I always thought the 512 BB was a really under rated Ferrari.

In my opinion, in fact it’s one of the prettiest Ferraris ever.

There was something wonderfully understated about those Pininfarina lines. As a kid in the seventies it seemed the cooler, more elegant opposition to Lamborghini’s outrageous Countach.

It probably stemmed from the time I came up close and personal with one.

As a kid (I must have been 9 or Ten years old), me and my mate Keith Curwood would cycle down to the junction of the A12 and sit there and spot cars. Sad but true.

Every now and then, when the main lights turned red, a real gem would turn up. It’s a bit of weird ‘confession of an urban kid of the seventies’ thing to admit, but this was the only sort of geeky sport I was interested in.

I would of course pretend by Raleigh Grifter was a Moto Guzzi Le Mans too, and tug the flappy mud guard end to scrap along across the knobbly tires so it made a noise that approximated the sound of an Italian V-Twin.

This was all included in my mass of pre-teen dreams of exotic power and freedom a nice precursor to that flowering of auto-eroticism that came once we went to big school.

The 512 BB that pulled up was, I remember as if it was yesterday, an incredible powder blue, and it had cream leather interior and an even more incredible blond siren sitting in the passenger seat, wearing a hugely furry white fur coat.

This was bling before bling was bling, a Boogie Nights style spangled up deliciousness of a scenario.

It must have been 1976 or something. And it stayed with me for the rest of my life.

The 523 BB had 12 cyclinders arranged in a boxer engine, and prefigured cars like the 308, 328 and the Testarossa.

So, even if it stood in the Countach’s shadow from the moment it was born in 1974, it will always represent to me much more than the Lambo’s slightly staid cousin.

It’s easy to see why the Montreal enjoys such a dedicated cult following. There’s very little out there like it. Styled by Marcello Gandini, the maestro of Bertone himself, this diffusion, accessible supercar from the Alfa stable still looks fresh today.

This paricularly crisp version is currently available on an Ebay Auction, and we thought anyone with a heart, a mind and eyes would swoon over the crispness of its paint job and that sexy interior. May not pass muster with the concours brigade, but who cares?

This might be in the realms of pure fantasy, but hell, its the Friday before Christmas. We stumbled upon this afternoon an amazing Barchetta concept from 2008 badged under the noble moniker of Bizzarini.

It was called, apparently, The Bizzarrini p538 Prototype and a small run of series production was planned for both a Speedster/Barchetta version as pictured and a GT Hardtop.

The complete subframe and outer shell are made from carbon fiber and the compartment behind the seats contains that wicked 7 liter Chevrolet LS7 engine (the very same as in the hot Vettes). Punching hard with over 500 HP and tipping the scales at a very svelte 1200 kg, it would be very very quick.

Bizzarini of course made his name in penning the lines of the sublime 250GTO , but he went on also to create a nice own-brand range of relatively obscure classic supercars and GTs.

Not sure if any of these ever made it past the showcar stage, but that low slung powerhouse has the imagination running wild.

Ok, so it’s a Lancia Delta. It may have born a striking resemblance to its badass cousin the Integrale, but where the everyman Delta was an acceptably interesting everyday motor, the S4 sprung out of another universe. And that universe was Group B.

The workaday Delta was a front-wheel-drive, five-seater hatchback, — but the S4 über-car was a two-seater with its engine slung where the kids would have presumably been. It was constructed around a tubular space frame chassis and incorporated fully adjustable all-independent suspension – beneath lightweight composite bodywork. There were loads of aero aids that increased downforce and the body was pieced together for easy oyster-shell like deconstruction.

All four wheels were driven by central and rear diffs, and the 1.8 litre 16V engine, designed by Abarth, employed two different types of forced induction to get rid of that perennial low rev turbo lag. Yes, baby. This was supercharged and turbocharged and by the end of development packed 500 horses. And this was, remember, in 1985!

200 hundred were supposedly built, of course, for homologation into the fatal and fated formula that was Group B, but the specialists reckon there are now only around 80 in existence of the S4 Stradale. This is why the last one sold at auction, by Bonhams this summer, fetched over £100,000!

Crisis? What Crisis. Get me a Delta S4 NOW!

image: Amelie Lengrand

Of all the many and various creative car brands, Alfa Romeo is one of the most appealing to true automotive aesthetes.

