: nine of the twenty visible liveries are aftermarket Martini wraps over factory paint.

### Delta S4 Stradale

1985–1986 · Works / very rare · 200 · [Open as its own file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale/stradale)

The homologation road car: twincharged 1.8, permanent AWD, beige Alcantara — Group B detuned to a warranty.

Kerb weight 1’197 kg against the Corsa’s ~950; period sales were slow (~71 cars found buyers 1985–1990), which is why documented, unmodified Stradales are rarer at auction than their Stratos and 037 forebears. Many surviving cars wear later Martini wraps; unrestored factory finishes lead the market.

- Supercharger and turbocharger on one crank — twincharged from the factory
- 200 homologated; ≈71 believed sold — the rest reportedly broken up or parted out
- Registry documents 42 chassis publicly (exclusivecarregistry.com, 2026)
- Record: €1.04M for a ~2 200 km car, RM Sotheby’s Essen 2019

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Engine | 1'759 cc twincharged inline-4 · Abarth 233 ATR 18S |
| Power | 250 PS |
| Weight | 1'197 kg kerb |
| Top speed | 225 km/h |
| 0–100 km/h | 6.0 s |

### The Delta S4 Stradale register

5 documented · public records only. Private, unpublished and member-only chassis files are omitted.

| Year | Chassis | Colour | Provenance | Last public sale | File |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000017 | Nero Metallizzato | 5'600 km from new over Alcantara Verde; sold new by Coombs of Guildford in 1987, in France from 1990. Sold at Bonhams Grand Palais, Paris, February 2025. | €626'750 · Bonhams · 2025-02 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000017) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000025 | Argento | Unrestored, ~2'385 km — one of four in its colour combination per Gooding. Offered at Pebble Beach 2019 against a $600k–700k estimate and not sold; no public whereabouts since. |  | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000025) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000033 | Rosso Amaranto | Matching numbers, under 14'000 miles, photo-documented restoration. Twice across the block: $440k at Gooding Pebble Beach 2016, then $423k at Bonhams Quail Lodge 2018. | $423'000 · Bonhams · 2018-08 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000033) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000119 | Rosso Metallizzato | Under 1'600 km over beige Alcantara; delivered new to Italy, first registered 1989, with original books, Certificate of Origin and ASI Gold Plate at its 2017 sale. | €492'800 · RM Sotheby's · 2017-05 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000119) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000155 | Rosso Metallizzato | A ~2'200 km time capsule — the result that reset the model: €1.04M against a €450k–550k estimate — RM reported a world-record price for the model. | €1'040'000 · RM Sotheby's · 2019-04 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000155) |

### Delta S4 Corsa

1985–1986 · Works / very rare · 28 · [Open as its own file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale/corsa)

The works Group B car: ~950 kg, up to 473 bhp in evolution trim, and the 1985 RAC debut win. Group B died before it could finish the argument.

RM Sotheby’s twice states 28 Corsa were constructed and the public registry lists 28 competition chassis; a separate registry field says 26 without explaining the gap. Works cars ran the Martini colours in period; ex-works examples trade on history rather than condition, in a different register from the road cars.

- Debut win: 1985 RAC Rally
- 28 competition chassis on the public record
- Ex-works car: £1.64M, RM Sotheby’s London 2022

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Engine | 1'759 cc twincharged inline-4, evolution tune |
| Power | 473 bhp |
| Weight | ~950 kg |

### The Delta S4 Corsa register

5 documented · public records only. Private, unpublished and member-only chassis files are omitted.

