As was appropriate to a marque with a long and illustrious racing history, Alfa Romeo consistently provided its road-going automobiles with engines closer than most to racing specification. Alfa Romeo’s seminal engine was Vittorio Jano’s historic 2,300 cc supercharged twin overhead-camshaft eight-cylinder of 1930, which powered their famous monoposto P3 […]

The Alfa Romeo B.A.T. cars (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica) were futuristic styling exercises undertaken by Alfa Romeo and Bertone in the early 1950s to measure the effects of streamlining on a car’s performance. Franco Scaglitone, Bertone’s chief designer, produced another study based on the B.A.T. cars, but this time using the […]

The car pictured here was prepared by the well-known Roman specialist Franco Angellini for participation in European GTS Historic Racing. Modifications from original specification include stiffening of the chassis and mounts, the fitting of a Colotti limited-slip differential, a close-ratio gearbox, improved braking system, steel exhaust, oil cooler and, importantly, […]

Probably the greatest sports car of the pre-war years was Alfa Romeo’s 8C 2900B, a supercharged straight-eight grand prix racing car with two-seater sports body, versions of which were designed by several of Italy’s finest coachbuilders. While some of these designs were winning the prestigious Concours d’Elegance at the celebrated […]

The 6C series had been founded as early as 1924 when Alfa Romeo engineer Vittorio Jano, perhaps the greatest automotive engineer of his era, was detailed “to develop a medium capacity light car with brilliant performance.” The great engineer chose the balance and pick-up characteristics of an in-line six cylinder […]

{vsig}1997-4_1655{/vsig} The economic depression that followed World War II decreed that Alfa Romeo could no longer afford to produce purely the bespoke motorcars that had made the marque famous on both road and track. One of the first results of this change of direction was the Bertone-designed Giulietta of 1954, […]

The Tipo 33/2 Project was a combined effort by Alfa Romeo and Carlo Chitti’s Milanese company Autodelta. In the preceding years Autodelta had been fielding teams of specially prepared Alfa Romeos to good effect; perhaps the best-known exploits were with the TZ models. The experience and expertise of Chitti was […]

{vsig}1997-2_1659{/vsig} The Tipo 33/2 Project was a combined effort by Alfa Romeo and Carlo Chitti’s Milanese company Autodelta. In the preceding years Autodelta had been fielding teams of specially prepared Alfa Romeos to good effect; perhaps the best-known exploits were with the TZ models. The experience and expertise of Chitti […]

When it was launched at the 1990 Geneva Motor Show the striking Alfa Romeo SZ caused quite a stir. Its angular and aggressive looks were at the same time unconventional and appealing; although they led to the Italian press labeling the SZ as il Mostro, or the Monster, they left […]

The Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 made its first appearance in 1967, but so sound was the basic design that developments of it were raced by the company until 1977, when it won all eight rounds of the World Sportscar Championship. Early cars which appeared under the designation “Tipo 33” had […]