This weekend Rimini has once again become the Italian capital of car tuning and styling, with both Alfa Romeo and Fiat present in an official capacity at the 'My Special Car Show'.

The brand new Rimini Exhibition Centre provides a perfect venue for the 2005 My Special Car Show, with its series of spacious, very modern, single storey exhibition halls, all of which are completely devoid of pillars. This complex has been extremely well thought out, the arching huge wooden roof structures providing an aesthetically pleasing finish, while the halls themselves are clustered around a series of steeped lakes and fountains, which offer a very relaxing environment.

The layout helps to develop in an even more structured way the interaction between the exhibition space and the rally areas, while at the same time maintaining the subdivision into the two main sectors, Tuning & Racing and Car Audio & Video

The Fiat Auto Division are in town for the show, with a series of new or recently unveiled products. Most notably, the undoubted star of proceedings on the Fiat stand is the Giorgetto Giugiaro designed Croma 8ttoV, a one-off car dedicated to the late Gianni Agnelli. An ultimate 'Q-car', the Fiat Croma 8ttoV received its 'World Premiere during the 75th Geneva Salon at the beginning of March. It features a Maserati-sourced V8 engine, available for inspection here for the first time here, along with an all-new exterior cosmetic finish and a superbly opulent interior, with includes integrated computer, drinks cooler, a new rear partition, and an aluminium finished engine 'start' button.
 

Joining the Croma 8ttoV on the Fiat stand, which is finished in the dazzling colour scheme first seen on the award-winning Geneva Motor Show stand, is the Panda diesel rally car concept, now painted in the firm's new corporate 'blue' rally colours, while the Idea 'Sport', which was also shown in Geneva, is here carring the decals of the Jamaican bobsleigh team which Fiat will sponsor at next year's Turin-based Winter Olympics.

Across the stand Alfa Romeo are presenting the GT Sport for the first time, featuring an all-new bodykit, as well as higher interior trim levels, and aluminium-finished pedals and footrests. The bodykit offers new styled front and rear bumpers, side skirts and a slim rear lip spoiler. The front end treatment now includes cut-out sections around the grille area which are reminiscent of the early Alfa 156.

Opposite the Alfa Romeo stand sits the 320bhp Autodelta GT Super, which is being presented in Rimini in conjunction their exhaust development partner Ragazzon. The car, which spearhead Autodelta's 'European Tour 2005', only arrived in Rimini on Thursday afternoon as part of a convoy from London that included two 147 GTA AM models and a Maserati GranSport.

Elsewhere, Alfa Romeo have a 147 1.9 JTD on display which features the new in-car iPod system that was announced earlier this year. Out go the 147's centre console pop-out cup holders and in their place comes a storage area for the iPod. Alfa Romeo-boxed iPod presentation packs are being shown next to the blue car in a tall glass cabinet.

Being an Italian car show, local products are represented in great numbers, from Fiat Pandas with large sounds systems to Ferraris with new styling kits: some cars are attractive, while some are downright hideous.

by Edd Ellison & James Granger in Rimini