While the great and the good of you were at Goodwood, Saz and I were slumming it at our local hillbilly car show with Moo, our TR4. Car shows don’t actually do it for me owning to the high percentage of garage queens but this is the third I have attended in the space of a month.

This doesn’t really merit a thread of its own but it caught my eye. Don’t think I have ever seen an Alfa Romeo Montreal before.



There are some very pretty classic Alfas but this is not one of them IMO. If I remember rightly this example dates from 1974. The design evolved from a concept car first seen at the 1967 Montreal Expo.

It has some weird details. The over light grilles retract when the headlights are switched on. Don’t know the purpose for them. The duct in the bonnet isn’t one and the vents (not shown) on the C pillar do nothing other than serve the cabin ventilation. The car is not mid-engined as their presence suggests. Seventies style over substance I’m afraid. I think it looks quite Aukish.

Italian cars of that era were notorious for rusting away, I know, having owned a couple of Beta Spyders in the seventies. The owner told me that this was not a problem for the Montreal as it was galvanised.

 

I agree it's pretty ugly. Your shot reminds me of this Internet meme ...



(MQ, you need to change the clock in your board settings)

 

Not the most flattering angle to shoot but it is still a pretty car imo.

 

Nuccio Bertone was always very flamboyant and the Montreal typifies the era.

Racing derived V8 in a 105 chassis is rather interesting combo.

 

falls into the category of interesting but not very good

bit like the SZ

probably why it was at some low rent event not the Revival...

 

It's hard to think on a post-war Alfa to which that doesn't apply!