Alfa Romeo received a tremendous honour in late 1966 when it was selected to create a conceptual exhibit of man’s aspiration for the automobile at the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, held in Montreal. Alfa assigned coachwork duties to Bertone, and the project was spearheaded by Marcelo Gandini, the young designer who had leapt to the forefront of the automotive imagination with the Lamborghini Miura.

Two identical prototypes were prepared for the exhibition, and Gandini did not disappoint. Channelling many of the same cues that made the Miura so innovative, the new Alfa was wide and low with a shark-like nose extending through a curved fender and shoulder haunches into a truncated tail. The headlight “blinds” and stacked horizontal vents on the C-pillar were attractive, as well as futuristic in concept.

Strong customer interest prompted Alfa to develop a production version, which continued to be based on the respected 105 Series chassis, as with the Expo show cars. A new direction was taken for the model’s engine, however. Discarding the 105’s standard twin-cam inline-four, Alfa’s engineers installed a modified version of the competition-pedigreed V-8 from the Tipo 33 prototype race car. Featuring aluminium alloy construction, dual overhead-cam actuation, and a dry-sump lubrication system, the advanced racing engine provided the new production model with nearly unprecedented power for an Alfa road car. Aided by its aerodynamic body, the Montreal was good for a top speed of nearly 140 mph. Just 3,925 examples of the appropriately named Montreal were built between 1971 and 1975.

This Alfa Romeo Montreal was sold new in Germany in October 1974 and is offered with its original sales invoice, previous German registration documents, and service records.

This excellent drivers’ car represents a landmark design on the resume of the great Marcelo Gandini and features one of Alfa Romeo’s most legendary motors. To many, the Alfa Romeo Montreal has arguably grown to become Milan’s most iconic road car of the 1970s. Very few road cars can claim an engine with antecedents in both long-distance sports car racing and Formula 1, but the Alfa Romeo Montreal is one of them.