As told to Robert Little, Renzo Carbonaro, Vladimir Pajevic and Ulrich Zensen
Copyright: 8 November 2017 All World Rights Reserved
Republished with permissions with changes to suit the format of VeloceToday.com
Giovanna Takes Her First Stradale Ride with Teo Zeccoli
Giovanna Scaglione relates here experiences riding in the Stradale:
Every new car designed by my Babbo was a sister to me! When he designed the 33 Stradale and realized the car, I bothered my “Babbo” so much that, one day, fed-up and desperate, he asked our personal friend Teodoro Zecccoli, Autodelta test driver, to take me for a ride on the car.
A fully open T33. Ready to go for a ride? Courtesy Centro Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo
I remember, we were at the Torino Motor Show; Teodoro had just arrived from a tour with the car with Roky Roberts as passenger (Roky Roberts, in those days was a famous American singer in Italy).
He drove the 33 Stradale up to the hills around Torino, on a road that was closed to the normal traffic so as to test the cars of the motor show.
After a while I asked to Teodoro: ‘Can’t we go a little faster?’.
He looked at me with a worried glance and said: ‘Oh my God! My dear Giovanna we are running at 220 k/h (140 m/h)! what do you want more than this????’
It was unbelievable! The car had such an aerodynamic shape that I didn’t hear the wind noise. I only had the feeling of speed looking at Teodoro’s right foot moving fast between the brake pedal and the accelerator.
My God! I will never forget that great experience.
What doomed the production of the Scaglione Stradale
As was stated earlier, it was the company “Carrozzeria Marazzi” that was appointed to complete the first three Stradale chassis and assemble the remaining Stradale production. They finished 13 known cars until suspending work in March of 1969.
Drawing of the second prototype with roof mounted wipers and rear fender air ducting.
The five remaining chassis, of 18 totally produced and delivered to Autodelta, were sent to famous Italian car design studios and transformed into stunning and electrified design concepts for major automobile shows throughout the world. Those dream cars today share the spotlight at the Alfa Romeo Museo Storico.
Despite its astronomical price, all 13 production Stradale cars were sold. At the introduction of the 33 Stradale, the car was offered at 9,750,000 lire while a Lamborghini Miura fresh from the factory would have cost 7,700,000 lire and a new Fiat 500 was being offered for 475,000 lire.
It was the Alfa Romeo managements decision to invest in the new Montreal model that somewhat spelled the premature end of the Stradale. Even though the Montreal was a nice car, it was decidedly inferior in every aspect to the 33 Stradale; the new V-8 car arrived in series production with a very serious delay, rendering its introduction obsolete and unable to overcome the lure of Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari mid-engined models.
A small number of spare chassis were constructed after the 18 that are officially known and accounted for. These five or six were sold to a well-known vehicle reconstruction firm without VIN identification. The disposition of these extra chassis today is unknown.
Scaglione’s model. Courtesy Vladimir Pajevic archives.
With its unique shape and fantastic design, the T-33 Stradale of Franco Scaglione is to this very day, without a doubt, one of the most stunning automobiles ever created by mankind.
Michelangelo would indeed have been proud of this creation.
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This machine is Magnifico very cool