The Kimera Evoluzione O37. Forget Singer and Eagle, this is the new king.

The car magazines seem to start every article about a new restomod with an excuse. Stop it. We love them. In fact, many of us love them more than the insane power war production nonsense. They are everything we need in the ever increasingly dull new automotive world. We all have the classics we saw as a child, or even an adult, that made us fall in love with these wonderful, financially ruining inanimate objects. I firmly believe there are some cars that are universally loved. No matter how unreliable or old, they are adored by all. The E-Type, MK2 Jag, Dino, SL gullwing, Bentley Blower and, I firmly believe, the Lancia 037 has to be on that list. Yes, it's beautiful, but the story, so wonderfully told by Clarkson in season 3 of The Grand Tour, is worth admission to the greats alone. Kimera Automobili must also agree as they have built this stunning reimagining called the EV037. They say, 'The philosophy is to maintain the essence and the Soul of the old car by evolving it without upsetting it.' So, what they are saying it is, they have made a restomod... anyway, leave it to the Italians to be a few years late to the party and show everyone else up. This has got to be one of the most beautiful love letters to a car I have ever seen. The design has so perfectly combined the beauty of the original with all the modern added elements that the whole car simply doesn’t have a bad angle. It looks angry whilst also giving us the elegance of the original Pininfarina design. Also, that rear spoiler is one of the single greatest things I have ever seen fitted a car. This is Singer an Eagle levels of want.

Simply stunning from every angle.

Simply stunning from every angle.

It certainly helps that there are some pretty amazing people working on the project, not least the legend that is Miki Biasion, who not only drove the O37 in period but won 2 World Rally championships with the Lancia Delta Intergrale. Another automotive legend in the project is engine genius Claudio Lombardi. This was the man who oversaw the engines of every Martini striped Lancia World Rally Car of the past 40 years and also designed several of Ferrari's powertrains for their dominant 1990s period in F1. One thinks this is going to truly fantastic to drive. Claudio and the rest of the engineering team have used the same block as the original O37, but have increased the capacity to make it a 2.1 litre 4-cylinder turbo. Every other part of the engine however has been totally redesigned. It now develops a wonderfully huge 500 brake horsepower and is still, thankfully, a rather scary, rear wheel drive only.

As with the original O37, the central monocoque chassis comes from a Delta Monte Carlo, only strengthened and reimagined with the help of the newer mid-engined Delta S4 rally car. They have added some more modern features as well to help with weight saving such as replacing some of the fiberglass with the modern alterative, carbon fibre. They have also made some complete changes rather than attempting to modernize some of the components. The suspension has been completely redesigned, the wheels are now 18-inchs upfront and 19’s at the rear and as you would really hope, the brakes have been made significantly larger and completely modernised.

The official kerb weight hasn't been released, however Kimera claims a power-to-weight ratio of 1hp/2kg, so somewhere around the 1000kg mark should be about right. Cleverly, only 37 will be built and will cost around £400,000. A huge sum of money for most but considering the cost of a Singer or an Eagle, and the incredible people that are working on it, this must truly be the bargain of the restomod world, and possibly even the prettiest of them all. Now, let's go and rewatch the story of the original and bask in all its glory.