The Amazing Alfa Romeo Montreal

[@nrs6956]

Was fortunate to see a AR Montreal years ago, like an Italian woman, a fond memory in the past! AR is like sirens that call you, and not forgotten! Viva Alfa Romeo!

[@BanjoLuke1]

One of the cars that defined my vision as a child of the perfect machine. I went when I was 11, 12, 13 to the Earls Court Motor Show in London. You could buy a combined rail, tube and entry ticket at the station. I was about 30minutes away. I would collect brochures, as many as I could carry home. All sorts from the mid-70s. Opel GT-2 concept, Morgan, X1-9, 2002 Turbo, Coleman-Milne limousines and even the dull stuff like Simca 1100 and Fiat 133, Peugeot 504 and Hillman Hunter. The best brochure I ever had was for the Montreal. Printed in landscape and carrying a profile shot across two opened pages. When I left home, I threw out all the brochures... They filled a large family estate car with the rear seats folded and weighed the car down. But... I didn't know about nostalgia back then. What took years to collect from dealerships and shows as a child... and 20 minutes to drive to a landfill site. But the Montreal brochure stands out as a memory of dreams long gone and almost forgotten. Lovely video about a car that was almost... A car that was nearly... A car that might have... But ultimately a car that didn't. Thanks anyway. Excellent video about a fabulous machine. Bravo!

[@Matteo_Licata]

I used to have a nice brochure collection too (not as large as your old ones though) but, having no use nor space for it, I donated to the National Automobile Museum’s public library here in Turin, so enthusiasts can use it for their research if they need it.

[@geodrome]

I have been fortunate enough to get driven round Knockhill circuit in one for a few shakedown laps. It was so smooth, also went round in a Gulia ti that was crazy!

[@brunotulliani]

I saw this car here in Montreal at the annual Alfa club. It was so small, I was shocked! Possibally one of my favourite Alfas. Great video again!

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you!!

[@mikkithetrailerguy7876]

We just bought our pristine 1972 Alfa Romeo Montreal a few months back! I love every inch of the beauty queen and she turns a lot of heads here in California. We named her Farrah ;)

[@Matteo_Licata]

Wow, that’s cool, congratulations!!!!

[@cancracker]

Surely one of the best and most desirable cars to be produced under the Alfa Romeo badge.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Indeed!

[@Pat_RickX]

A dream - what a beauty. Painted in LUCI DEL BOSCO, it' s one of my favorite AR.

[@Matteo_Licata]

I like that color too, it looks very elegant and has a very romantic name too

[@CorseSquadra]

Interesting fact about the Montreal, was that the chassis was based on the Giulia Sprint GT, fittingly given a 105 model family designation (105.64 and 105.65 for the RHD versions). As with the contemporary Junior Z, the fuel tank was relocated at the passenger side, and the rear floorpan was redesigned. Main issue was the handling. ALFA marketed the Montreal as a sports car with a racing engine, but the underpinnings were quite humble, and unable to manage the torque of the V8. It has been reported that Bertone was shocked when ALFA asked him to reengineer the chassis for the V8, and strongly protested against it, with Gandini agreeing with him. 2 additional hard points were added to the chassis legs, but this wasn't enough to achieve adequate structural rigidity, especially lateral twist. The gearbox was a ZF dog-leg 5-speed unit, and a LSD at the back, with a relatively short 10:41 final drive. Most magazines pitched the Montreal against the 911, where its flaws were highlighted. Ideally, the Montreal was best suited for highway relaxing drives close to 200 km/h, and not for twisting mountain roads. It was underappreciated for nearly 30 years, but good examples today command close to 100.000 Euros. An interesting piece of ALFA's troubled history, and as always, great job Matteo!

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you for this very interesting comment. The Montreal was a compromised design, but it just couldn't happen any other way due to cost and time constraints. We often forget that Alfa in the 1960s was a profitable but also very small company, with perhaps too many projects competing for a slice of its tiny R&D resources.

[@martinclapton2724]

Christmas has just come early! Thank you Matteo. When I read early road tests by the motoring press , I already wanted them to rave and rave about it because it was an Alfa Romeo ! Even before I started the first paragraph . The engine , they did give very high praise for. Because of a combination of the De tuning process as well as increasing the capacity, it endowed the car with incredible torque characteristics and well as being free- reving to its red line . Some road test articles claimed the car would start off in 4th gear from a standstill with some slipping of the clutch ( unusual for a high output against small capacity engine for its day.) . The chassis had more moderate reviews , despite Alfa still leading the world in how to locate a back axle , which still gave a lot of independent rear sprung cars a run for their money. Nowadays , modern road testers said the car was under developed in that department, I but I don’t rate them as drivers compared to the “ old school “ motoring journalists from the past. Always loved the Montreal , always will ❤

[@Matteo_Licata]

It really was a fantastic GT, indeed! Thank you, glad you enjoyed the vid!

