The Alfa Romeo Carabo is a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

first shown at the 1968

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...

. It was designed by

Marcello Gandini Marcello Gandini (born 26 August 1938) is an Italian car designer, known for his work with the automotive design house Gruppo Bertone, including his designs of the Lamborghini Miura, Countach, and the Lamborghini Diablo. In a 2009 interview wit ...

, working for the

Bertone Bertone is an Italian surname meaning "descendant of Roberto". Notable people with the surname include: * Alicia Bertone, American academic, researcher, and veterinary surgeon * Catherine Bertone (born 1972), Turkish-born female Italian marathon ...

design studio. The ''Carabo'' name is derived from the ''

Carabidae Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, the Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, around 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe. As of 2015, it is one of the 10 most species-rich animal fami ...

'' beetles, as evoked by the car's iridescent green and orange coloring. Alfa Romeo Carabo Bertone (4345325783)

The wedge design came into fashion in the late 1960s. The Carabo is often considered the winner of the 'Wedge War' award of 1968 and as the direct predecessor of the

Lamborghini Countach The Lamborghini Countach () is a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini from 1974 until 1990. It is one of the many exotic designs developed by Italian design house Bertone, w ...

and having heavily influenced many car designs to follow well into the next decade. It was never intended for production but was fully functional and showcased features never expressed in any other car design of its day, including its wedge design and

scissor doors Scissor doors (also called flap doors, wing doors, beetle-wing doors, turtle doors, switchblade doors, swing-up doors, upswing doors, Lamborghini doors, and Lambo doors) are automobile doors that rotate vertically at a fixed hinge at the front o ...

. The prototype was built on the chassis of an

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is a mid-engined sports car built by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It is one of the world's first supercars; it was the fastest commercially available car for the standing kilometer when introduced.Alfa Romeo 33 ...

(chassis No. 750.33.109.), which features a mid-mounted 2.0 L V8 engine mated to a 6-speed ''Colotti'' manual transmission. The Carabo engine made at 8,800 rpm and of torque at 7,000 rpm. This allowed it to be able to reach a top speed of . 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo rear side

The

later appeared on the

, which was also designed by Marcello Gandini.

References

External links

UltimateCarPage.com. Alfa Romeo Carabo Concept

OldConceptCars.com. Alfa Romeo Carabo Photos

ConceptCarz.com. 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo

Alfaromeoart.com. Official Alfa Romeo Carabo Art
''(archived)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Carabo Alfa Romeo concept vehicles Bertone concept vehicles