Alfa Romeo Canguro

[Cedric]

In the mid-sixties Bertone designed a new swooping body on an Alfa TZ2 chassis, called the Canguro. Autodelta was never able to put into production and the project was cancelled after just one car had been built. The one-off Canguro was wrecked at Monza by a journalist and it is said to have been rebuilt about a year ago.

Has anyone got a clue what has become of this car?

http://home.golden.net/~cwallace/alfa/canguro/ (http://)

[drakkie]

sorry, the link doesnt work... :(

[forza_autodelta]

In the mid-sixties Bertone designed a new swooping body on an Alfa TZ2 chassis, called the Canguro. Autodelta was never able to put into production and the project was cancelled after just one car had been built. The one-off Canguro was wrecked at Monza by a journalist and it is said to have been rebuilt about a year ago.

Has anyone got a clue what has become of this car?

http://home.golden.net/~cwallace/alfa/canguro/ (http://)
Hi , the journalist didn't managed to rebuilt totally the car and sell it to a japanese during a bide some years ago...it was one of the best bertone's realisation , a veritable piece of art for alfa's fan

[Wouter Melissen]

Drool. Giugiaro is a genious.

[netburner]

Here a MidRes-pic of it:

[Manik]

Here a MidRes-pic of it:

It has a nice rolling body line, :D but I don't really like the air ducts or whatever they are on the side of the car near the front wheel. :o

[forza_autodelta]

it was fashionable in the sixties

[Cedric]

Those air vents were copied by the Montreal. So they found them so fashionable they decided to keep them.

[Cedric]

By the way, has the Japanese owner succeeded in rebuilding the car?

[Wouter Melissen]

Those air vents were copied by the Montreal. So they found them so fashionable they decided to keep them.
Yep and they found their way on the Bizzarrini as well.

[Spyder64]

The catalogue for the Concorso Villa d'Este 2005 announced the completely restored Canguro. The Concorso was held last weekend (23, 24 april), but was the Canguro really there? Did anyone see pictures yet?

a very curious Spyder64

[netburner]

Here:

http://www.concorsodeleganzavilladeste.com/partec05/d_Alfa_Canguro_l.jpg

[forza_autodelta]

The catalogue for the Concorso Villa d'Este 2005 announced the completely restored Canguro. The Concorso was held last weekend (23, 24 april), but was the Canguro really there? Did anyone see pictures yet?

a very curious Spyder64
it's a scoop for you henk:D

[Spyder64]

Okay Netburner, thanks, but this is the picture from the catalogue.
And now for the pictures taken this weekend!

This is my second post on this forum, so: Henk, whoever you are, can I count on you?

[forza_autodelta]

Yep you can , welcome to UCP¨, enjoy it and stay with us:)

[Wouter Melissen]

We were there, and our coverage will include plenty of Canguro shots!!

[forza_autodelta]

ARFFFFFFFF!thank you very much :D :)

[netburner]

Thanks for your coverage, but why aren't there any pics of the back of the Canguro??

[Spyder64]

thanks Wouter, your pictures made my day!

[Wouter Melissen]

Not worries, there are many more pictures, which will be used when we extensively feature the car.

[Matt]

We were there, and our coverage will include plenty of Canguro shots!!


Tell me you got pics of the BMW 507 prototype, too. There was only one on the BMW site for their show coverage.

[forza_autodelta]

great job! pics are really nice and cars original

[Wouter Melissen]

Tell me you got pics of the BMW 507 prototype, too. There was only one on the BMW site for their show coverage.
We accidently missed all BMWs at the show :)

[Matt]

We accidently missed all BMWs at the show :)

Typical.

[chevyguy]

goofy looking but cool

[aha100]

My contribution to the Villa D'Este event:

@ Matt

[henk4]

My contribution to the Villa D'Este event:

@ Matt

I know what it is, but are you going to tell the others? :D

[aha100]

@Spyder64

[aha100]

I know what it is, but are you going to tell the others? :D

Sorry guys, but Matt was asking for some pics of the 507 prototype, well that' s it.

