1971 Alfa Romeo Montreal

The Family Car.  I still share this car and the symphony the 2.6L V8 produces with the original owner, my father. He traveled to Italy with the intention to purchase a 246 Dino but instead purchased this Marcelo Gandini designed car whose V8 tantalizes the senses and brings you back to any era when the soul of a vehicle was measured by the crescendo of the RPMs.

The Alfa Romeo Montreal was introduced as a concept car in 1967 at the Expo 67, held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Originally, the concept cars were displayed without any model name, but the public took to calling it The Montreal. It was a 2-door 2+2 coupe designed at Bertone using the 1.6-litre engine of the Giulia TI and the short wheelbase chassis of the Giulia Sprint GT. However, when production came along between the year 1970 -1977 substantial changes introduced.   Specifically a 2,593 cc 90° dry-sump lubricated, cross-plane V8 engine with a bore of 80.0 mm and a stroke of only 64.5 mm using SPICA (Società Pompe Iniezione Cassani & Affini) fuel injection that produced around 200 PS (147 kW; 197 hp), coupled to a five-speed ZF manual gearbox and a limited-slip differential. This engine was derived from the 2-litre V8 used in the 33 Stradale and in the Tipo 33 sports prototype racer but was detuned for increasing reliability.

The chassis and running gear of the production car were shared with the Giulia GTV coupé and comprised double wishbone suspension with coil springs and dampers at the front and a live axle with limited slip differential at the rear.