Given that just 24 were built, the chances that someone has ever honeymooned in a Lancia Hyena Zagato are low, but never zero. However, I’d bet plenty we are the only couple ever to have spent their honeymoon travelling around Japan in the very first one, chassis 000 no less: the whole absurdity of the situation is not lost on me. And yet, there we were, setting off from Kyoto towards the real road, releasing this Hyena back into the wild.
Fascinatingly, I can attest that the Hyena makes for an excellent honeymoon car. Yes, it is not the most sensible choice. And I’d be lying if I said the thought of what it might cost to replace it if we were to have the misfortune of accidentally discovering the Hyena’s hidden talent for impromptu zen garden landscaping did not pop into my head a few times during this trip. Which did make me wonder just occasionally if we’d not have been better off taking the shinkansen. But, in the most comforting way, the Hyena felt very ‘normal’ to drive.
This was to be expected, as at its core the Hyena is still a Lancia Delta Integrale, just one wearing animal print. And it drives much like one – only better. The Zagato-bodied car has more power and, as a result of the extensive use of aluminium and composites through the body and cabin, is significantly lighter than its Integrale cousin. I don’t know the exact power figures of this prototype, but it’s likely to be somewhere north of 300bhp, though it did require a couple of drives to wake up the engine from its slumber – scarcely a surprise for a car that had, until now, covered circa 7000 miles in 34 years. After all, this is not quite the type of car you take to go to the shops (or a honeymoon?). But, when it finally found its legs again, it was fun, lively, and more than eager to give chase to Mr Hidetomo Kimura in his McLaren Artura.