[@oliveroneill1388]

Your information and passion is still a treat to watch and listen too. ...

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you!!!!

[@martinkirin912]

One of the best looking cars to ever exist and a unique engine as well magnifico!!

[@mikebaginy8731]

A very informative video, grazie! The Montreal sports a timelessly beautiful design. I recall seeing a number of Montreals in the late 60s and early 70s. Those were the good old days of (Alfa) beauties on the roads.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!!!

[@italianduded1161]

Ahah che coincidenza, mi sono sparato video su video della Montreal ieri ed oggi 😂👍👍🇮🇹🇮🇹😍 meravigliosa!

[@gearhead9828]

Another brilliant video! Merry Christmas to you and your beloved. Ciao 🙋‍♂️

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones as well!

[@EgyptianSahara]

Outstanding channel Matteo, keep up the magnificent work. Your videos are educational and truly fulfills my passion for Alfa Romeo. Hats off from Egypt.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you!!! Glad you enjoy my work, this kind support is what keeps me going 👍

[@Lot76CARS]

Fascinating to hear the story behind the car, very informative, thank you!

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you, glad you appreciated it!

[@Mario-bv6hd]

un sogno!!! Purtroppo per me resterà solo un sogno!!! Grazie per il video!!!

[@mzungusi]

I've loved the Montreal since I saw one ( In Toronto ) back in 1975. My father explained what it was to my eager ,6 year old. self.

[@claudiomagi5375]

Bellissima, un capolavoro, per me una tra le 5-6 macchine più belle al mondo di sempre ❤❤❤❤

[@anthonypetty9288]

Thanks Matteo, a nice Xmas surprise. Have a great new year. (You mentioned the Canguro early in this video. This is one of my all time favourite designs. Any chance you could do a video on the Canguro?)

[@Matteo_Licata]

Same to you, happy New Year Anthony! I’d really like to make a video about the Canguro, but I have no footage of it and it’s unlikely I will anytime soon, as the car is in Japan.

[@eminzeynali6325]

Theres' a one of the urban legends. It says that the engineers and designers of the Honda company was very impressed with Montreal. And as a tribute to the great car, Honda changed its logo in the style of the one used on Montreal, under the rear number plate.

[@Matteo_Licata]

That’s one I had never heard before!

[@graemelliott3942]

Stunning Design!

[@Matteo_Licata]

Sure it is!

[@giuseppebacci6340]

Alfa Romeo Montreal 🇮🇹 ❤

[@davesclassicgaragetours]

I cannot believe I haven’t seen a video on the Montreal on your channel already Matteo. Ah well, Christmas keeps on giving

[@Matteo_Licata]

I did cover the Montreal in 2020 but, given that video wasn’t one I was particularly happy with and it wasn’t pulling many views anyways, I’ve replaced it with this one :)

[@davesclassicgaragetours]

@@Matteo_Licata This felt as fresh as a daisy. Really liked it.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Great, thank you!!!!

[@legendus1159]

Great video man

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you!!!

[@sainta2667]

Sad ending. Impressed with your history knowledge about the Yom Kippur war. Greets from Israel

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you! Always enjoyed studying history, even if cars aren’t involved. I’d like to visit Israel sometime too

[@sainta2667]

@@Matteo_Licata You're more then welcome Matteo ! A lot of Italian car lovers here and everything that has 'Italia' in it ;-)

[@madgardener5820]

The Montreal is by far my favourite car ever. Whenever I drove my Alfetta GTV I imagined I was driving a Montreal. Then one day in Bournemouth I saw one in the flesh at a dealership open day. It was beautiful and I knew I had been in love all the previous years. However it was brown, who in their right mind makes a brown sports car? That said I was still in love. True love us blind

[@Matteo_Licata]

Even though I like the brown metallic “Luci del Bosco” available for the Montreal, I admit I would have picked another color for it, I agree!

[@lynnhooley7608]

grazie mille, Matteo buon natale

[@Matteo_Licata]

Grazie mille, Buon Natale anche a te!