[henk4]

for those who want to know what is under that sleek body

[henk4]

Sorry guys, but Matt was asking for some pics of the 507 prototype, well that' s it.

no, that is not it, it is a special body made by Vignale on the 507, in an attempt to be invited to make more of those. BMW kindly refused it and continued to produce the 507 as we know it.

This is the prototype, made by Veritas man Ernst Loof.

[henk4]

Sorry guys, but Matt was asking for some pics of the 507 prototype, well that' s it.

thanks anyway, and welcome to UCP. You can be assured that Matt has already got all the pics he wanted :D

[aha100]

thanks anyway, and welcome to UCP. You can be assured that Matt has already got all the pics he wanted :D

Thanks for the warm welcome, posted the wrong pic earlier, just wanted to find out if anybody knew :o

here is the right one, by far not as good as yours though, I' ll be working on it !

[henk4]

here is the right one, by far not as good as yours though, I' ll be working on it !

i took my pics when I was there, that sometimes helps :)

[dretceterini]

Thanks for the photos of the Canguro at Villa D'Este. The car was sold from Germany to Japan something like 10 years ago, but I had not seen anything on the car until it apperaed in the entry list for Villa D'Este...

[henk4]

Thanks for the photos of the Canguro at Villa D'Este. The car was sold from Germany to Japan something like 10 years ago, but I had not seen anything on the car until it apperaed in the entry list for Villa D'Este...

Welcome to UCP, nice user name :)

[Wouter Melissen]

I will add it to the database as well with a lot more pictures, but I'm still collecting details on the car and its provenance.

PS. It's good to see a f-chat member here :)

[Deckard]

In case anyone is interested, Canguro means Kangaroo in Italian.

[Manik]

for those who want to know what is under that sleek body

A sleek engine. Beautiful car, amazing engine! ;) :D

[dretceterini]

The Canguro is esentually a street version of an Alfa TZ, with a tube chassis and a 1600cc 4 cylinder motor. It was inteded to become a production street version of the TZ, but only one was ever built. It was scrapped, and Gary Schmid rescuded the remains from Alfa's junkyard around 1971. He started on the restoration, but it was never compleated. The car was sold to Japan something like 10 years ago, and the new owner restored it and showed it for the first time at the Villa d'Este Concours last month.

I would estimate the value of the car at around 1 million dollars.

[Wouter Melissen]

Interestingly the Italian Alfa Romeo mechanic who brought the car claimed it has 1300 litre engine. A regular 1600 engine should not be too hard to source.

On another note, here are some pictures of what Pininfarina created on a TZ chassis:

[netburner]

In which year did they do that?

[Wouter Melissen]

1965 I'd say.

[netburner]

:D Ok, I should read the names of your pics first next time :)

[Wouter Melissen]

Now I am not so sure anymore; the only reference I have to this car claims it has unitary chassis based on the regular Giulia. Looking at how low the car and especially the bonnet/hood is, I highly doubt it.

[Wouter Melissen]

TZ chassis 114: Pininfarina Giulia Sport. Show car : M. Matsuda, Japan.

[henk4]

TZ chassis 114: Pininfarina Giulia Sport. Show car : M. Matsuda, Japan.

it would indeed be very unlikely if Pininfarina would have called it a TZ special :)

[MooSquad]

The catalogue for the Concorso Villa d'Este 2005 announced the completely restored Canguro. The Concorso was held last weekend (23, 24 april), but was the Canguro really there? Did anyone see pictures yet?

a very curious Spyder64

Yeah, there's a tiny picture of it taken on the concours in the Onschatbare Klassieker magazine (issue 6/June2005), and it looks awesome and in truly mint condition. It won the Trofeo Corrado Millanta there.

edit: nice page by the way (UCP), I was looking for Canguro info (I'm a supercars.net member, hold back your prejudices lol), and felt like answering this question on my way to my info.

[Wouter Melissen]

I'll make adding it to the database one of the priorities, with at least 12 1024x768 pictures.

[MooSquad]

I'll make adding it to the database one of the priorities, with at least 12 1024x768 pictures.

