Dimitri's Lancia Thema 8.32 Website

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.  Promoting the great Italian automotive heritage    

The Lancia Thema 8.32,  perhaps better known as the "Thema Ferrari", is comparable in principle to the squaring of a circle. It is the matrimony between a stylish, luxurious, yet not excessively conspicuous executive sedan clothed outside by Giugiaro and inside in leather and burl wood by Poltrone Frau for Lancia, the venerable (founded in 1906) luxury carmaker -  with the power, personality, and heritage that only a Ferrari V8 engine can provide. 

No Ferrari has ever been offered with four doors, no Lancia has ever been so fast. The Thema 8.32 is a veritable wolf in sheep's clothing, an authentic "Q-car", the automotive version of the legendary WWI disguised armored merchant freighters that, through their unassuming appearance, would lure an unsuspecting enemy submersible close before throwing it's mask and opening fire.  

Between 1988 and 1990, only 2,370 of the super-Lancias were produced, the majority of which in Series I dress, the remainder in the only slightly changed Series II. The low numbers should not confuse, however, with a lack of commercial success: the Thema 8.32 ("8" standing for the number of cylinders and "32" for the number of valves) was never intended to be a best-seller, owing to the limited production capacity of Ferrari's Maranello factory, as well as the high list price, well in excess of $60,000 at the time. Rather, it was a pinnacle: the normal production Lancia Thema was an enormously successful automobile, taking over from the ill-fated Lancia Gamma in 1984 and selling strongly until the introduction of the Lancia Kappa in 1992, with a wide array of gasoline and turbodiesel engines, and the Thema 8.32 was it's highest refinement.  

The "Thema Ferrari", therefore, was determined by little more than a fleeting whim by uncharacteristically enlightened Turin corporate management, whose intended low-volume production and high profile were to offer further prestige to the Thema line, in forever contrast with the automakers in Stuttgart and Munich. It's genesis may be compared to that of the legendary Mercedes 300 SEL 6.3, when the head engineer of Mercedes Erich Waxenberger shoe-horned the V8 engine of the monstrous 600 under the hood of the relatively lithe 280 SE. When offered to the top brass for approval, at the first stoplight, boss Herr Uhlenhaut opened the hood to find out what the hell was going on. When the board said that the car was too fast to be safe and wouldn't sell, Waxenberger offered to purchase 50 of them himself. In the end there was no need: Mercedes sold 8,000 of the 6.3s.  

Getting back to the subject, appealing to those in the 7-series and S-class income category, the Thema 8.32 offered the same performance with Italian style and the legendary Ferrari wail which no antiseptic, over-engineered German straight-6 or V8 could match. Sumptious luxury and power-everything sufficiently completed the picture, if necessary, at 240 km/h.

Twist the key and wait for the red light to stop flashing, while the fuel system primes the cylinders. When the green light comes on, you can start. 

That's the first signal that you are about to experience something special when driving a 8.32. The motor fires up immediately, the V8 producing a subdued gurgling in the mufflers, suggesting unexpressed potential the way only a V8 can. A slight pressure on the accelerator pedal produces an immediate, and almost shocking, jump in r.p.m.s accompanied by a very expensive-sounding symphony of light alloy pistons, quad camshafts, and copious valvegear. No, it does not sound like Detroit, Munich, or Stuttgart in the slightest. You're talking exotic here.

 Set the climate control to the desired temperature, find a comfortable position with the 6-way power heated leather Poltrona Frau seats, and adjust the mirrors. Ready to go... the Giugiaro design's fishbowl visibility gives immediate confidence.

For an executive car this is nothing superlative. A Lexus will give you the same feeling. But release the clutch and start moving. The 5-speed gearbox is a short-throw and with a rather low ratio, with the engine at 3,000 r.p.m. already at 120 km/h (70 m.p.h.), as if to remind you that there is a Ferrari powerplant under the hood, and revving is what it's all about. After all, if you wanted hushed torque, you'd be driving a Lincoln.

As you go through the gears, you are accompanied by that typical Maranello wail that sets this sedan apart from all the rest, and makes you realize what the prancing horse mystique stands for. 

Was the Thema 8.32 ever a real contender for the contemporary 735i and the 420SE? Not really: the typical Benz or Bimmer buyer was more interested in listening to Mozart on the stereo than to the Modena orchestration under the hood, and fuel consumption and maintenance obligations were in a different league altogether. The redline on the tachometer was characteristically at 7.000. However, the enthusiasm of the numerous prancing horse fans was ignited by the concept of a Ferrari four-door and the Thema 8.32 is quite definitely destined to it's own unique place in history.

The Thema 8.32 was either the only production Ferrari four-door, or the fastest Lancia ever built: that is what future automotive historians will quibble about.

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