Most teenagers who watch Top Gear end up with a collection of poster cars, a few burnt-out clutch disks, and a vague understanding of who “The Stig” is. Nathan Kennedy, on the other hand, watched a single episode where the hosts assembled a Caterham Seven kit car in twenty-four hours and decided to ruin all his Saturdays for the next eight years.
Armed with nothing more than adolescent ambition, his rally-loving father, and a shipping container delivered to their driveway, Nathan embarked on building a custom Lancia Stratos replica from scratch.
What arrived at their house was less of an automobile and more of a subtle cry for help: a bare space-frame chassis that was literally just a massive metal roll cage. Forget plug-and-play components or simple weekend bolt-ons. Every single bracket had to be hand-fabricated, drilled, tapped, fitted, discarded, and remade from scratch.
Entire Saturdays vanished while obsessing over a single stubborn mounting point, testing the patience of a father who had seen his fair share of custom rally builds but nothing quite this unhinged.
The final result of this multi-year obsession is a lightweight, 950-kilogram (2,094 lb) mid-engine machine that stays insanely faithful to the iconic wedge proportions of the original 1970s rally monster.
While the real deal sported a Ferrari-derived Dino V6, sourcing one of those without taking out a second mortgage proved impossible. Instead, the father-son duo settled on a mid-mounted 3.0-liter Alfa Romeo Busso V6 sending power straight to the rear wheels via a limited-slip differential. As Nathan puts it, an Alfa V6 is a pretty fantastic second place, especially given the legendary Busso soundtrack screaming right behind your ears.
Finished in a striking bright blue rally livery, the car made its terrifying maiden voyage to Dalkey. Pressing the throttle for the first time wasn’t a moment of pure triumph; it was pure, unadulterated panic. Yet, despite driving faster modern machinery, Nathan insists nothing rivals the raw, analog feedback of a ultra-lightweight mid-engine build you hand-crafted yourself.
And if you’re wondering what it takes to buy it, don’t bother asking. Eight years of sacrificed weekends mean this one-of-a-kind Lancia Stratos tribute isn’t for sale at any price.