As talented as any designer may be, it's never easy to update an original classic such as Marcello Gandini's 1970s Alfa Romeo Montreal sports coupe. Nevertheless, young design student Davide Varenna tried his best to create a modern interpretation of the Montreal for the "Stile Italiano Giovani 2010" competition organized by ANFIA.
The 20 year-old student adopted many styling cues from the original Montreal including the deep headlights, the shape of the side windows and doors, the hood-mounted NACA duct and slats behind the doors, adding his own personal touch to the rest of the car.
The original Montreal started its life as a concept car at the 1967 Montreal Expo in Canada. Designed by Marcello Gandini, responsible for some of the most celebrated designs in automotive history such as the Lamborghini Miura, Countach and Diablo, Lancia Stratos, Fiat X1/9, Maserati Quattroporte (first generation) and Citroen BX, just to mention a few, the concept model spawned a production version in 1970.
The 2+2 seater Alfa Romeo Montreal was powered by a 2.6-liter V8 engine with fuel injection generating around 200 horsepower and was hooked up to a five-speed manual gearbox that drove the rear wheels.
It remained in production until 1977 with Alfa Romeo selling close to 4,000 units of the car. Ironically, the Montreal was never officially sold in the city it was named after as the car was never certified for sale in North America.
Via: Autoblog.it
Alfa Romeo Montreal Study
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Alfa Romeo Montreal 1970-1977
5 Comments:
Another day, another design student's retro styled copy of a classic supercar
I love the Montreal.
I'd also like to love a new design.
Has everything been done already? Has automotive beauty been exhausted? Are design students or full-fledged designers for that matter unable to create anymore?
And not that this re-do wouldn't look nice or nice to have. And it'd probably sell... At least theyre choosing great designs to renew, no?
--JORGE
As everybody seems to hate this re-writing of a Classic, let me remind you something: what do students in art ( every art: paint, sculpture, etc.. )? COPIES ! Then RE-INTERPRETATION and finally ORIGINALS CREATIONS.
As a former french art student myself, we had to spend hours in LOUVRES MUSEUM in Paris to copy masterpieces during the first years. Only after we were allowed to create things ourselves... It is part of the creation process to interprete Classics ... Lets wait few years to judge this -only- 20 years old ( and gifted )Designer.
French Franck
In the last photo, Why does the Montreal behind the model look so happy? A great example of subliminal seduction. Now that I've thought about it, maybe it's more blatant than subliminal.
Reg;.. Not certified for sale in 'NA'?
The local(Portland, Oregon) dealer had a new (NOS)1970 or 71'Montreal that I drove in 1974, at the time the sales person stated that they could only get another one after they sold the one on hand. They had it for quite some time before I drove it, and along time after my test drive as I would go over on occasion and drool all over it.
The Montreal was a real hot rod for the times and a blast to drive. I will never forget it's distinct exhaust note when on the cams.
It was also the first 5-Speed that I had ever used.
The Montreal was quite compact, but heavy compared to the new Opel Manta I was currently driving. Still in the corners it comported it self in true Alfa style with plenty of power to exit the slower corners.
No worries JORGE... We will always have our classic design icons, but worth while designs will continue to flow from the gifted minds of our brethren. The problem for designers is... Getting somebody to fund those designs.
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