Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale - The Needed Beauty

The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale was a mid-engined sports car built in a very limited series by Alfa Romeo between 1967 and 1969.

It was based on the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 racecar. Due to its high usage of race-derived technologies, it was one of the most expensive cars of its time, with a retail price of about 9,750,000 lire.

The 33’s curvy lines were penned by Franco Scaglione and the car itself was built by Carrozzeria Marazzi. To this day, it is considered by many as the most beautiful car ever made.

The 33 was the first production road car to feature dihedral doors, which are now quite common on supercars and hypercars.

Many sources claim that 18 Stradales were made in total, however, there are so many holes in the car’s history, that the real number is unknown.

The 33 was powered by a 1995 cc, N/A V8 capable of pushing out 230 hp at 8,800 rpm and 206 n/m of torque at 7,000 rpm, impressive numbers for its time.

Thanks to the car’s low weight of just 700 kg, performance was equally impressive: a claimed 0-100 km/h time of just 5,6 seconds, a top speed of 260 km/h and a standing kilometre covered in just 24 seconds, which was faster than the Lamborghini Miura.

Earlier models (like the one pictured above) featured twin headlights, replaced by single ones on later models. The position of the windscreen wiper, and even the number of them, is another thing that differentiates each example from the others.

The Stradale was premiered at the Monza Circuit, as part of the motoring events organized for the 1967 Italian Grand Prix and, a few weeks later, was exhibited at the 1967 Turin Motor Show.

The 33’s design was so iconic that many of Alfa Romeo’s more recent sports cars, including the 8C Competizione and the 4C, all draw some styling input from the beloved ‘60s coupé.

The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is, still to this day, taken as an example to describe the perfect balance between the refined mechanics and the style that covers it, which can be summarized in a phrase dear to the brand:

"The needed beauty"