The year was 1969; Nixon had just been sworn in, Rupert Murdoch had purchased the News of the World, and Apollo 11 was about to land on the moon. But there was a far more important event for Australian car enthusiasts: the debut of the Holden Hurricane concept car.
To consider the Fiat 8V Supersonic, it is first necessary to look at the Conrero-Alfa Romeo. This car was the brainchild of Virgilio Conrero, the Alfa Romeo tuning wizard from Turin. Gentleman driver Robert Fehlmann from Switzerland asked him to build a special car for the 1953 Mille Miglia, based around an Alfa Romeo 1900C Sprint engine with a combination of Fiat 1400 and Lancia Aurelia components. For the coachwork, Conrero went to his friend Giovanni Savonuzzi (of Cisitalia fame), who had just been made head of design at Carrozzeria Ghia.
Clearly not satisfied with the normally aspirated eight-cylinder’s output of 498bhp, Spada has added a pair of superchargers, thus giving the Codatronca Monza 710bhp and 701lb ft of torque. This allows a 0-60mph sprint of three seconds flat (which can be timed on the dashboard-mounted Meccaniche Veloci watch) and a top speed of 208mph. At maximum velocity, the open-top powerhouse would give the occupants little air to breathe - making the Monza truly ‘breathtaking’, from both inside and out.
Whereas the TZ3 Corsa, commissioned by Martin Kapp, was designed with a carbonfibre chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and handbeaten lightweight aluminium body, the TZ3 Stradale boasts a carbonfibre body and mechanical components from the Viper ACR. This is the first time that U.S. power has been matched with a TZ body; hence Zagato’s claim that this is the ‘first American Alfa Romeo’.
And not just any GT40. This car, one of the leading entries to RM’s star-studded inaugural Villa d’Este sale on May 21, is an ultra-rare roadster, a veteran of the 1965 Le Mans trials, the first such car to race with the ZF 5-speed gearbox, and a Linden Green works entry (Bondurant/Whitmore) at the Targa Florio that year, carrying race number ‘194’.
In other words, in the exact specification you see here.
Not so in the case of Jim Glickenhaus and the achingly desirable Ferrari P4/5 - the car has now covered over 4,000 miles, and a recent trip to Europe saw it pounding round dusty Sicilian roads on the Giro Di Sicilia - Targa Florio, and then moving on to what would normally be the manicured grounds of Goodwood House, but a venue that in June 2007 was turned into marshland by unseasonal monsoons.