After winning the first two Formula 1 World Championships in 1950 and 1951, Alfa Romeo officially withdrew from motorracing to concentrate on a new line of road cars. Although these cars were not as glamorous as the pre-War Alfas, they were still clearly inspired by the designs of old. At the end of the decade work was started on a new racer, built around the road cars' 1.6 litre four cylinder engine. This slow process eventually resulted in the TZ1 model, launched in 1963, it featured a new tubular chassis and an aerodynamic body designed by Zagato.
To construct the new GT racer, Alfa Romeo created a new competition department and dubbed it Autodelta. Two years later the highly successful Giula 1600 GTA was constructed specifically for Touring car racing, which the GTA dominated the following years. In the mean time Alfa Romeo and Autodelta worked on a completely new competition car that was intended to restore Alfa's old reputation. Code named '105.33', the new car was designed by Alfa's experimental department and then sent to Autodelta in 1965 to be further developed. When Autodelta received the first prototype, it was powered by a TZ2 derived four cylinder engine. The engine was installed behind driver's compartment, complying with the latest racing design trends. A completely new V8, displacing just under 2 litres, was designed by Autodelta and mated to a Colotti 6-speed gearbox. The chassis consisted of three large aluminum tubes; two longitudinal side members and one fitted transversely at the rear. Suspension was by double wishbones front and back. It was equipped with the latest vented Girling discs all-round. Simply dubbed 33, the new racer made its debut in the 1967 season. In later years the cars were known as 33/2 for their 2 litre displacement, to distinguish them from the larger engined evolutions. In competition trim the high revving quad-cam V8 was good for at least 270 bhp. It made a victorious debut at a hillclimb in Belgium, but reliability issues dominated the rest of the season. For 1968 a slightly revised engine and new bodywork improved both performance and reliability. After its debut race the 1968 33/2 is now commonly referred to as Daytona. Alfa Romeo finished third in the World Championship. In September of 1967 Autodelta took the wraps of a quite remarkable 33 variant; a road car! Technically, the 33 'Stradale' was virtually identical to the racing car, except for a longer wheelbase and a downtuned engine. More importantly it featured a Franco Scaglione penned body, which to this day is considered one of the most beautiful designs ever. Thanks to the aerodynamic body top speeds of well over 250 km/h were easily achievable. At least four chassis were supplied to Italian coachbuilders and used for exciting design studies. Pininfarina received two 33 Stradale chassis and constructed a coupe and roadster body. The featured Pininfarina Coupe shares its overall design with the Ferrari 250 P5 show car launched the previous year, and it is long believed that it was the same fiberglass body. After a recent restoration by Pininfarina, it was concluded that it in fact is a new body. This, the most beautiful of the four design studies, is seen here at the 2005 Retromobile show in Paris, France, where it was one of the highlights. Article by Wouter Melissen, last updated on 04 / 11 / 2005
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