The definitive history of the most extraordinary concept car ever with personal quotes and experiences from the designer himself, including the role of the Lancia Strato’s Zero in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker film project.

Some have dubbed it the “most extraordinary concept car ever.” The Lancia Strato’s HF Zero remains one of the greatest concept cars, with design ramifications that are so vast that it deserves a book for itself. Not only did it influence almost every Lamborghini since the Countach LP500 and give birth indirectly to the greatest rally weapon, the similarly named Lancia Stratos HF Rally, but its impact was far and wide at every level of design, automotive or otherwise. The use of LEDs, sequential indicators, and flat digital screens—all commonplace today—was first suggested in this time machine. Even more astounding was the fact that the Stratos Zero was a drivable device unlike many other flights of fancy from then (or, for that matter, today).

No doubt the Strato’s HF Zero is as impractical and, in many ways, as meaningless as most automotive concepts, but at the same time: how many concept cars are there that look even more sensational today than they did half a century ago? Yes, a few may be named, but did they work? What lovechild, what bloodline did they leave behind? What ideas did they suggest that we could see today in everyday cars? Which other concept starred both in cinemas and art museums?