24 cool, odd classics spotted last week

Weird and wonderful sights in Italy

The 40th Auto e Moto d’Epoca on 26-29 October 2023 was a radical departure from the norm, with a new home in Bologna.

Though its previous home, Padova, had won the hearts of attendees with its charming centre and closeness to Venice, the ongoing success of the show meant that it had outgrown the show space there.

The move to Bologna meant that the event was bigger than ever, with an oft-confusing layout. However, that meant stumbling upon the weird and wonderful on the way to somewhere else, which was a real treat.

Here are some of our favourite fantastically oddball classic car finds.

And if you fancy going yourself, the event will return from 24-27 October 2024.

1. Citroën DS

We start with the lovely drop-top Citroën DS.

It is certainly wonderful. Indeed, the DS is often touted as the world’s most beautiful car and the exclusive wind-in-your-hair version is elegance on four wheels.

So why is it featured here? What’s so weird about it?

Citroën DS (cont.)

This is why.

It takes a special type of person to equip a car so elegant as the Citroën DS with a snakeskin interior.

Is that a person we’d like to meet? The jury’s out on that one.

2. Fiat 600 Monterosa Carrozzeria Speciale

Small Fiat mechanicals provided the base for an almost endless array of special-bodied cars through the 1950s and 1960s, and though there were markedly fewer on offer this year at Auto e Moto d’Epoca, there were still plenty of ‘what on earth is that?’ moments.

We’ll come to those in a bit, but this elegant creation was by Monterosa. Set up just after the Second World War in Turin, it crafted special bodies for Fiats and Lancias.

Monterosa later moved to Moncalieri, on the southern outskirts of Turin, which is where this 600-based two-door was built.

Sadly with consumer tastes changing, Monterosa closed its doors just three years later.

3. Stranguellini 110 Sport Ala d’Oro

The Officine Reggiane of Reggio Emilia produced components for aircraft during the Second World War.

In 1946, the Ala d'Oro body shop was founded and used the facilities. The firm was responsible for styling the first Strangellinis both in production and in competition, including this 1947 barchetta.

4. Monaco Trossi

This purposeful-looking racing car was the combined effort of engineer Augusto Monaco, and racing driver and financier Carlo Felice Trossi, alongside designer Mario Revelli.

It has an air-cooled, 16-cylinder, two-stroke, radial engine and front-wheel drive, which means it has an exceptionally long propshaft.

It was entered into the 1935 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but the weight distribution (75% front, 25% rear) made the car understeer to the point of undriveability, while cooling issues destroyed the mechanical parts.

The team withdrew from the event and the project was abandoned.

5. Tarf1

Built in 1948 to break international speed records, this twin-torpedo-bodied machine was the brainchild of designer and driver Piero Taruffi.

It was initially fitted with a Guzzi 500 two-cylinder engine, but it was later upgraded with Gilera 350cc, 500cc and 550cc engines on one side of the car (along with the fuel tank and transmission), with the driver on the other. It featured four-wheel independent suspension and a chain transmission to the rear wheels.

It set 22 international speed records between 1948 and 1957, before it was replaced by Tarf2.

6. Maserati Ghibli II Primatist

This special-edition version of the 1990s Maserati Ghibli was built to celebrate the water speed records of Bruno Abbate’s Primatist speedboat.

It set the record for the flying kilometre using a Maserati twin-turbo V6 engine, and 35 Primatist special-edition examples of the 2-litre Ghibli II were built for Italy alone. So why are we saying that this is so strange?

Maserati Ghibli II Primatist (cont.)

Well, take a look at the interior. It is pale-blue and turquoise leather teamed with very bright wood panelling.

Interestingly, a 2.8-litre, export-market version was also built, where the leather sections were reversed on the seats.

7. MGA

According to the owner, the restoration of his MGA was due to go to the painting stage, when the body shop had an intriguing idea – what if the car was wrapped in leather?

The team pressed ahead with the idea and the leather was bonded to the bare metal with glue.

Amazingly, given the amount of heat possible from an MGA, the leather has neither shrunk nor the glue melted.

8. De Tomaso Pantera prototype

For much of the 1980s, Lamborghini and De Tomaso seemed to be locked in a battle to see who could come up with the wildest bodywork for their mid-engined supercars.

Here’s a styling effort from De Tomaso that is, er, a little unfinished compared to what would eventually be released.

9. Alfa Romeo Giulia

This Alfa Romeo Giulia has lived a hard life. As well as the rust, there are large dents in the driver’s side panels.

Then, look closely at the windscreen and, yes, they are bullet holes. This car hails from southern Italy, and its vendor alludes to the car having a brush with criminality in its past.

The question is: restore it, or keep it as it is?

10. Fiat 1100 Coupé Vignale

Designed by Giovanni Michelotti while working for Carrozzeria Vignale, this elegant two-door one-off was displayed at the 1953 Turin show.