| Year | Chassis | Colour | Provenance | Last public sale | File |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000202 | Martini livery | Toivonen/Wilson’s 1985 RAC Rally winner — the S4’s debut victory — then a works T-car through 1986. Abarth Classiche certified. | £764'375 · RM Sotheby's · 2019-10 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000202) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000207 | Martini livery | Second at the 1985 RAC with Alén/Kivimäki, then a Jolly Club/Grifone winner at Halkidiki 1986 with Tabaton. From the Sportiva Collection. | €837'500 · RM Sotheby's · 2024-05 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000207) |
| 1985 | 211 | Martini livery | Toivonen/Cresto’s 1986 Tour de Corse car, destroyed in the accident that ended Group B — on the register as the category’s gravest entry. |  | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=211) |
| 1985 | ZLA038AR000000215 | Martini livery | Toivonen/Cresto’s 1986 Monte Carlo winner, later reserve car, European autocross, Japan, then the Gran Turismo Collection — at £1.64M the highest S4 auction result on file. | £1'636'250 · RM Sotheby's · 2022-11 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=ZLA038AR000000215) |
| 1986 | 227 | Martini livery | Works Martini car — Biasion’s second at the 1986 Memorial Bettega, the 1987 Chamonix 24 Hours with Saby, then Michel Hommell’s museum collection. | €810'560 · Artcurial · 2021 | [Chassis file](https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/lancia/delta-s4-stradale?file=227) |

## Numbers that moved

Group B chassis were equipment: renumbered, rebuilt, cannibalised, and counted differently by every authority. Reading an S4 begins with reading past its number — three documented cases from the file.

| Plate A | Plate B | Year | Story |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 200 | ≈71 | The homologation count | The papers filed for Group B say 200 Stradales, and auction essays still repeat it. Bonhams believes about 71 were actually sold between 1985 and 1990 — the remainder reportedly broken up or sold for parts to spare Lancia the warranty. The registry documents fewer than either number. |
| 26 | 28 | The Corsa ledger | RM Sotheby’s twice states 28 competition chassis were built; the public registry lists 28 while its own production field says 26. No reviewed source explains the discrepancy — the registry keeps both numbers on file. |
| 202 | 201 | The T-car slip | RM’s catalogue essay for the RAC winner calls it chassis 202 in one paragraph and 201 a page later while tracking the 1986 T-car duties — either a slip or a second car doing the same job. The registry keeps both files open. |

## Heritage

> Homologation and racing vehicles that remain legendary to this day.
>
>
>
> Bonhams catalogue · Grand Palais, Paris, 2025

### Three cars, one obligation

The lineage

Lancia’s rally house style was always the same trick played harder: build the racer first, then build just enough road cars to make it legal. The purpose-designed Stratos defined the three-title run of 1974–76. The 037 repeated the move in 1982 — supercharged, mid-engined, rear-driven — and in 1983 beat Audi’s four-wheel-drive Quattro to the makes’ title by two points, 118 to 116. No rear-wheel-drive car has won it since.

The victory carried its own expiry date. By 1984 the four-wheel-drive opposition had matured and the 037 was no longer competitive at the top level. Abarth’s answer had to out-tech the technology that beat it — and it had to exist, two hundred times over, with number plates.

![Sandro Munari’s Lancia Stratos HF, 1975 Rallye 4 Regioni — the first purpose-built rally champion](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/story/munari-stratos-1975.jpg)

### Two chargers, no compromise

The engineering

The S4’s answer to turbo lag was to refuse it. Abarth’s type 233 ATR 18S displaces 1'759 cc and carries both a Volumex R18 supercharger and a KKK K26 turbocharger: the supercharger fills the low revs where a turbo has nothing to give, the turbo takes over past 4'000 rpm, and twin intercoolers keep the whole arrangement alive. Rallying called it twincharging a decade before production cars borrowed the idea back.

Underneath: permanent all-wheel drive with a centre differential, a mid-rear longitudinal engine, and a body that only pretends to be a Delta hatchback. In road trim the compression sits at 7.6:1 and the output at a deliberately usable 250 PS; the works Corsa ran the same architecture to 473 bhp at roughly 950 kg.

### Thirteen months of Group B

The season

The S4 won the first world championship rally it ever entered — the 1985 RAC, Henri Toivonen and Neil Wilson ahead of Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki: a debut one-two. For thirteen months the S4 and Peugeot’s 205 T16 E2 traded stage wins at the outer edge of what the category allowed, and Peugeot took both manufacturers’ titles of the era.

