Colani Alfa

[Zak McGregor <zak@domain.elided>]

Ben Bishop asked:

> Okay, obscure alfa romeo history time...

Yay!

> Someone (sorry, I forgot who) posted the link to some photos of some
> of the 
> cars in 'Collezione Rosso Bianco', and among the Abarths and Alfas of
> the 
> first page were some photos of a most interesting looking little
> beastie, 
> titled as being an Alfa Romeo Abarth 1000 GT Colani. Okay, what the
> hell is 
> it?? Is it the precursor to the Alfa TZs? 

I posted the link. It comes from 1957, a collaboration between Luigi
Colani, a Swiss industrial designer, Abarth and Alfa. Most of the
driving force behind the Colani Alfa seems to have come from Abarth's
side though. It has a 110 bhp 1300cc Giulietta engine. According to
Colani's site (http://www.colani.ch), it was the first car to lap under
10 minutes at the Nurburgring. His claim to the world's first kit car in
series is slightly dubious though - but that's OT.

> Whats the deal with the
> exhausts 
> exiting the "wrong side"? I remember reading about the Sportiva coupe
> that 
> the exhaust had to exit on the right hand side by law, hence the bulge
> for 
> the muffler on the left hand side of the car, with the pipe crossing
> over 
> and exiting on the right?

Well, the car is lhd, so isn't the exhaust correctly placed? Perhaps I'm
confuzzed though ;-)

> I'm guessing early sixties by the nose that copies the 'sharknose'
> Ferrari 
> F1.

It predates the F161 by some 4 years. I suspect it must be coincidence.

Any more info out there? I'd love to know more too please.

Cheers

Zak

--
Zak McGregor        http://www.carfolio.com - Over 8000 car specs online
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