Hmm.. seems I might show up a little moreoften here then :)

[Wouter Melissen]

Hmm.. seems I might show up a little moreoften here then :) We are here to serve :)

[wano71]

hi there, i have recently read about this car in the uk classic cars magazine, not a lot said but it has been fully restored, finished four days before the "villa d'este" in italy for the "concorso d'eleganza" in april 2005, hope this helps!

[forza_autodelta]

hi there, i have recently read about this car in the uk classic cars magazine, not a lot said but it has been fully restored, finished four days before the "villa d'este" in italy for the "concorso d'eleganza" in april 2005, hope this helps!
photos of the car were taken there by Mr Melissen :) very well restored

[Wouter Melissen]

Working on it right now!!

[henk4]

about time...

[Spyder64]

I did not visit UCP for quite a while, but I'm back!

Thanks Wouter and others for (extra) pictures en the feature on the Canguro.
The car and the history behind it and it's reappearance, intrigues me very much. Here are some questions tryïng to dig a little deeper.

Does anybody know who did the restoration this car? More specific, can it be confirmed that de car was in Holland for a second reconstruction of the nose? That second reconstruction was because the Japanese owner said the first reconstruction was not correct compared to pictures of the car before the crash.

A little off-topic: in the crash during the testdrive of the journalists, two Bertone Creations were involved: the Canguro and the Testudo (based on a Chevrolet Corvair). The wreck of the Testudo was repaired, the wreck of the Caguro was put aside and (nearly) forgotten. Why? Who knows more? Who were those journalists? Did they write about the incident??

Thanks,

Ad

[Wouter Melissen]

Supposedely the cars collided during the shooting of a promotional video. The reason for the Testudo being repaired and Canguro not was based on the amount of damage. The Canguro, even though it was one of Nuccio Bertone's favourites, was deemed irrepairable. This also means that the now restored car can never be very accurate. Well known author Adolfo Orsi told us in Monterey last month that he did not agree with it winning Villa d'Este at all. 'They made a mistake.' This might also explain why it was absent in the Concours, despite Alfa Romeo being the featured marque.

A number of full size noses and windscreens were constructed before the two experts (Turin based designer Tateo Uchida and ex-Bertone employee Luciano d'Ambrosio) were happy with the results. I'm not sure where this was done though.

[Spyder64]

Was the accident before, after or during filming??? Could there be unique footage collecting dust in some producer's archive???

@ Wouter: Did Mr Orsi explain which mistake they made?

[Wouter Melissen]

Was the accident before, after or during filming??? Could there be unique footage collecting dust in some producer's archive???

@ Wouter: Did Mr Orsi explain which mistake they made?

At Villa d'Este the decisive factor is aesthetics rather than history. With most of the body being constructed four decades after the original body was moulded, there was little historic about it. There is no doubt that the Canguro looked great, and obviously was one of my favourites, it is debatable of a car with this kind of history should be eligible for Concours of Villa d'Este's high profile.

Slightly off-topic, but there is a similar situation with Ferrari 330 P3/4 s/n 0846, of which the chassis recently resurfaced. It has been reconstructed with many original parts, but it is generally not considered to be 330 P3/4 0846.

Just like 0846, the Canguro contains all/many remaining bits of the original car, but with the Canguro much of its distinctive elements were only recentley created.

[forza_autodelta]

Just like 0846, the Canguro contains all/many remaining bits of the original car, but with the Canguro much of its distinctive elements were only recentley created.
that's normal...this is a conceptcar , some parts have been taken from the giuliettas and the TZs maybe , but the others were unique

[Wouter Melissen]

that's normal...this is a conceptcar , some parts have been taken from the giuliettas and the TZs maybe , but the others were unique

No. Most of the body was destroyed in 1966, and it's the body that makes this car special.

[bmw_700_sport]

Hopefully someone will make a mold of this great design and sell fiberglass or carbonfiber replica body kits. It should be fairly simple to make a tube frame and use a rusty Alfa spider or GTV coupe as a drivetrain donor. Count me in!

[forza_autodelta]

most of the mechanic is taken from the giulia and the spider, isn't it?
about the replica , don't think it's interesting 'cause there's only one...