The Lancia Sibilo: The future car according to Bertone

Vehicle Overview

The Lancia Sibilo was another radical geometric development of the wedge shape by chief stylist Marcello Gandini at Bertone, in which he took themes applied to the Lamborghini Bravo and Alfa Romeo Navajo a step further by blending the glass-house into the bodywork to form a fully integral volume. The windscreen and side glass were fitted flush with the joints filled in and carefully painted to give smooth, uninterrupted surfaces. There were no drop-down windows – the side panels were clear plastic with circular openings on each side that popped inwards and then slid forwards on runners. Instead of being separate to the body, even the bumpers were integrated into the overall shape, with just a crease and an orange pin-stripe hinting at their actual volume. The sculpted effect was only interrupted by the wheels, with the squared-off wheel arches an evolution of the Stratos Stradale’s overlapping design. The Stratos chassis was lengthened by just under four inches (10 cm), and the rest of the mechanicals were left mostly unchanged, with air to the engine bay being fed through two intakes let into the roof. Like virtually all Bertone’s concept cars until that date, the body was hand-beaten steel, and the unusual choice of polycarbonate for the side windows was made because Bertone’s glass supplier could not deliver on time for the car’s unveiling at the 1978 Turin Auto Salon. The minimalist interior was characterised by the one-piece steering wheel with an elongated section said to accurately reproduce the ergonomics of a hand’s grip. The wheel’s hub housed control lights and basic functions in its centre, with the main information conveyed through horizontal LCD displays carved into the top of the dashboard and angled towards the driver. The Sibilo was so outlandish that it inspired the design of vehicles in the 1990 science-fiction movie Total Recall by Paul Verhoeven with Arnold Schwarzenegger, over a decade after it was created.

Photos courtesy of Lopresto Collection