Saturday, March 27, 2010

Picture of the Week - Alfa-Romeo Montreal V8

This weeks picture shows a detail of the Alfa-Romeo Montreal.
The Montreal was presented in 1970 in Geneva and was produced until 1977, a total of 3'917 cars left the factory. The design was done by Bertone/Gandini and it is certainly impressive, even today. However the highlight of the car is the V8 engine that came more or less directory from the Alfa-Romeo 33 Stradale sports racer. In the Montreal it had 2593 ccm. The 90 degree V8 received its fuel through a SPICA fuel injection, delivered 197 hp and was coupled to a five speed ZF gearbox. With all this technology performance was certainly up to the standard in the early 70ies. Handling was apparently less of a buying factor also because with 1'270 kg the car was quite heavy for its time. Despite the great design and the race bread engine prices for used Montreals are low, especially if you compare it with other cars of that time. But maybe, this will change.

2 comments:

John L said...

Nice photo. I'm fairly fond of Montreals.

areopagitica said...

Alfa Montreal was "quite heavy for its time." Compared to the porcine 8C with Maserati V8 that they recently did, the Montreal is positively sylph like! I am not blown away by the stying of the Montreal, thinking its face is too much like a US ponycar called the Javelin, but I really wish they had been more careful with the new car as far as size and weight. And, to be sure, the new car ain't worth half what it cost to purchase new. Watch how its resale values go into free fall like some of the recent Ferrari V12 "limousines."