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Sharp Pininfarina styling and ambitious engineering, tainted by utterly lousy production quality.

It sounds like a delightful recipe: An Italian grand-touring coupe with handsome Pininfarina styling and a high-tech drivetrain. A late-'70s ride with none of the gaudy excess the era was known for.

Just one problem: It was a disaster.

Welcome to You Must Buy, our daily look at the cars you really should be buying instead of that boring commuter sedan.

Witness the Lancia Gamma, produced from 1976 to 1984. It was ambitious as hell, powered by an all-aluminum 2.5-liter flat-four engine that allowed for a delightfully low hood line. The white 1979 model seen here is for sale on Bring a Trailer, but the listing's photos don't do the car's silhouette justice. Just look at these lines:

But oh man, the flaws. A Spannerhead post from 2016 details the woes.

Rust was a major bugaboo for Lancia unibodies up until the late ’80s, and the Gamma’s sheetmetal had its share of challenges in that department. But the ambitious engine was the source of most of the Gamma’s problems. Its all-aluminum construction was underengineered, and any minor problems with one of the engine’s peripherals had a tendency to cascade and result in total failure. And speaking of peripherals, instead of being driven off the crank pulley as with most cars, the power steering pump was connected to the left timing belt, and when an additional load was placed on the pump—say, the steering was turned to full lock—the timing belt snapped under the strain, and, well, you can imagine the carnage that ensued.

That brings us to the 1979 example you see here. Originally sold in Spain, it's been in the US since 2018, and according to the BaT listing, has had some thorough reconditioning, including a repaint several years ago and an engine-out drivetrain overhaul in 2016. It shows 83,400 km (around 52,000 miles) and the listing includes plenty of undercarriage and maintenance photos.

I know it sounds like we're telling you not to buy this delicate, doomed coupe, but that's hardly the case. This is the kind of vehicle that was born for Sunday-driver status. A sprinkling of low-stress, fair-weather miles every year, and you're way less likely to end up in breakdown disaster. Especially on an example like this, with plenty of recent maintenance.

Will it be a gamble? Assuredly. This is a rare car from an automaker that never had a real footprint in the US. Part availability will be tricky, and finding an experienced Lancia mechanic will be no small feat. If that's a risk you think is worth taking for a sharp Italian coupe that you've probably never seen in the States, head on over to Bring a Trailer and place a bid.