8.32. Eight cylinders, thirty-two valves. We are not talking about a Ferrari with a transverse mid-engine, but a Lancia Thema with a Ferrari heart! We would like to thank Techzle reader Dennis van Santen for his wonderful submission.
Seventeen years before Lancia brought back the model name Thema on a Chrysler 300C with other logos, the last real Thema left. From a contemporary point of view, the Thema is a car from a completely different era, a time when Italian sedans not only existed in greater numbers, but were also just angular, modest cars. Lancia’s entry on the Type 4 platform used by Saab, Alfa and Fiat for the 9000, 164 and Croma successively was available with four-cylinders, but also with smooth six-cylinders. However, only one Theme can be the real seasoning and that is of course the simply fantastic Theme 8.32.
Lancia Theme
Drawing master Giorgetto Giugiaro put the lines of the Thema on paper and across the front of the Thema 8.32 Lancia hung a modified version of the 2.9 V8 that Ferrari spooned into the 308 in the back. Hot hatches today laugh at the 215 hp that the eight-cylinder brought to the road, although the Thema 8.32 scores very decent figures with it. The 1,400 kilogram sedan is able to sprint to 100 km / h in 6.8 seconds and only throws in the towel at 240 km / h.
The copy caught by Techzle reader Dennis van Santen dates from 1988 and that means that this Theme still has the original nose. After all, at the end of 1988 in Paris, a sharpened variant with, among other things, modified headlights and other bumpers was mounted. That year, the eight-cylinder lost 10 hp by the addition of a catalytic converter. The characteristic fold-out rear spoiler cannot be missed, of course, and is also visible in rest position on this copy.
Lancia Theme
Of the Theme 8.32 as shown in the photos, so the first series, a total of 2,370 copies were built. Unfortunately we do not have interior photos, although we have added a picture above of a Theme with an interior that is dressed in a similar way with hand-stitched ‘Poltrona Frau’ leather. Among the round ventilation grilles specifically used in the Theme 8.32, a set of unique gauges that not only accommodate the oil pressure and oil temperature, but also a whole set of warning lights. If your car heart has not melted enough yet …