Friday, March 10, 2017

Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale

The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is a mid-engined sports car built by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo between 1967 and 1969. "Stradale" (Italian for "road-going") is a term used by Italian car manufacturers to indicate a street-legal version of a racing car. The 33 Stradale was derived from the Tipo 33 sports prototype. 18 examples were made.

The 33 Stradale is the first production vehicle to feature dihedral or 'butterfly' doors.
The car was designed with a dry-sump lubricated all aluminum 1,995 cc (121.7 cu in) V8 that featured fuel injection, four ignition coils and 16 spark plugs. The first production Stradale claimed 243 hp at 9,400 rpm with a "street" exhaust and 254 hp with open exhaust.

Like the racing car the transmission was a six-speed transaxle gearbox.
The car takes 5.5 seconds to reach 60 mph (96.6 km/h) from a standing start and has a top speed of 260 km/h (160 mph). In 1968 it was the fastest commercially available car in the standing kilometer with time of 24 seconds. It was the most expensive automobile for sale to the public in 1968 at US$17,000.

Today fewer than 10 are known to exist and very rarely come up for auction. At a minimum a pristine example would expect to make $10m