I’ve finally managed to capture a clean image of this Alfa Romeo Montreal seen relatively often (ok, not that often) around the inner-southern suburbs of Melbourne. It’s almost orange, but red enough for me to use as the introductory image for a small selection of Italian exotics featuring that ingenious performance option: go-faster rossa.
This Dino GT is closer in hue to the ideal go-faster rossa. What a shape with nary a bad angle. That passenger door looks problematic; the shutline suggests it hasn’t been closed properly but I’d say – based on the gap – more likely sloppy door hanging. I do not believe that seven-letter word above the number plate is stock, nor is that chromed prancing horse.
Speaking of inappropriate rear appendages, here is a be-finned Lamborghini Countach in a deeper shade of rossa. My love for the early iterations of this shape remains undiminished but I simply cannot countenance those airfoils, regardless of how they may or may not improve this car’s roadholding capabilities.
Lucky owners one and all.
Further reading:
The Montreal’s influence on US car styling
The Countach’s contentious performance
Firstly, I love that you have 7-Eleven! I thought that was strictly a US-thing. That Montreal is sure a pretty car. Great shot of it.
7-eleven are common in Europe as well.
There seem to more 7-11 stores in Stockholm than all the others put together
7-11 seems to be a some portions of the US-thing. That is the date of our wedding anniversary so we tend to watch for them. We have lived all over the state and know of exactly one!
Well there are three cars that I’ve never seen in person, and you find them all curbside? Very lucky. That Montreal in particular has always been a favorite of mine!
I’ve only seen one Countach in person. It was about 1990 or 1991 and it passed me up on Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was black and man, did it look mean in my rear view mirror!
That Montreal…
It looks great with those GTA wheels. I have never seen that before but I like it. I love the Montreal.
And the others are of course great as well.
That’s actually my favorite aesthetic iteration of the Countach, the appendages I thought ruined it, besides the USA spec bumpers anyway, were the faux Testarossa style rocker panels the later 5000QVs got and slatted vents in the hideous 25th anniversary edition(fastest of the breed or not it was ugly!). The 400s to early 5000QVs are my favorite though, they look more like a racecar than the more spaceship like narrow tired LP400 but with just flares and the wing they still have some of the purity of it the later ones completely lost.
I’m partial to the LP500S Lamborghini built for Walter Wolf. His cars were built with the 345/35VR15 Pirelli P7s, but with the original round fenders openings, as Marcelo Gandini conceived them. They were also among the fastest Countachs built.
The full-on side profile is not a Countach’s best angle IMO. If you’re going to pass on that Countach I’ll take it. 🙂 That is, assuming I would fit in one, which I probably don’t.
I don’t really pay attention to Lamborghinis newer than the Miura, so I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Countach recently, but I actually saw two Dino’s in one week last year. But I haven’t seen a Montreal, or for that matter a Renault Caravelle, for decades. Good finds, Don and Aaron65!
Wow, I’ll take the Montreal out of this bunch, even though the Dino is probably the beauty queen of the group.
I’ve seen plenty of Dinos and Countachs in CA (and one in Portland just a couple of weeks ago), but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Montreal. It’s a car that looks quite different depending on the shot, so I’d like to scope one out in person.
Here’s a ’72 Dino 246 in stealth gray, showing its beautiful face. I photographed it at the 2015 Ramapo (NJ) Concours d’Elegance in June, where it won first place in the Italian Exotic category.
Great finds Don. I would have to rate the Lamborghini as the most unusual sight, there doesn’t seem to be many around and I wouldn’t think they get out much. I saw a Dino a few weeks ago but it was gone before I could get near a camera, what a fantastic car!
I think I have seen that Lambo parked in Glenferrie Rd last year. I didn’t pull the camera and my son didn’t get to see it as it was parked across the road.
Great finds. My recent sightings include a perfectly restored silver W116 with no bundts :(, a Citröen CX and a lovingly looked after Alfa Romeo 75.
I’m torn on the bundts. I prefer my colour-coded hubcaps. CX. Mmmmmmmmm.
Best bundts are the 15s. Not a fan of the hubcaps, although I’ll concede the colour coding is cool.
I could be wrong, but I believe 7-11 is even in Asia….or at least Japan.
In 1972 I owned an orange Vega Panel Express. The Vega was followed by a chocolate brown Spitfire and that was sold to buy a red on red TR3.
The TR3 would be the 1st of a whole “string” of red cars, about 5 or 6 in all. There was a PV544, an Audi Fox, a Ford Fiesta, and 1 or 2 more I don’t remember. After each one, I said no more red cars, and of course, it would be 1 more red car.
The Dino has to be one of the sexiest Ferraris ever produced.