Alfa Romeo Montreal
Encyclopedia
Concept car
The Alfa Romeo Montreal was introduced as a concept carConcept car
A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....
in 1967 at Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
, held in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada. Originally, the concept cars were displayed without any model name, but the public took to calling it The Montreal. It was a 2+2 coupe using the 1600 cc engine of the Alfa Romeo Giulia
Alfa Romeo Giulia
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is an Alfa Romeo automobile. Alfa was one of the first manufacturers to put a powerful engine in a light-weight car for mainstream production. The Giulia weighed about . The car was equipped with a light alloy twin overhead camshaft four-cylinder engine, similar to that of...
Ti and the chassis of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT, with a body designed by Marcello Gandini
Marcello Gandini
Marcello Gandini is an Italian car designer, widely known for his work with the automotive design house Gruppo Bertone, notably his design of the Lamborghini Countach. Together with Giorgetto Giugiaro and Leonardo Fioravanti, Gandini forms a noted triumvirate of Italian car designers, all born in...
at Bertone.
One of the two concept cars built for Expo 67
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
is displayed in the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum
Alfa Romeo Museum
Alfa Romeo History Museum , which opened on December 18, 1976, is located in Arese, Milan, Italy. The museum is located in the now unused Alfa Romeo Arese factory area, which stopped manufacturing of cars in 2003 and engines in 2005, with the museum, left is only Alfa Romeo style centre.The whole...
in Arese
Arese
Arese is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 19,333 and an area of ....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, while the other is in museum storage.
Production version
SPICA
SPICA S.p.A. was an Italian manufacturer of fuel injection systems.- History :The company was founded by Francesco Cassani in 1932. SPICA fuel injection systems were used in diesel and petrol engines....
(Società Pompe Iniezione Cassani &
Affini) fuel injection
Fuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
that produced around 200 PS, coupled to a five-speed ZF
ZF Friedrichshafen
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....
gearbox and a limited-slip differential. This engine was derived from the 2-litre V8 used in the 33 Stradale
Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is an extremely rare road car built by Alfa Romeo of Italy. Only 18 are reported to have been made, plus three design studies based on the 33 Stradale the 33.2, Iguana and Carabo...
and in the Tipo 33 sports prototype racer, its was detuned racing engine with redline at 7000 rpm, unheard of for a V8 at that time. The chassis and running gear of the production Montreal were taken from the Giulia GTV
Alfa Romeo Sprint GT (Veloce)
The Alfa Romeo 105/115 series Coupés were a range of cars made by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1963 until 1977. They were the successors to the celebrated Giulietta Sprint coupé and used a shortened floorpan from the Giulia Berlina car....
coupé and comprised double wishbone suspension
Double wishbone suspension
In automobiles, a double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design using two wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckle. The shock absorber and coil spring mount to the wishbones to control...
with coil springs and dampers at the front and a live axle
Live axle
A live axle, sometimes called a solid axle, is a type of beam axle suspension system that uses the driveshafts that transmit power to the wheels to connect the wheels laterally so that they move together as a unit....
with limited slip differential
Limited slip differential
A limited slip differential is a type of differential gear arrangement that allows for some difference in angular velocity of the output shafts, but imposes a mechanical bound on the disparity...
at the rear.
Since the concept car was already unofficially known as The Montreal, Alfa Romeo kept the model name in production.
Stylistically, the most eye catching feature is the car's front end with four headlamps partly covered by unusual "grilles", that retract when the lights are switched on. Another stylistic element is the NACA duct
NACA duct
A NACA duct also sometimes called a NACA scoop or NACA Inlet, is a common form of low-drag air inlet design, originally developed by the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics , the precursor to NASA, in 1945....
on the bonnet
Hood (vehicle)
The hood or bonnet is the hinged cover over the engine of motor vehicles that allows access to the engine compartment for maintenance and repair. In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car...
. The duct is actually blocked off since its purpose is not to draw air into the engine, but to optically hide the power bulge
Power bulge
A power bulge is a raised part of the hood of a car. The reason for a power bulge is to fit for instance a large engine or air filters that otherwise would not fit. Sometimes a power bulge is used to be able to fit a larger engine into a car that originally was not designed for it or it may be a...
. The slats behind the doors contain the cabin vents, but apart from that only serve cosmetic purposes.
The Montreal was more expensive to buy than E-type Jaguar or Porsche 911, when launched in the UK it was priced at , rising to in August 1972 and to by mid-1976..
Production
Production was split between the Alfa Romeo plant in AreseArese
Arese is a comune in the Province of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 19,333 and an area of ....
and Carrozzeria Bertone's plants in Caselle
Caselle Torinese
Caselle Torinese is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 14 km northwest of Turin, on the left bank of the Stura di Lanzo.-External links:*...
and Grugliasco
Grugliasco
Grugliasco is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 9 km west of Turin.Grugliasco borders the following municipalities: Turin, Collegno, and Rivoli.-External links:*...
outside Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. Alfa Romeo produced the chassis sans engine or mechanicals and sent it to Caselle where Bertone fitted the body. After body fitment, the car was sent to Grugliasco to be degreased, partly zinc coated, manually spray painted and have the interior fitted. Finally, the car was returned to Arese to have the engine and mechanicals installed. It is worth noting that because of this production method, there is not necessarily any correspondence
Number matching
Number matching or matching numbers is a term often used in the collector car industry to describe cars with original major components, or major components that match one another....
between chassis number, engine number and production date.
The Montreal remained generally unchanged until it was discontinued in 1977. By then, production had long ceased already as Alfa were struggling to sell their remaining stock. Total number built was 3917; none of them were sold in Montreal, Quebec since Alfa did not develop a North American version to meet the US/Canadian emission control requirements. A Montreal can be seen in the 1974 movie The Marseille Contract
The Marseille Contract
The Marseille Contract is a 1974 British thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and scored by Roy Budd. It stars Michael Caine, Anthony Quinn and James Mason. It concerns an attempt to bring down a drugs baron, by hiring an assassin...
where Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
drives a metallic dark brown example.
Performance and specifications
- Engine: 2593 cc quad-cam 90° V8
- Top speed: 220 kilometre per hour
- 0–100 km/h (62 mph): 7.4 seconds
- (measured top speed 224 km/h (139.2 mph), 7.1 seconds 0–100 km/h (62 mph) by Quattroruote magazine)
- Standing quarter mile: 15.1 seconds
- Standing km: 27.6 seconds
- Power: 200 PS (230 bhp SAE) at 6500 rpm
- Torque: 235 N·m (173.3 ft·lbf) (24 m·kgfKGFKGF may refer to:*Keratinocyte Growth Factor*King George's Fields A UK set of 471 memorial playing fields and recreation grounds*Kolar Gold Fields*The IATA code for Sary-Arka Airport, Karaganda, Kazakhstan...
) at 4750 rpm