The Alfa Romeo Carabo is a 2-door coupe from Alfa Romeo, built from 1968, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Under the bonnet: 2.0 L (1995 . Marcello Gandini at Bertone drew it.
How it came about
The Alfa Romeo Carabo is a concept car first shown at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. It was designed by Marcello Gandini, working for the Bertone design studio. The Carabo name is derived from the Carabidae beetles, as evoked by the car's iridescent green and orange coloring. The Carabo was created by Bertone in just 10 weeks and featured fiberglass bodywork. It was never intended for production but was fully functional and showcased unique features such as its scissor doors, being the first known vehicle to feature them.
The Carabo was one of the first "wedge" shaped designs by Gandini, who would later go on to design cars such as the Lamborghini Countach, and helped set the trend of wedge shaped supercars and concept cars in the 1970s. The prototype was built on the chassis of an Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale (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 230 bhp (172 kW; 233 PS) at 8,800 rpm and 200 N⋅m (148 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 7,000 rpm. This allowed it to be able to reach a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
The hardware
Power comes from 2.0 L (1995 . It weighs 700 kg. It shifts through a 6-speed Colotti manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 2350 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Peugeot 504, the Toyota Hilux, the Range Rover Range Rover — show what else the money bought that year. Its Alfa Romeo stablemates include the A.L.F.A 12 HP and the A.L.F.A 15 HP.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Alfa Romeo Carabo — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.