Its design, particularly the grille and headlight arrangement, went on to influence Vignale’s take on the Ferrari 212 Inter.

11. Ferves Ranger 

Ferves lived a short life – just five years – but within that time built 600 off-road-biased vehicles, with the Fiat 500 and 600 as their base.

Available with either two- or four-wheel drive, early models featured rear-hinged doors, a folding windscreen and vinyl seats. All in it weighed just 300kg (661lb).

12. Ford Mustang Zagato

This one-off creation was the brainchild of Abruzzo industrialist Silvio Bucco.

After securing himself a Mustang in 1967, he set off to Pininfarina for a unique take on the pony car.

That coachbuilder rebuffed him so, through a familial link with someone at Pirelli, he got Zagato to craft a bespoke nose for his Mustang.

Aside from the Carello headlamps, there’s an air intake on the bonnet plus modified front seats. Its colour – clearly a reference to a certain ride of Steve McQueen – earned it the nickname of Bullitt Italiana.

13. Zagato Zele

This electric microcar came about after the success of building small electric cars for the Fiera Milano Millenia 1972, an event previewing the latest technology of the day.

Zagato went on to build 500 similar electric cars with a range of about 50 miles. This car dates from 1987, for the Fiera Milano Milanina 2, another event along the lines of the earlier show.

14. Fiat 850 T Bertone

In 1975 Bertone unveiled this people carrier at the Salone del Veicolo Industriale show in Turin.

Based on the Fiat 850, it is one of four such vehicles to carry up to six visitors at a time around the Bertone factory.

The build was subcontracted to the Saturn Body Shop, while the body was designed by Marcello Gandini.

15. All-Cars Charly Camel

We also spotted this at Auto e Moto d’Epoca 2023.

Built in 1971, this microcar was the brainchild of entrepreneur Mario Zodiaco.

This ‘Camel’ version uses a 50cc Minarelli engine with a four-speed gearbox. It was presented in totally original condition, right down to the tyres.

16. Fiat 850 Spiagetta

In 1968, Giovanni Michelotti teamed up with yacht designer Phillip Schell to produce a modern approach to a beach car.

Based on a Fiat 850, production was limited to between 30 and 80 (accounts differ). This car was first bought by Giusseppe Caltabaino of Taormina, Sicily.

Eventually, the car was acquired by Gayelord Hauser, Greta Garbo’s nutritionist. Garbo, who had moved to Taormina under the pseudonym of Miss Harriet Brown, was a guest in Hauser’s home.

The car was found in 2016 in Palermo, and then treated to an extensive restoration.

17. Fiat 1100 Cabriolet Stabilimenti Farina

Built in 1948, this car is one of only four built to this specification.

It was displayed on Farina’s stand at the 1948 edition of the Turin motor show, where it was immediately bought off the stand by a paper industrialist from Udine.

18. Fiat GAMC Tilly

Built for the Targa Geneva in 1973, the GAMC Tilly was based on Fiat 500 mechanicals.

GAMC was a small coachbuilding company based in San Remo; the car was also known as the Baldi Tilly at one point.

19. Fiat 1400 Vignale Orchidea

Alfredo Vignale produced four or five cars on the Fiat 1400, and this is one of them.

Called the Orchidea, it’s unique, and was lauded for its elegance when it first broke cover in 1950.

It won the Venice Elegance Competition, and was for sale at Auto e Moto d’Epoca for €140,000 (c£122,000).
 

20. Fiat Topolino harvester

Proof that Fiat mechanicals can pretty much power anything, this Topolino-based machine was fully functional.

It immediately struck a chord with one show goer, because it sold on the very first day.

21. Biagini Passo Hard Top

Built by ACP Spa Biagini in Abruzzo, the Passo uses a Mk1 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet as its basis, but makes use of the four-wheel-drive system from the Golf Syncro model.

This is one of just five to have a hardtop fitted.

22. Covini C6W Evoluzione

Why have four wheels when you can have six?

This unusual project was conceived to develop better mid-corner grip, protect against aquaplaning, provide more comfort over bumps and provide greater safety in the event of a tyre blowout.

It’s powered by an Audi S4-sourced 4.2-litre V8 and can, we are told, hit 62mph in 3.9 secs.

23. Ford Prototype

Luigi Colani was an industrial designer whose talents went far beyond cars, but he is perhaps best known for his designs for Volkswagen, BMW, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Fiat.

However, this machine, spotted at Auto e Moto d’Epoca 2023, uses Ford mechanicals.

Specifically, a twin-turbocharged 7-litre V8 that helped Colani scoop a speed record of 252mph in 1989.

24. SVS Codatronca TS

Ercole Spada, the famed Zagato and BMW designer, was behind this car, the Codatronca.

It was originally designed for GT1 endurance racing but just one was built, around a Chevrolet Corvette C5 base. It’s covered 15,000km (c9300 miles) and has called Monaco home.