Cast your minds back to late 2022 and you might remember we introduced you to ‘The Duck’, a Lancia Stratos HF Group IV like no other. A brief reminder. To say this car is steeped in American motorsport history is an understatement. Unusually for a Stratos, however, its story was not written on rally special stages, but rather on the United States’ most famous road-racing circuits.

The Oklahoma-based entrepreneur and oil heir Anatoly ‘Toly’ Arutunoff bought the car new as a ‘Giallo Fly’ Stratos HF Stradale directly from Lancia in Turin. But rather than fly the car or shipping it across the Atlantic, he drove from Turin to Cherbourg in Northern France, where it was loaded aboard the S.S. Queen Elizabeth 2 and set sail for New York. It gets better. Young ‘Toly’ took his new Stratos fresh off the boat after its maiden voyage and drove 1,400 miles through thick snow and treacherous ice to Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

As this Stratos was promptly converted to Group IV road-racing competition specification, so commenced nine years of racing. ‘The Duck’, as it quickly became known, competed in the below-two-litre GTU category right across the United States, encompassing all the great American endurance racing classics, from the Daytona 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Sebring to the Watkins Glen Six Hours and the Road America 500 Miles.

Anatoly ‘Toly’ Arutunoff wrote this Lancia’s story on the most famous road-racing courses of America 

Each event was fastidiously documented by Arutunoff – he kept everything. Hand-written set-up notes comprising circuit-specific gear ratios and tyre pressures. Event itineraries. And technical passports. Everything. 

In recent years, this veteran of American endurance motorsport had sadly fallen into a sorry (if absolutely beguiling) state of disrepair. Here’s where Girardo & Co. enters the fray. After our resident Lancia gurus Max, Marcus and Davide had spent an inordinate amount of time inspecting ‘The Duck’ and poring over the extraordinary volume of accompanying documentation, we decided to buy it in the summer of 2022 and return it to Italy for the first time in over four decades.

So, we hear you cry, what’s happened since? Well we are delighted to announce that we have found this unique Stratos a fantastic new home in a growing European collection of historically significant road and competition Lancias. And even better? The new owner has entrusted us with overseeing the comprehensive restoration of the car to its former glory.

Said restoration is now well underway. The first step was, of course, to create a complete photographic study of this Stratos, not only for the all-important before-and-after photos, but also for reference later down the line when it comes to replicating the unique Group IV specification and finish. Then came the comprehensive strip-down of all the car’s components, right down to the ‘Scocca’ – that’s bodyshell in Italian.

Once completely disassembled, the bodyshell was attached to a giant rotisserie and water-blasted to remove all the paint in order for us to properly assess the condition of the chassis. Satisfyingly, during this process we found clear traces of the dark blue in which this Stratos once competed and the original Giallo Fly.

It’s important to note that the brief for this project is not to restore ‘The Duck’ to ‘as-new’ condition. This car’s storied racing history is so fundamental to its identity that to wipe all signs of its use would, we feel, be frankly criminal. As such, the plan is to maintain these benign signs of use while comprehensively overhauling the mechanical condition of the car, safeguarding its future for years to come.

Next up is the mechanical restoration of the drivetrain, starting with that legendary Dino V6 engine. We’ll be chronicling every step of this restoration right here on our website and across our social-media channels. So press follow and stay tuned as ‘The Duck’ is given the second lease of life it truly deserves.

Photos: Gabriele Natalini / Andrea Luzardi / Francesco Reggiani