[@mikegan73]

Very nice looking car, but that v8 was a bit underpowered compared to the competition at the time. Alfa Romeo didn't make another V8 sports cars until the 8c competizione, pity they didn't produce some in the 80s and 90s or the last decade. There are rumors of a V8 car coming soon from Alfa, hope that's true. Great video Matteo, thanks.

[@AlessandroGenTLe]

The new Giulia SWB Zagato has quite an inspiration from this one in the frontal part I think, I really like it there.

[@Matteo_Licata]

The new Zagato has generated quite a discussion among Alfisti here in Italy, but I refrained from commenting on it because, being a one-off commissioned by an individual, the only person it really has to please is its owner. Still, a very cool project

[@AlessandroGenTLe]

@@Matteo_Licata I'm from north of Milan and new Giulia (gas) owner ;) Writing in En due to respect and because this is an international channel

[@gijsv8419]

Most beautifull car ever

[@TheInstructor66]

Hank you again, for a relaxing and informative video. Bravo Matteo! When i was a kid i always tought the Montreal was a 2 seater. But its a familycar. 😁

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you! Well, as long as your family isn’t composed of more than two people, the Montreal will do just fine as a family car ;)

[@MicrobyteAlan]

Very interesting story. I have a question, do you have a story explaining the triangle grill and the meaning of the badge on Alfas? Thanks great channel.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you! Regarding the Alfa badge, I do have a video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGKYgqlje8R2d5Y but regarding the front end graphic that's typical of Alfas I haven't done anything yet, could be a good idea for the future!

[@GreasyFingers]

Talking about the Spica injection: how’s spare part supply today and maybe even more importantly, can mechanics still be found who know how to deal with it?

[@Matteo_Licata]

The answer to your question is the one you probably imagine: finding a ‘shop that can maintain it properly is very difficult, and the same applies to spares. After all, this is 50 years old stuff made by a company that ceased to exist 30 years ago or more.

[@stevenfernando1842]

Interesting as usual, but why not add some dynamic footage too.

[@Matteo_Licata]

I'm not the BBC or Discovery Channel, just a man with a laptop :) I do what I can with the footage I can produce, and I don't know anyone who could let me film a moving Montreal, sadly.

[@wickiezulu]

Apart from the Montreal engine and the turbulent times the company faced, did Giuseppe Busso or any other designer within Alfa Romeo ever look at any other road-going V8 projects pre-Fiat takeover? Specifically one that had some commonality with either the Twin-Cam or V6?

[@Matteo_Licata]

As far as I know, no other V8s destined for road cars were designed at Alfa Romeo: there’s no trace of one in the memories and interviews left by the likes of Busso and Chiti.

[@betaorionis2164]

But my question is: why didn't they use the engine in other cars?

[@Matteo_Licata]

It's an excellent question, and the answer is relatively straightforward: Montreal's engine was expensive to build, and once the oil crisis hit, the people in charge of Alfa Romeo saw no further use for it.

[@marcusott2973]

Sorry had to wait a couple of days, to watch this on my favorite Alfa, with a glass of good Whisky in hand.

[@Matteo_Licata]

That sounds great 👍

[@marcusott2973]

@Roadster Life when this whisky was distilled Alfa was still making the 164. 🥃😉

[@madgardener5820]

Alfas and whisky don't mix. Hell let's do it anyway - I'm in.

[@KentBuchla]

When Italians make a tremendous Camaro!

[@Matteo_Licata]

:)

[@Grummash]

👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@a200tq1]

Italians are the best engineers. Period. But I think Italians are very bad at marketing. Just imagine-fuel injected dry sump v8 with 80 hp/l power. In the 60-s!! But nobody knows about it. Let's look at the Multiair system-this is the revolution. While Keniggsegg talking about free float valves, Italians just made it in 2007 and start to put it on regular cars. But again-nobody knows about it. That sad. P.s. proud owner of the 2022 Stelvio, 1991 164, and 2013 Fiat 500.

[@paullacey2999]

Never seen one!All the bad rap it had and it still wouldnt stop me wanting one.....

[@Matteo_Licata]

The bad rap is mostly unwarranted, by the way, generated by second and third owners who often didn’t maintain it properly.

[@tizianosardini9235]

Quando alfa ti faceva battere il 💞

[@aldostefanini1392]

Io and me padre just spoke about this this morning and of the detomaso that he could afford in the late 80s. And now he is crying because he never did it to import it from Italia to us herw in South Africa. Ce cazo