The Alfa Romeo 2600 Cabriolet Speciale by Pininfarina is sublime. It attracted plenty of stares wherever it went, especially at the 1962 Turin Motor Show where it was first shown. Why they chose to pose it in front of a group of Romani people is another question; presumably to play up the immense contrast between this one-off special based on the expensive Alfa Romeo 2600 chassis and these traveling folks with their horse drawn wagons and what appears to be an elderly Fiat woody station wagon.
Thus were the times: the new cars being created by the Italian carroziera were in a golden era, but not exactly the cultural sensitivities.
This splendid roadster never made it into production, so PF remodeled it into a coupe for the 1963 car show circuit:
The coupe is mighty fine too, and is something of a preview of the Peugeot 504 Coupe to come, especially the greenhouse.
The rear brings to mind the Ferrari 330 GT/GTS, as well as the original long-tail version of the Alfa Romeo “Duetto” Spider. The basic elements of that rear end go back to the 1956 Alfa Romeo Superflow concept by PF.
I can’t readily find any attribution to the primary designer of this car; I thought it might be the American Tom Tjaarda, who penned the Corvette Rondine at Pininfarina at about the same time, but his credits do not include the Alfa 2600 Speciale.
This car survived, in its coupe form, and was restored not too long ago. But I find the Cabriolet more compelling.
Even if the old pictures are a bit grainy.
Thanks – never seen this before!
I like it, but then I would, being a serial Corvette C2 and 928 owner!
That’s a gorgeous car – I see elements of the ’63 – ’67 Corvette, and think it might have influenced the ’69 – ’71 Mazda 1500/1800.
Stunning. This is the first time I have seen images of this car, and it is almost perfect. The thickness implied by the heavy shoulders on the doors is the only part that I find a bit off-putting, but it is, after all, the “big” Alfa spider. They most certainly would have made a removable hardtop available for the Cabriolet, which — done well — would replicate the coupe’s closed appearance.
There’s a bit of Lancia Fulvia in there, too.
Rondine. That’s what I thought
More than the Rondine, this has strong resemblance to the standard C2 Corvette. I guess the XP87 had influence in Europe, just as the Corvair did. Though the XP87 itself has a lot of Italian influence. Scaled down a bit, this design would have looked nicer (to me) than the Duetto.
WOW. That’s just drop dead gorgeous. I never cared much for the Duetto and its successors (which made me a bit of an outcast when I was driving Alfas) but this, this in ragtop form is almost perfect.
It looks like there were other photos made from this photo shoot — I found one other (below) that shows the Alfa couple interacting with the other folks in the picture. My guess is that this was intended as an “adventure” type of shot (i.e., a well-off couple taking an adventuresome trip to an exotic locale) – not atypical of travel ads of the time.
Now we see some of these types of scenes as cringeworthy, but it was a common theme back then, especially with travel literature.
As for the Alfa, it couldn’t be more beautiful.
That “exotic locale”, with that giant hulking factory in the back, was most likely in Arese, not far from Milan, where Alfa Romeo had just opened their big new factory.
Romani camps were quite common just outside Italian (and other European cities) back then, especially near industrial areas. I don’t think any Italians (or Europeans) were fooled; everyone was very familiar with these camps, which were almost ubiquitous. My point is, this may look exotic to Americans today, but it was anything but such to most Europeans back then.
Maybe the exotic aspect of the image derives not from the fact that these camps existed (and they still do!), but from the idea that the sort of people that would and could afford that sort of car would actually ever visit that sort of camp.
And then the message is more subtle and maybe even unintentionally ambivalent: Owning a “Speciale” will place its owner on the verge of society.
Going even further with that thought, there is a (morally dubious, of course) idea of reconciliation immanent in the image, or at least could be read into it: Here are the two very edges of society, coming together in one image.
There more I think about it, the more complex this image seems to become.
Be that as it may, thanks for bringing this car to my attention. The beauty of it is just stunning.
My thoughts are how opulent to stage a sales pitch of an automobile and 2 rich ‘cats’ in front of these people who drag their homes across the country side by a horse and their children standing around dressed in rags and hiding in a barrel. I hardly saw the car standing there in front of the stark reality of life for these ‘real’ people.
Never knew about the cars but I like them both. Wish there would have been a 1/43 scale model of either from Solido, Politoy or Mebetoy back in the day – then I would have known.
Paul, that hardtop when viewed from the rear quarter, right away said “’61 Olds 98 Holiday Coupe”. The “C” pillar shape or angle was the spark. That roofline (and corresponding Electra’s) was unique. I liked them and this Alfa’s greenhouse brought the GMs to mind immediately.
Absolutely stunning automobile. Don’t we all wish that this were made today. We would line up to buy one.
Beautiful car, beautiful couple!
I guess the gypsies (who cost nothing for the shoot) in the background represent the poor schmucks who have yet to purchase the car for themselves so they don’t wind up looking like a gypsy.
How would Freud analyze this? I guess he would take the easy way out and say its related to sex. Some how. Some way.
Sex sells cars, Unless its trucks. Then chrome sells.
LOL
Beautiful car for the era.
Study the heart-shaped grille on the roadster, it appears to be the cross and serpent from the crest instead of the normal Alfa Romeo emblem. So nice. This is really one of the most beautiful cars ever. I’ve owned and loved a 67 Duetto.
That grille emblem is the best. Look at the rear fenders/tail lights, then go look at a Ferrari 275 GTS’s rear… or the later Daytona headlights. This car was a test bed for several new lines Pininfarina was playing with and it was beautiful. My family owned that car for several years when it was black, then it was bought and restored to its current green state. The wire wheels were already there when my family acquired it from a doctor in LA. Automobile Quarterly has some good photos of it in one issue, if memory serves.