Automotive wise as well as in many other ways, the sixties was a hard act to follow. There’s little doubt that the creative explorations that led to so many stunning concept cars peaked in the late sixties and early years of the seventies, but the latter part of the decade saw a lot of grasping at any ideas that hadn’t yet been thought of; which didn’t leave a lot. The results were decidedly uneven, and the Bertone Lancia Sibilo from 1978 clearly falls into that latter category.
Heavily smoked or tinted plastic and glass were a not uncommon feature of that era, and the Sibilo took them to an extreme, with the idea of making the “windows” integrate seamlessly with the body, except for a small round opening for tolls and such. One does wonder whether the Lancia Stratos based concept had air conditioning. On second thought, it almost certainly didn’t, but then these styling exercises weren’t really going to see production anyway. At least not this one.
C.107 shot this, presumably at the same show where the Lamborghini 350GTV was found. What a difference a decade or so makes. Angularity was the big thing now, and one can clearly see the creative stream whence cars like the Lotus Esprit arose. Since it’s hard to do the Sibilo full justice in car show snaps, here’s a more explicit one:
More fascinating than attractive, I think. The fender treatment is quite intriguing, as is the interplay between the rear wheel opening and the rear quarter window. Air conditioning would be absolutely mandatory in a car like this.
“OK, let’s get leopard gal in perspective, show off the curves a bit.”
[walks around car looking for curves]
“Forget it, put her on the hatch and let’s do this before it starts raining.”
LOL!
Wonderful little time capsule. What are the odds of a modern concept being done in brown? Haven’t they outlawed brown cars?
…and the red accent stripe around the nose of the car is key to making the whole shape work…to the extent you believe it works.
Finally, I would have hated to have been the member of the design team that realized the car had to have SOME KIND of window opening…and then had to convince the other designers. I am sure he ate lunch alone that day.
Brown is back, I’ve seen more and more new cars in brown than ever before.
Very cool reminds me of the TV show UFO with the Vauxhall conceptcars in use for the series
It does kind of look like a prop from some sort of futuristic movie from the early 80’s
Detroit 2016: Pizza has been outlawed, one man fights villans of the urban wastelands to deliver the last pizza in the world!
Yeah, I thought of that old British TV show UFO first thing when I saw this. That was the show that depicted cars “IN THE FUTURE” in the UK driving on the right. I doubt they’ll actually make that change any time soon!
The side glass is so flush it almosts looks like the windows are painted on, I wonder if the whole panel is clear and they painted the brown around the area they wanted to leave as the window.
Any interior shots?
The inside has to be an orgy of brown itchy fabrics, I hope it has a conversation pit and a built in fondue machine in the center console.
It certainly appears that they panels that are “glass” look like they were painted where they didn’t want them to be clear, espicially the top of the A pillar area.
http://www.carstyling.ru/resources/studios/1978_Bertone_Lancia_Sibilo_Coupe_07.jpg
There are a bunch of interior shots if you google Lancia Sibilo.
Damn the interior almost looks modern!
The lights and such on the dash look futuristic but for the most part it screams VW kit car to me. The thing I find appealing in that shot is the seat cover.
The details of the dash look like they were done by a kindergartener during art session. Nice steering wheel too
It looks to me like a cheap knock-off of the Ferrari Modulo (1970), or a prop vehicle from BTTF2 or Blade Runner.
Apparently the Sibilo was based on Lancia Stratos underpinnings (not to be confused with the Stratos Zero). Back in 1970, Bertone made a concept called the Lancia Stratos Zero, which also bears a passing resemblance to the Sibilo but better looking.
I was trying to remember where I’d seen this shape before, and then when you said Ferrari Modulo, it came back to me…good call.
Wasnt the Modulo Bertone styled too? Or was it Pininfarina?
Pininfarina
In a strange Rorschach kind of way all I can think of is “snow blind” when I look at that car.
They anticipated that people would still be stealing hubcaps in the future and they designed wheels that looked like they already had them stolen….how forward thinking of them……
Makes my ’60 Plymouth look fetchingly beautiful.
I like H.B. Halicki’s version better!
Jalopnik did an article about it some times ago :
http://jalopnik.com/the-lancia-siblio-was-nuts-even-by-1970s-concept-car-st-510545017
This concept car introduced the “paint on glass” nonsense that plagues every new car today. Only it’s body color paint, not black. I know that the opaque paint protects the glue from UV, but on some cars, up to 40% of the rear window is covered by paint, even exotics like Aston and Jag are not immune. The paint is often used much more than the minimum needed to cover the glue, as a styling device to create the illusion of a large glass area.
nice to see my pictures featured! thanks, paul!
shot these photos at this years Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este at Lake Como / Italy. It is an incredible event and I think every car guy needs to go there at least once, if only for the breath-taking setting on the lake (and with €10 entrance fee, it ain’t really too aristrocratic either!)
initially, I didn’t really want to take pictures at the event, as it was rather crowded … but the Sibilo really is among the most amazing cars I have ever seen. Maybe it doesn’t really translate into photos, but in the flesh, it looks just soo outworldly and bizarre, yet very composed. A truly amazing design, I was really surprised to see it actually moving, for I thought it was a mock-up. Mind, it was just about 1 meter tall, with really tiny wheels (10 inch, I guess, like on a Mini) and sounded like a very angry insect.
The funniest thing was to see it queing up for the Concorso, with the BMW M1 parking behind it (see 3rd picture). People where all over the Sibilo and hammering questions at the owner, while no one actually was interested in the also super-beautiful M1! You could tell that the owner of the M1 never exprienced such a thing, he was clearly not amused and appeared somewhat jealeous! you can see pictures of the M1 on jalopnik if you follow the link miki posted earlier (it’s under “10 most beautiful cars I saw at Villa d’Este” or something).
I thought about that M1 juxtaposition. Not often does an M1 pale in comparison with whatever it is parked next to.
I never wondered what an oyster styled with a ruler, steered by a Roomba, would look like. Nevertheless, I now know.
My God, a leopard skinned hood ornament doesn’t even help this mess. It looks more like this poor girl with questionable fashion judgement got backed into by a car with painted over windows, and landed atop in a spine snapping position. That pic certainly isn’t as sexy as the Countach poster that graced my bedroom wall in my teens.
The details are fascinating:
-The wheels look exactly like old key holes. Right down to their color
-The port holes make it look like a submarine. They look totally absurd and their opening mechanism appears to be ridiculously crude. If they were going to integrate openings, why pick a circle??? Why not a square? Or a triangle? Or a freaking trapezoid??? all would be more fitting! Plus I guess this futuristic car never anticipated electronic tolling in the future.
-Why is the roof so long? It’s a mid engined 2 seater for God sake!
-The interior shows why automakers utilise plastics with “leather texture” for consoles and such.1,000 seams look worse than how plastic feels.
surely not one of Bertone’s best efforts…there’re some amusing details, i like the wheels and that trashy spotlight with digit fonts…interior would be mighty cool if it didn’t look so cheap…just out from a z-movie, with electronic disco and silver spacesuit