1972 | Alfa Romeo Montreal

Alfa Romeo was the only car manufacturer invited to the World Exhibition in Montreal, Canada in 1967. They were asked to present their view on “The ultimate dream car”. So in case you think the Alfa Romeo Montreal looks just like a concept car – then you are absolutely right!

The design draw so much publicity, Alfa Romeo felt obliged to put the car into production, giving competitors like Ferrari and Fiat Dino, Citroen SM and others something to think about . During the 3 years before production finally commenced in 1970, Alfa Romeo looked for an engine that would live up to the spectacular design of Bertone. As a super car, it could not be offered with the humble 4 cylindered 1600 ccm Nord engine from the Giulia, which sat in the concept car. Bertone wanted all their concept cars to be able to drive by itself, which was quite respectable.

The answer however was not far away, as Alfa Romeo recently entered sports car racing with the eminent Tipo 33 prototypes. The chief of Autodelta, former Ferrari engineer Carlo Chiti had constructed a V8 with 4 overhead camshafts producing up to 350 bhp. For the Montreal Alfa Romeo chose to change make it more road usable, thus creating a fabulous oversquare engine with a displacement of 2,6 liter.

Apart from this, only minor changes occurred to the racing engine. Milder camshafts, smaller valves and lowered compression, but still a 90 degree full aluminum engine with hemispherical combustion chambers. Furthermore, the engine had dry sump lubrication and fuel injection by Spica fed via 2 Bosch fuel pumps.

A masterpiece of an engine quite similar to the Maserati and Ferrari competitors – just more durable. This was due to very expensive components only used in the 33 engine: forged steel crank shafts and pistons made of forged aluminum amongst other details. This engine has 90% of the torque ready from 2,700 rpm which makes it extremely flexible and very easy to drive in spite of its racing heritage.

Alfa Romeo chose to buy the gearbox from ZF – a 5-speed box with dog-leg and a very long 1st gear. A very wise choice, as these transmissions have proved very reliable and nearly impossible to wear out. Next to this, the rear axle got a LSD as well as a cooling sump with extra oil.

The list of technical refinements is endless, but one fact is almost unknown – the Montreal received a very comprehensive rust protection! Following the production in the small facility of Bertone, the bodies were transported to an advanced assembly factory in Grugliasco (TO), where the bodies received a zinc phosphate treatment followed by a number of catalytical treatments before final painting. The result was a level of rust protection unheard by any manufacturer at that time and very far away from the impression we all have of 1970ties Alfa Romeo rust protection…..

Does all this sound expensive? It was! For the price of a Montreal you could buy a Jaguar E Type Roadster AND a Coupe. It is quite an achievement that this car was ever produced, and today a Montreal is regarded as an iconic car based on extraordinary technique and quality.

The car we present here, we found long time ago in Sicily. It belonged to a retired technical manager of Alfa Romeo Germany, that after his retirement wanted to restore the car for himself. And during his work he had experienced a couple of nice tricks and features that would improved the Montreal a lot. First thing was to completely overhaul the engine – a costly and not so easy job. Next was to convert the rather slow responding Spica injection system with proper Webers – and 4 double barrel 40 IDF Webers were installed! What a difference this make. The engine now roars like an angry bull, and pulls like a diesel V8 in a Gelændewagen. This is how an Alfa engine should act and sound like. It completely changes the experience of driving the car, it started life as a GT car and ended up as a proper sportscar.

When the car arrived to Denmark it was completely taken apart and grinded to bare metal in order to make a professional repaint – the owner wanted the original color back. Now it shine in Grigio Medio Metallizzato and with the interior made in high quality leather in the color Lampone (raspberry). Next to that the suspension was modified with Eibach sport springs, new dampers and wider wheels. As you can see it present itself quite nicely after this. Ready to go anywhere, the countryside, racetrack or autobahn.