OWNING THE TOIVONEN LANCIA 037

‘I’ve had this car ten years,’ says rally car collector and classic car dealer Max Girardo. ‘The opportunity came up and, being Italian, and with the car on its original plates, I had to have it. I paid and had it delivered to the first rally it did as a demo car. I did one stage and the alternator belt broke! But it’s only needed fettling, never a full restoration.

‘The Baldi twins, who looked after it, nicknamed it Pluto, so we put the Disney dog-toy in there as a goodluck charm – my dad would always give it a squeeze for luck before we set off on a rally – and that’s the only non-original part. It usually lives in Italy – this is the first time it’s come to the UK.’