The inhouse art departments of the company itself has commissioned many lovely bits of graphic art, which has prettily populated their marketing and signage over the years.

Amongst all the privately generated pieces of art that feature cars, a huge proportion have focused on the cloverleaf brand.

So, it came as no surpise when we stumbled on an extensive collection for sale in various formats this morning.

This list is well worth checking out if you’re in the lucky position of having an Alfa Garage to decorate this winter.

Go here to view the full selection.

http://www.artofbrands.com/wo_en/alfaromeo/

Last summer at the Silverstone Classic we were lucky enough to get up close and personal with a race prepped 250 LM. It was, predictably, an erotic experience we won’t quickly forget.

But when we stumbled across this SS version we were blown away and had to share.

The rear three quarter profile brings out the heartbreaking lines, set off by that Scuderia style strip, the wire wheels and the dashingly gauche interior. But this thing would be as agressively dynamic as it is pretty.

The 250 LM made its official debut at the 1963 Paris Motorshow. The racing evolution of the hugely successful 250 series used a bored out 3.3 litre version of the GTO derived engine.

The homologation authorities at the time didn’t believe that Ferrari would be able to produce the required 100 cars for homologation, so the 250 LM was only eligible to race in the prototype class.

And the little racer did very well indeed. In fact in 1964 ten victories were scored out of 35 entries and no less than five 250 LMs were entered in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans by privateers.

Almost too pretty for words, we’re sure you’ll agree and as immaculate as any car you’ll be lucky enough to encounter, anywhere.

We’re suckers for defunct automotive brands. And one of the most spectacular and exotic of the passed car-makes of recent times is Bizzarrini.

The company was Founded by Giotto Bizzarrini a former engineer for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Iso. Until the company closed in 1969 they built a number of interesting concepts and sports cars — their rarity of course including the aesthetic as well as financial value. Giotto’s cars were usually of the brutally audacious — think of the muscular super-coupés that were Iso Grifo — and he was partly responsible of course for the 250 GTO Breadvan.

The Manta, made from bits and pieces made by the soon-to-be-defunct Bizzarini company, was Giorgetto Giugiaro’s first independently built car. He used it to launch Ital Design in the car show at Turin in 1968.

Apart from its period-correct wedge design, the most striking thing about this creation is the three-up interior layout, which, we suppose, was borrowed from that Ferrari 365 prototype of 1965. This setup was of course revived very successfully later on with the McLaren F1.

This chassis was a tubular steel Bizzarini design built especially for the rigours of Le Mans and the motor was a torquey Ford ‘small black’ V8.

After the Turin show the car was put on a World Tour that included the 1969 Los Angeles Auto Expo. It wasn’t exactly well-received stateside, and was perhaps correctly perceived as a bit of typical spaced-out European indulgence. According to Road and Track magazine it was “yet another 200-mph suppository in bright orange…”

Apparently the car was purchased in 2003 from a Texan collector and then restored for two years, where it got this dashing turqoise paintjob — before winning a category prize at pebble beach in 2005.

The Manta is one of those rare crystallisations of automotive brilliance — and Bizzarini a brand that was all about passion.

For some reason this incredible BMW one-off from 1969, (our favourite year), completely managed to pass us by these forty odd years.

You can see the car’s bloodline at first glance.

Yes, those are the Montreal–esque hooded headlamps from the pen of Marcello Gandini and the same shocking green rendering of Bertone’s audacious Alfa Carabo.

The Spicup was a Geneva launch and was based on the 2000CS — with the 2.8 litre straight six. It was sold after the show and apparently the car clocked over 100,000KM before its owner gave up and confined it to automotive legend.

It sold Recently at auction via Bonhams for around US$600K. That’s some serious mileage for such a valuable vehicle.

And though there’s a lot about it’s look and feel that is dead-on in terms of its period design, the side perspective gives a hint at where the ideas came from.

We reckon this was Gandini’s homage to 50s American futurism.

images Italdesign

German coachbuilder Wilhelm Karmann is of course most widely known for having created the Karmann Ghia and various other cult classics for Volkswagen.

One of his lesser known projects was the Cheetah — a small sports concept for VW via Giugiaro’s firm Italdesign.

