The Lancia Stratos took window operation to its most simplified form

The Lancia Stratos is an incredibly special car, but more than its peculiarity, it is state of the art. In an effort to design the car for the goodness of light racing cars, Bertone and Lancia have designed what must be the simplest and most efficient. window mechanism I have never seen before. With little more than a wing nut, the Stratos’ unorthodox window operation is infinitely adjustable and completely foolproof.

Due to the Stratos’ odd shape, there isn’t much of a door that the window has to fit into, so a traditional vertical window channel just wouldn’t do. With a traditional window operation, it would have run out of real estate an inch or two from the top. So to get more window in the door, enough to reach out for a rally the stage time slip or something, he mounted the back of the window glass on a pivot, and made a curved channel in the door that the front of the glass could squeeze. It is literally a moving part, the glass.

While there is so much interesting stuff about the Lancia Stratos, from its rally history to its Dino-derived engine, I’m stuck admiring the windows. Maybe because I fell in love with this weird car and its amazing shape since I was quite young, I am even more blown away by the things most consider to be quite mundane. To take a simple problem like lowering the window and turning it on its head to do something as simple as that is a testament to the creativity and genius of designers and engineers. who worked on this project.

In everything mechanical, I always look for simplicity and light design. In all these years I have never seen anything so simple and light as the Lancia Stratos window mechanism. Until then my light weight The history of engineering was that Porsche made the brake discs for the 909 Bergspyder from toxic products. beryllium. Sorry German engineers, you have been usurped by the Italians.