With Pebble Beach, The Quail and Salon Privé the traditional launchpads for cars with an historical angle – whether fresh-to-market restomods or old names dropping new cars – August and September are always frenetic on that front, but this year the multiple reveals at the big events were comprehensively trumped by a factory effort in Italy. It was always going to be, from the moment that someone at Stellantis rubberstamped Alfa Romeo reviving the legendary Tipo 33 Stradale moniker. The news broke on 31 August that Alfa Romeo would build – via Touring Superleggera – a limited run of 33 cars (even though every one of them has already been accounted for, following a preview during the F1 race at Monza in 2022) in its first foray for decades into fuoriserie (custom-built) road-legal cars.
Unveiled at the factory museum in Milan, the roadgoing supercar was designed by Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos’s team and certainly wears its styling cues from Franco Scaglione’s 1967 original on its sleeve. It will have largely carbonfibre bodywork and tub with aluminium subframes and either 607bhp twin-turbo V6 or 750bhp electric power. In a typical motor industry irony it will use the Maserati MC20 chassis, which itself grew out of an Alfa concept. There will be three official colours, but customers stumping up the rumoured £1.5m can have any colour they want, and pretty much any other personalisation, too.
Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato said: ‘We wanted to create something that lived up to our past, to serve the brand and to make the Alfisti fandom proud. Such a result could only have been achieved thanks to the expertise, hard work and passion of our team, with the support of management who have the clear ambition to contribute to writing chapters in the brand’s future, in full respect of its unique history. This is the brand’s first “fuoriserie” car since 1969… and it won’t be the last.’
Other restomod and limited-run highlights from the 2023 show season
If the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale doesn’t take your fancy, the big global concours still blooded plenty of alternatives. As well as new car launches from established manufacturers, such as the Aston Martin DB12 Volante’s European debut, plus a load of electric conversions, at Salon Privé the biggest crowd-pleaser appeared to be the Totem GT from Totem Automobili. Inspired by the Alfa Romeo GTA, the new car comes packing electric power or a twin-turbo 2.8-litre V6 and is based on a restored Alfa Giulia, with little remaining within the new carbonfibre monocoque body apart from the bulkhead. Also on show following a recent court case over its name was the turn-key Clive Sutton Shelby Cobra CSX10000, plus two new Porsche-based mods from Theon Design, the GBR1 and GBR2.
Making a splash at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering were 17 world or US debutants, including Pininfarina showing off two new electric models, Maserati taking the covers off its new electric race car, the MCXtrema, and Lamborghini revealing its Lanzador electric 2+2 concept. Lotus introduced the ten-off collaboration with Clive Chapman’s Classic Team Lotus, the £1million Type 66 ‘lost’ track car, rediscovered and reimagined from company archives.
At Pebble Beach the Concept Lawn offered rich pickings, being packed with everything from Tedson Motors’ ‘remastered’ Porsche 993 to the hybrid Lamborghini Revuelto, as well as the Kode61 Birdcage from Ken Okuyama, currently shortlisted in the Bespoke Car of the Year category of the Historic Motoring Awards.
Launches piggybacking the main Monterey events included the new 2.5-litre, 546bhp-per-tonne BAC Mono, which promises a 0-60mph time of 2.7sec. BAC chairman Mike Flewitt said: ‘Launching the new Mono supercar at Monterey Car Week perfectly encapsulates the brilliant trajectory of BAC. Not only is this the first time the company has been in an official capacity at Monterey Car Week, but we have chosen this iconic setting to show to the world our latest high- performance single-seater creation; a development that forms the basis of BAC’s core product offering as it continues to expand around the world. Mono places driver experience at the forefront, regardless of if that experience is on the road or the track.’
An interesting but rather smaller-scale operation was the intriguing 1988 Porsche 930 Turbo Slantnose from Galpin Porsche Santa Clarita, which was unveiled during the Porsche Classic Restoration Challenge at the Werks Reunion in Monterey. Created from a rotting and fire- damaged shell and wearing a one-of-four Japanese-market X83 Flachbau factory body-kit, it is powered by a 3.5-litre turbocharged engine with individual throttle bodies, which pushes output to 850bhp. It was awarded the People’s Choice and Kids’ Choice awards.
Another company content to buck the dominant electric hypercar trend is Bizzarrini, which hit back just one day after Alfa’s 33 Stradale reveal by launching its own ‘hyper GT’, the Giotto. Styled by Giorgetto amd Fabrizio Giugiaro, the former having worked on the original 5300GT when at Bertone in the 1960s, the carbonfibre-bodied car will pack a naturally aspirated 6626c V12 developed in partnership with Cosworth. Customer deliveries are planned for early 2026. Bizzarrini CTO, Chris Porritt, said: ‘We have a clear vision for The Giotto, driven not by lap times or acceleration records but in the emotional engagement of both the driver and the passenger.’
