Start with what the Lancia Esatau is: a car with 8245 cc Tipo 864M diesel I6, built from 1947 to 1973, in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted. What it meant takes a little longer.
Where it came from
Lancia Esatau is a series of truck and bus chassis produced by Italian manufacturer Lancia Industrial Vehicles from 1947 to 1973. 13,362 examples were produced.
Under the skin
The engine is 8245 cc Tipo 864M diesel I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The wheelbase is 4.3 m / 5 m. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
In the Lancia line-up the Lancia Esatau has a clear place: it handed the line to the Lancia Esagamma. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Porsche 356, the Citroën 2CV, the Chevrolet Bel Air. Nearby in the Lancia catalogue sit the Lancia 037 and the Lancia 2000.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lancia Esatau has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.