On 2 May 1986 Toivonen and co-driver Sergio Cresto were killed on the eighteenth stage of the Tour de Corse. Weeks after a spectator-fatal crash in Portugal, it was the breaking point: Group B was barred from the 1987 championship and the planned Group S was scrapped outright. The S4 never raced a works season again.

![Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki, works Delta S4, Rallye Sanremo 1986 — the final Group B season](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/story/alen-s4-sanremo-1986.jpg)

![Henri Toivonen’s 1985 Delta S4, chassis 202, photographed in 2021](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/story/toivonen-s4-202.jpg)

![Dario Cerrato and Giuseppe Cerri’s Jolly Club Totip Delta S4, Rallye Sanremo 1986 — the privateer answer](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/story/cerrato-s4-sanremo-1986.jpg)

### Two hundred civilians

The road cars

The rulebook demanded two hundred road cars, and Abarth built them in Turin with beige Alcantara, a warranty and a usable 250 PS. Period buyers largely declined the offer — Bonhams counts roughly 71 cars sold between 1985 and 1990 — which is exactly why a documented, unmodified Stradale is rarer at auction today than its Stratos and 037 forebears.

The public registry documents 42 Stradale chassis. Many survivors wear later Martini wraps over factory paint; the unrestored cars lead the market, and since a ~2'200 km example made just over a million euros at Essen in 2019, the S4 Stradale has priced in a different register: the last of Group B, on the road.

![A Delta S4 Stradale at Techno Classica Essen, 2023 — one of the two hundred, still on the road](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/story/s4-stradale-essen-2023.jpg)

![Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, HICONIUM catalog render](https://hiconium.dev/images/catalog/lancia-delta-s4-stradale.png)

### Milestones

| Date | Title | What happened | Standing |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1985 | The S4 arrives | Lancia’s four-wheel-drive answer enters the world championship late in the Group B era. |  |
| November 1985 | Debut win, RAC Rally | Toivonen/Wilson win first time out, Alén/Kivimäki second — a one-two on arrival. |  |
| 2 May 1986 | Tour de Corse | Toivonen and Cresto are killed on the eighteenth special stage. The category’s fate is sealed. |  |
| 1987 | Group B banned | Group B is barred from the 1987 championship; the planned Group S is scrapped. Lancia answers with the production-based Group A Delta HF 4WD. |  |
| 12 April 2019 | The market resets | A ~2'200 km Stradale makes €1.04M at RM Sotheby’s Essen — a reported world record for the model. |  |

## Three men, one deadline

The S4 carries the fingerprints of the small Abarth squad that had already built Lancia one rally dynasty — and was given thirteen months to build another.

### Claudio Lombardi

Technical director · Lancia Racing

Lancia and Abarth engine chief from 1976 to 1983, then Lancia Racing’s technical director from 1984 to 1989, he personally followed the twincharged 1.75-litre engine — the Italian press still calls him the father of the S4. He later headed Ferrari’s Formula 1 engine department.

### Sergio Limone

Project engineer · Abarth

The 037’s project leader also worked on the S4 — Lombardi names him, with Roberto Roberti, among the car’s chassis engineers. Abarth’s Group B line, first car to last.

### Cesare Fiorio

Team principal · Lancia Racing

![Cesare Fiorio with the Lancia-Alitalia team, Automotive Tour of Italy, 1975](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/lancia-delta-s4-stradale/team/cesare-fiorio-1975.jpg)

Founder of the HF racing squad in 1963 and Lancia Racing’s team principal from 1965 to 1989, he led the house’s rally and endurance campaigns from the HF era through 037 and S4 — then became Ferrari’s Formula 1 sporting director.

## Member instruments

A HICON Bid is a confidential expression of buying interest on this file. It is not a binding purchase, and HICONIUM holds no funds. [Sign in](https://hiconium.dev/sign-in) to place one. Garage files for an owned chassis are member records and are not listed here. [How membership works](https://hiconium.dev/membership).