While we’re all sitting here watching Alfa Romeo churn out compact SUVs that look suspiciously like every other crossover on the highway, our hearts are actually screaming for something that smells like gasoline and looks like a fever dream. Enter the ghost of the Montreal.
Stellantis is far too busy counting cents for that, but digital creator Roibeárd Gráinséir has done the heavy lifting for them. His latest render, currently setting Facebook on fire, is a visual slap in the face to anyone who thinks the Biscione’s soul can be captured in a battery-powered box.
This digital reincarnation of the Montreal is a masterclass in what I like to call “Aesthetic Violence”. It’s low, it’s wide, and it has a hood so long you could host a banquet on it. The proportions are pure Gran Turismo: a cabin pushed so far back it’s practically sitting on the rear axle, and a tail so tight it makes a modern supercar look bloated.
Gráinséir captured the essence of the original 1970 beast, that Marcello Gandini-penned masterpiece, and dragged it kicking and screaming into the 2020s. The signature “scudetto” is there, integrated into a front fascia that looks like it wants to swallow the asphalt whole, flanked by headlights so thin they’re basically a menacing squint.
Painted in a deep, lustrous Alfa Red that makes you want to check your bank account and weep, this concept is the ultimate tease. Of course, the official corporate line is a dry, soul-crushing “it’s not in the plans”. But then there’s the “Bottega Fuoriserie” program, Alfa’s ultra-exclusive, coach-building playground where miracles (and million-dollar invoices) happen.
Could the Montreal nameplate find its way onto a limited-run chassis? We can only hope. Because while the market demands “utility”, the human spirit demands a V8-powered sculpture that ignores every rule of practicality. It’s an independent creation, sure, but as long as there’s a designer with a screen and a nostalgic grudge, the true Alfa Romeo will never truly die.
