Fashionably Late?(Escape Roads)

Byline: ERIC TEGLER

A look at the sales numbers for the Alfa Romeo Montreal tells an interesting story. In 1971, its first year, 668 copies were sold. In 1972 sales rose to 2377, but the following year Alfa moved just 302 units. Timing, the saying goes, is everything, and Alfa Romeo was a little late to the party with the Montreal.

In 1964 Fiat and Ferrari had announced they would team to build a GT car with a race-bred V6, the Dino 206 GT. The news spurred Alfa to respond. Company president Giuseppe Luraghi, aware of the racing success Fiat and Renault enjoyed with Abarth and Alpine, quickly established a similar factory race department with Autodelta.

The result was the 33 Stradale sports racer, a rear-engined machine powered by a new 2.0-liter 90-degree V8. A street version was planned, but management changes snuffed the idea. Instead, the 33 Stradale would contribute to Alfa's new GT project.

In 1966 the Canadian government invited Alfa Romeo to take part as the only automaker at the 1967 Montreal World's Fair. Alfa commissioned Bertone to design a prototype that would actually see production as a replacement for the Giulia. Marcello Gandini drew the design, which reflected strong influence by the Lamborghini Miura, as well as cues from Alfa's Giulia Canguro. Bertone produced two bodies in just six months and Alfa hastily put them on Giulia Sprint GT chassis for the World's Fair.

As the prototypes were airlifted to Canada, Alfa announced production examples would be developed with the 33 Stradale's V8. The choice had implications for the Gandini design. Meanwhile, the prototypes met with approval at Montreal, where the public began referring to them as "Montreals,'' a name Alfa adopted.

Back in Italy, development of the Stradale V8 for road use began alongside reconfiguration of the body and chassis. Both proved difficult. Eventually, only the floorpan and basic suspension of the Giulia were retained. New mechanicals, includ-ing a ZF five-speed transmission and disc brakes, were incorporated and the engine was enlarged to ...