The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is the mid-engine road version of the Tipo 33 racing prototype, hand-built between 1967 and 1969. It uses an all-aluminium 1,995 cc V8 designed by Carlo Chiti (bore/stroke 78 × 52.2 mm) with dry-sump lubrication, SPICA fuel injection, twin plugs per cylinder, four chain-driven cams and a 10,000 rpm redline; power at launch is quoted at 230 PS / 227 hp at 8,800 rpm with 206 Nm at 7,000 rpm. Drive is through a six-speed Colotti manual transaxle. Body and chassis are aluminium — the body designed by Franco Scaglione and built by Carrozzeria Marazzi, the chassis an aluminium tubular structure. Kerb weight is quoted at approximately 700 kg; top speed at approximately 260 km/h (162 mph).
Only 18 examples were built. The two prototypes (105.33.01, 105.33.12) carried the dual-headlight arrangement Scaglione originally drew; production chassis (750.33.1xx) reverted to a single-headlight nose on ride-height regulations. Cars differ in detail throughout the run — wiper position, later cars gained brake-cooling vents — because each was hand-built with per-car drivetrain and trim variations. At launch it was the fastest commercially available car over the standing kilometre, and the most expensive car of its day at approximately US$17,000 (1967).
The 33 Stradale is routinely called the most beautiful car ever built. It is also, defensibly, the first modern supercar — mid-engined, race-derived, road-legal and among the first production cars anywhere with butterfly doors. Every serious mid-engine road car of the following decade owes it a design and engineering debt, and its collector status is undisputed at the top of the market.
