One of Alfa Romeo’s crown jewels the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo was allowed out to celebrate Milan Design Week.
Designed by Marcello Gandini and built by the Bertone bodyshop, the prototype is regarded as one of the brand’s greatest expressions of style.
The Carabo was a concept car based on the mechanics of the iconic Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, an emblematic car for the Milan brand.
The collective unconscious still identifies it as one of the most beautiful cars in the world, the epitome of functional design and beauty devoted to performance.
At less than one metre in height, the futuristic Carabo is the same height of the Stradale, but the rounded lines disappeared completely.
Everything in the Carabo is clear-cut, from the wedge design to its “scissor” doors.
Only one model of the prototype was ever built and became a source of inspiration for many other successful cars.
The name Carabo was inspired by Carabus auratus, a brightly metallic-coloured beetle.
The same hues are used in the style prototype: luminescent green with orange details.
In the late 1960s, Alfa Romeo began to pay extra attention to extravagant colours and special paintwork techniques, to highlight the brand’s uniqueness even further.
The exclusive event that brought Alfa Romeo to Design Week was the opening of the new Larusmiani boutique, a big name for over a century in Milanese elegance and the “Made in Italy” quality of the Monte Napoleone District.
The new boutique was designed in collaboration with the renowned architect Benedetto Camerana, who headed the 2015 renovations of the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, where the Carabo is usually on display.
As well as embellishing the opening of the distinctive new boutique, the Alfa Romeo concept car is the first vehicle to be included in “The Automotive Gallery” project: a permanent exhibition area within the store, focused on the automotive world.
The only car that could head up this Milanese project is an Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo’s Raffaele Russo said the inclusion of the futuristic Carabo here will arouse great amazement among the participants in Milan Design Week.
And I’m just as sure that an item of such great stylistic value will in itself serve as an invitation to all enthusiasts for Made in Italy to visit the fascinating Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, the home of extraordinary cars that have written indelible chapters in automotive history.”
CHECKOUT: Bottas buys an Alfa GTA