1970 Lancia Fulvia HF Competizione Prototype
In the late 1960s, Alejandro De Tomaso hatched a plan to try and get Ford to purchase Italian carmaker Lancia. De Tomaso was friends with then-CEO of Ford Lee Iacocca, and the goal was simple — to get himself installed as head of Lancia, fulfilling his lifelong dream of running a car company. Like Ford's attempt to buy Ferrari, Fiat would swoop in and buy Lancia themselves, and De Tomaso would go on to design and build the Pantera. The Lancia Fulvia HF Competizione was a lure to tempt Ford into buying Lancia, and while it wouldn't enter series production, this single concept car was built and shown in 1969. The radical bodywork pointed the way to the '70s wedge styling, and features like a retractable rear spoiler and folding headlights would become standard items in the future. While it didn't fulfill its purpose of brokering a sale of Lancia to Ford, the Fulvia HF is an interesting piece of Italian automotive history — and it's for sale.