The Cheetah is a real child of its times; having debuted at the 1971 Geneva Salon.

The X1/9–ish front end and flatbed rear was fitted over a modified Beetle floorpan bore obvious resemblance to various other Guigiaro projects — but less obviously the roof of the Cheetah was straight out of Mr Karmann’s stable of influences.

This pretty unique roof consisted of a a soft top with a translucent sunroof panel over the cockpit, which could be stored under the car’s twin seats.

Nice bit of period futurism that probably could have foreshadowed the success of Bertone’s X1/9.

File under missed opportunity, we think.

This car is possibly the most Italian thing on the planet; even more Italian than smiling indulgently as your suspiciously black-haired elderly Prime Minister appoints former topless models to the cabinet or attempts to bed an eighteen-year old. So it makes no sense to translate the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider’s name into dull, humble Anglo-Saxon. Even Alfa’s staff with their near-flawless English don’t bother to Anglicize it, and simply refer to it as the otto-chee as one tosses me the keys.

So otto-chee it is, then. But is the noisy, gorgeous otto-chee Spider actually any good, or are we in danger of being seduced by a La Scala–standard tenor in a perfect Brioni suit?

If price alone conferred supercar status there’d be no debate. The 8C Competizione coupe, of which 500 were made, cost £112,000 in the UK. The Spider, of which another 500 were made from 2009 with 35 coming to the UK, cost an eye-watering £174,000. Objectively, that price was hard to justify. The Ferrari California, with its more aristocratic badge and folding hard-top costs a good BMW 3-series less. But the looks, the noise, the name and the rarity are plainly enough; value for money isn’t a consideration, and they both sold out fast. You can still buy them from dealers, of course, but demand means you’ll pay closer to Spider money for a low-mileage coupe now.

So what do you get for your fifth of a million euros? The engine is the same as the coupe’s: a Ferrari-cast, Maserati-derived 4.7-litre V8 making 450bhp and maybe the most extraordinarily exuberant noise of any car on sale. The pulchritudinous looks are as good as the coupe’s too. The best-looking, best-sounding car of recent years? Quite possibly, and for many the debate ends there.

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And it is very loud; the exhaust maintains a constant conversation with you when just manoeuvring; you’ll turn heads even when parallel parking. At higher revs it hardens into a hollow bellow with a prolonged crackle and bang when you shift gear. The Alfa engineer – Italian, naturally – who took me out for a couple of familiarization laps at the firm’s Balocco test track gave up trying to describe it — or make himself heard over it — and just started waving his right arm in the air in a lassoing motion when he thought it sounded particularly nice, which was most of the time.

This is a fast, powerful car, but at the risk of sounding terminally spoiled, it isn’t that fast; not quite fast enough to justify that price or put any significant distance between the 8C and rivals at a fraction of the price. A 0-100kmh time of 4.5sec and top speed of 290kmh are very nice to have regular access to, but aren’t significantly quicker than a Porsche Carrera S, and are appreciably behind the sub-four of the California.

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But while the engine disguises an average performance — by the standards of the class — with sharp responses and a showy exhaust note, the handling is very well-judged but just doesn’t excite you. The steering is weighty, direct and quick enough but mute; experience rather than sensation tells you that the car will go where you point it. Same with the brakes; now carbon-ceramic, they’re long in travel and lacking in feel.

Objectively, the 8C Spider doesn’t have the specification or the dynamics to justify the price. But it doesn’t need them, because the more Alfa asked for the 8C, and the rarer it made it, the less it competed in any objective sense with other supercars. Those lucky enough to have one will have Ferraris already and won’t be blind to the otto-chee’s shortcomings. But they’ll also love Alfas, and know that this is one of the stand-out cars in the firm’s storied, century-long history.

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And it bodes well for the new 4C. That car might be very different in specification and price; it will cost around £40,000, and deliver a similar sub-5-second 60mph time but with a 232bhp four moving just 850kgs. But the intent is the same; a bespoke, low-volume sports car to keep us in love with Alfa, and most importantly keep the brand in America until the Mitos and Giuliettas get there in force. The 8C did all of that. It’s still doing it. We think the 4C will do the same, and be just as ineffably Italian.