Look at this for a slice of 70s FUNK. It’s the one-of-a-kind Lancia Stratos Zero, designed by Marcello Gandini (Lamborghini Miura, Countach, Diablo, Renault 5 Turbo) and built by Bertone without Lancia actually asking for it or even giving permission.

It exists because Mr Bertone wanted to work with the historic Italian firm. What better way to get the company’s attention, he reasoned, than by making something stunning and turning up at the factory with it?

Gandini’s design brief, to make the car as low as possible, resulted in a roof line that’s only 33 inches (83 cm) off the floor. It’s so low that when Bertone arrived at the Lancia factory he was able to drive straight under the security gate and into the car park. The Lancia execs were, needless to say, massively impressed and Bertone was in the door. Their first collaboration was the road-going Stratos which wasn’t quite as bonkers as the Zero but did win three WRC titles in a row. Closed doors, opened windows and all that!

The Zero didn’t care about anything as ‘real world’ as winning rally championships. Its only goal was to amaze people and that’s exactly what it did with its debut at the 1970 Turin motor show. It’s fully functional, powered by the 1.6 litre V4 from a crashed Lancia Fulvia that Bertone got their hands on prior to construction. Passengers get in and out through the windscreen and the black rubber patch on the hood is actually a doormat of sorts to provide a grippy surface to step on. Once inside it’s all reclined leather and a brilliant 1970s fighter pilot display screen.

The triangular engine cover, unlike the windscreen, opens to the side. The front of the Zero may look like a razor sharp edge but it actually holds ten tiny little headlight bulbs which were the smallest available at the time. As for the rest of it, just look at it. I don’t have the words.

The Zero shares basically nothing with the production Stratos, so instead of one and a half jaw-droppers we have two. I love this thing. It’s an absolute masterpiece of automotive design, a shining moment in the history of the car where bedroom poster design totally trumped practicality. It captures all the elements that make cool cars good and delivers them with tons of big 70s fun. It’s wacky, perfectly of its time, and in 1970 it must have been even more stunning than it is today.